Gift of Givers to help thousands over fast

HUMANITARIAN organisation Gift of the Givers will stave off the hunger of 100 000 impoverished Muslims throughout the world in the month of Ramadan.

For one month, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset as part of Ramadan.

Impoverished Muslims in Yemen, Syria, Nigeria and Senegal will receive a share of the R5-million of food provisions being dispatched by the organisation. They will join beneficiaries in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Pakistan, Philippines and Palestine.

Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, said the organisation was extending its reach to as many needy people as it could.

“We are encouraged to increase our charitable activities this month and exhort to supply provisions for a fasting person who has no resources for that purpose.”

Sooliman said the project was inspired by the evident need of people he and the organisation’s volunteers had encountered during their many humanitarian missions.

“When you see how hungry people are and how they are always smiling and never complain, it’s very hard to turn away. The thing that touches you is when their eyes start to ‘talk’ to you.”

He said the project was expected to benefit 100 000 people daily during the period. “The kind of food distributed is according to the common diet in the different countries.”

Provisions include soup, flour, yoghurt, bread, rice and dates.