Formation | 1992 |
---|---|
Founder | Imtiaz Sooliman |
Headquarters | 290 Prince Alfred Street, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa |
Website | https://giftofthegivers.org/ |
Gift of the Givers (founded as Waqful Waqifin) [1] [2] is a South African non-governmental organisation [3] and disaster relief group, [4] and Africa's largest independent humanitarian organisation. [5] It was established to offer disaster relief and response, together with other humanitarian work, with the aim to reach people worldwide. [6] The organisation’s profile in South Africa grew during the 2010s and 2020s, due to challenges faced by the government in delivering services, including disaster relief. [5]
Gift of the Givers has worked in many parts of world, including Gaza City, [7] [8] Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti and Zimbabwe. [4] During the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake the organisation sent four rescue teams and aid materials to the country. [9] They provided in 2011 food aid to Somalia, [10] by airlifting 180 tons and shipping 2000 tons of aid. [4] [11] Through Gift of the Givers, South African medics and volunteers have been assisting people during the Syrian civil war. [12] [13] Due to the unrest in Syria some of the South Africans were injured or killed. [12] [13] In 2013, victims of flooding in the Karonga region of Malawi were given aid in the form of food. [14] In 2015, after 176 died during flooding of the Shire Valley, and with thousands homeless, the organisation provided assistance to citizens in southern Malawi. [15]
Imtiaz Sooliman | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Imtiaz Ismail Sooliman 7 March 1962 Potchefstroom, Transvaal |
Nationality | South African |
Spouse | Zohra |
Alma mater | University of Natal |
Occupation | Medical doctor, philanthropist |
Known for | Humanitarian work |
The founder of the organisation is Imtiaz Ismail Sooliman, a South African medical doctor. He also leads the organisation. [16]
Sooliman was born on 7 March 1962 in Potchefstroom, [17] a Muslim. He completed his high school education at Sastri College in Durban, Natal in 1978. He qualified as a medical doctor by obtaining his MBChB at the University of Natal. He ran a medical practise in Pietermaritzburg, Natal up to 1986. [18] He is married to Zohra & Ayesha. [19]
Sooliman's drive for the establishing of Gift of the Givers, was the instruction of a Sufi sheik, Muhammed Safer Dal Effendi of the Jerrahi tariqah, which happened in Istanbul, Turkey on 6 August 1992. [20]
In the 1994 elections Sooliman ran for political office as the head of the Africa Muslim Party. However, the party failed to win any seats and he subsequently left politics. [21]
His organisation is funded by ordinary South Africans. [22] Some of the projects where he has been involved include:
Frederik Willem de Klerk was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a social conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party (NP) from 1989 to 1997.
Karonga is a township in the Karonga District in Northern Region of Malawi. Located on the western shore of Lake Nyasa, it was established as a slaving centre sometime before 1877. As of 2018 estimates, Karonga has a population of 61,609. The common and major language spoken in this district is the Tumbuka language, which is also a regional language of Northern Malawi.
Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world's most vulnerable people.
1994 in South Africa saw the transition from South Africa's National Party government who had ruled the country since 1948 and had advocated the apartheid system for most of its history, to the African National Congress (ANC) who had been outlawed in South Africa since the 1950s for its opposition to apartheid. The ANC won a majority in the first multiracial election held under universal suffrage. Previously, only white people were allowed to vote. There were some incidents of violence in the Bantustans leading up to the elections as some leaders of the Bantusans opposed participation in the elections, while other citizens wanted to vote and become part of South Africa. There were also bombings aimed at both the African National Congress and the National Party and politically-motivated murders of leaders of the opposing ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The following lists events that happened during 2000 in South Africa.
The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban Institute of Technology. It has five campuses in Durban, and another two in Pietermaritzburg. In 2022, approximately 31 991 students were enrolled to study at DUT. The university is one of five technical institutions on the African continent to offer Doctoral Degrees.
Human Appeal is a British international development and relief charity based in Manchester. It was established in 1991. It runs targeted poverty relief programmes in emergency response and sustainable development.
Medair is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) whose purpose is to relieve human suffering in some of the world's most remote and devastated places. Medair aims to assist people affected by natural disasters and conflict to recover with dignity through the delivery of quality humanitarian aid.
Muslim Aid is a UK faith based International Non-Governmental Organization. It acts as an international humanitarian charity with relief and development programmes in countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. The charity works to support people suffering the effects of poverty, war, and natural disaster through both emergency relief and sustainable programmes designed to provide long-term support and independent futures to the most vulnerable communities around the world.
Since January 1987, the Africa Muslims Agency also known as Direct Aid International operated in 29 countries in Africa and one of the key elements of Africa Muslims Agency since January 1987, has been to institutionalise Relief work. Africa Muslims Agency played a key role in the 80’s in bridging the gap in South Africa between the indigenous population and the donor community.
DanChurchAid is a Danish humanitarian non governmental organisation aimed at supporting the world's poorest. It was founded in 1922, and is rooted in the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is a member of ACT Development - a global alliance of over 140 churches and related humanitarian organisations, working to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people.
Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in Europe, North America and South Asia to complement the provision of emergency relief, principally in the developing world. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development.
Humanity First is an international charity that provides disaster relief and long term development assistance to vulnerable communities in 52 countries across 6 continents. The organisation is run by volunteers with diverse skillsets across the world and has access to thousands of extra volunteers worldwide. Volunteer staff in all areas often pay their own expenses to support the international projects.
Giving Children Hope (GCHope), founded in 1993 by John Ditty and Juliana Reasor, is a faith-based non-profit organization that works to alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally, through disaster relief, health and community development, vocational training and advocacy. The organization is currently headed by Executive Director Sean Lawrence and the Chairman of the Board Bill Barta.
MERCY Malaysia or Malaysian Medical Relief Society is a non-profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and non-crisis situations. As a non-profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue their services to provide humanitarian assistance to beneficiaries, both in Malaysia and internationally. The organisation is a registered society according to the Societies Act 1966 in Malaysia, and the headquarters is in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation or İHH is a conservative Turkish GONGO, active in more than 120 countries.
The humanitarian responses by non-governmental organizations to the 2010 Haiti earthquake included many organisations, such as international, religious, and regionally based NGOs, which immediately pledged support in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Besides a large multi-contingency contribution by national governments, NGOs contributed significantly to both on-the-ground rescue efforts and external solicitation of aid for the rescue efforts.
The 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen were missions to rescue hostages held by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. The first attempt on 26 November 2014 rescued 8 hostages, but five hostages, including the American journalist Luke Somers, were moved by AQAP to another location prior to the raid. The second attempt by U.S. Navy SEALs once again attempted to rescue the hostages, but Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie were killed by AQAP during the raid in Shabwah Governorate of Yemen.
Karonga Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Karonga, Malawi. It is the venue for the TNM Super League, Karonga United and Karonga FC. The sitting capacity of the stadium is 20,000.