THE WOMAN BEHIND THE GIVER

Since she and her husband decided to start Gift of the Givers, Zohra Sooliman has made many sacrifices, but she wouldn’t have it any other way

- ROXANNE MOONEYS

WHEN a devastating cyclone hit Bangladesh in 1991, a young couple from Pietermaritzburg watched the images of suffering in horror. They had to do something, Dr Imtiaz and Zohra Sooliman told each other.

The medical doctor and his preschool- teacher wife got to work. They collected donations of food, clothing and other essential items to send to the South Asian country. But they faced a hurdle: getting everything there.

Then the SA government gave them a fully crewed ship to transport the goods. “All they asked in return was that we drop off a few trucks in Turkey on the way,” Zohra (58) tells us at a Cape Town hotel where she’s staying while on a business trip.

It was the start of a journey that would see the launch of the Gift of the Givers Foundation. The world-renowned organisation that helps people in need turns 30 this year.

The Soolimans flew to Turkey where they decided to visit a Sufi sheikh whom a South African friend had told them about. They were impressed by how the spiritual leader welcomed everyone regardless of race, culture or religion. On a second visit to the sheikh, Imtiaz received the instruction to start the charity.

Zohra was less than impressed when her husband shared the news. “You talk about guidance that will come, but where will guidance come from?” she’d asked him.

“We had four children to raise, and Imtiaz had three medical practices. I couldn’t see the bigger picture of what he wanted us to do,” Zohra says.

Still, they were a team and she stood by him. In the early years, while Imtiaz was on the ground lending humanitarian aid in countries such as Bosnia, Zohra was providing essential backup with the organisation’s administration in SA.