The community outreach and upliftment endeavours of an Overport-based charitable organisation
have been given a major boost with a R420 000 vehicle donation, ensuring its continued delivery of
bread and clothing to needy recipients and the regular transporting of disadvantaged cancer patients
to treatment centres.
The Al Ansaar Islamic Society’s only vehicle was recently left in a state of disrepair after undertaking
frequent outreach trips on gravel roads and dirt tracks, severely compromising the organisation’s
ability to effectively continue its community programmes. That all changed when the South African
Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) stepped in, providing a brand-new vehicle beter suited to the
prevailing conditions.
Commenting on the donation, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaff Osman, said: “The Al Ansaar Islamic
Society’s Outreach Department is involved in numerous projects aimed at the upliftment of
communities, the majority of which are in difficult-to-access informal setlements in Durban’s
outlying areas. In many instances, the organisation’s planned trips to provide the destitute with food
and clothing have had to be abandoned because of its ageing vehicle and loaned sedans being
unable to negotiate the terrain.”
He stressed that a suitable vehicle was ‘absolutely imperative’ for the organisation to continue its
essential outreach initiatives in the massively depressed informal setlements surrounding Durban.
The Al Ansaar Islamic Society regularly delivers bread to outlying orphanages and distributes clothing
to disadvantaged children throughout Durban and its environs, as well as transporting cancer
patients, involved in its Cancer Support Group, from their homes to various hospitals for treatment
on a weekly basis. It is also involved in assisting with feeding schemes, inclusive of feeding more than
70 000 impoverished people on Eid Day each year, and wheelchair distribution to the elderly and
infirm.
Mr Osman said: “With the current economic climate and ever-rising levels of unemployment in South
Africa, the scourge of widespread poverty remains a major challenge; one which charitable
organisations, such as Al Ansaar Islamic Society, are tackling head-on. However, such organisations
themselves face daunting financial hurdles. Focusing their scarce resources on those they exist to
serve, means that capital expenditure on big-ticket items, like vehicles, is simply unaffordable,
consequently leaving them to do the best they can with old, unreliable and inappropriate vehicles
and infrastructure.”
“Given the organisation’s plight and the need to continue and expand its essential food and clothing
services to batling children, families and informal setlement communities, the SAMCT was pleased
to be in a position to help.”
The SAMCT was created in 2008, the result of a partnership between Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Al
Baraka Bank, for the creation, marketing and distribution of a suite of Shariah Funds. The
organisation provides funding, services and other resources for the improvement of the lives of the
vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. It has been singularly successful in delivering sizeable
assistance solutions throughout South Africa – irrespective of race or religion – and continues to work
to support needy organisations in the fields of healthcare, social development, poverty alleviation
and education.
“Untenable circumstances have severely blighted South Africa’s already stagnant economy and the
historically disadvantaged are paying the price, with increasing levels of poverty and the growth of
hunger becoming a major concern. In the 21st century, this should not be an issue in this country, but
the reality is that hunger has emerged as a very real threat. Accordingly, we of the SAMCT, applaud
the sterling work of the Al Ansaar Islamic Society in its efforts to help stem this danger in Greater
Durban’s informal settlements and we are privileged to have played a small role in furthering that
organisation’s endeavours through our vehicle donation,” Mr Osman said.