A R1 150 00 renovation and upgrade at a Cape Town-based home for the aged has replaced crumbling infrastructure and facilities, barely touched in 50 years, creating a significantly more dignified environment for its elderly residents.
The major make-over at the Douglas Murray Home in Retreat was the consequence of a massive donation by the South African Muslim Trust (SAMCT).
Commenting on its financial assistance package, SAMCT representative, Mr Faried Boltmansaid: “Austere budgetary constraints and severe funding shortages have negatively affected the home’s ability to conduct essential maintenance, replace old equipment or create a more dignified infrastructural environment for residents in their golden years, many of whom are confined to the home, unable to venture out because of ill-health, a lack of mobility or abandonment by their families.”
Learning of the home’s predicament, the SAMCT was quick to respond, making a massive donation designed to transform the aged facility, giving effect to improvements which will ensure safety, attract additional paying residents and restore the dignity of those who call the facility home.
The late Mr Douglas Murray, of the construction company, Murray and Stewart, originally bequeathed a sum of money to be utilised for the benefit of the aged. Accordingly, the facility has provided physical, emotional and spiritual care for some 70 indigent, frail residents for the past 56 years.
“This home for the aged serves an impoverished, disadvantaged community; a community unable to assist financially with the facility’s various fund-raising events, contributing to its severe financial constraints and the resultant infrastructural deterioration of the home and its facilities. Given the home’s financial circumstances, the SAMCT was pleased to be able to give effect to the residential facility’s renovation and upgrade, Mr Faried Boltman said.
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 to improve the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. It has successfully delivered 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. The organisation has long served as a pivotal conduit for the channelling of funding, vital services, and resources to approved public benefit organisations, and remains committed to catalysing positive change and creating a lasting impact on the development and upliftment of, especially, disadvantaged individuals and communities. Its funds are distributed to help improve the health and development of deserving people and organisations, irrespective of race or religion.
“Many residents rely solely on the home for dignity and care, because they are alone and vulnerable. Many have no family to support them, while others have been placed in our care due to financial difficulties or neglect. They deserve a pleasant and comfortable environment in which to see out their twilight years with dignity. We trust our facility improvements favourably address unmet senior needs – given the level of family abandonment here – and empower residents to continue to live meaningfully and constructively… fostering a sense of independence and self-worth, Mr Faried Boltman said.
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za
www.samct.co.za