No Regrets

It was an instruction from a spiritual teacher in Istanbul, Dr Sooliman explains in an interview. “He said this is an instruction for you for the rest of your life, and it was a more important instruction than the
medical practice.

“What I do is far more diverse, more challenging and more interesting. It is much bigger than medicine. It is earthquakes, disasters, floods, boreholes, agriculture, counselling services, medical interventions, food parcels and feeding centres.”

Sooliman says he followed the instruction to form the Gift of the Givers Foundation without thinking about money.

“I believe that sustenance always comes from the Almighty. It is about what gives you contentment. Does money really give you contentment? For us, contentment is about the spirit and the soul; when we serve people and feel the goodness in our souls, it is priceless. Money cannot buy that.”

Active citizenship

Sooliman says that it is important for South Africans to understand the concept of active citizenship.

“We cannot wait for government to fix things. We have to fix things ourselves. We need to understand that our taxes are not enough to cover everything that needs to be done.”

Ahead of International Mandela Day on 18 July, Sooliman says all South Africans should get involved in fixing infrastructure.

“Forget about food parcels, teddy bears, toys and sanitary pads. What improves a country is infrastructure. Let us go and fix the hospitals, classrooms and toilets. Let’s put in boreholes and do everything to improve the quality of life for patients in hospital.

“It is all about psychological healing. When you do that, it brings incentive in the country to perform better. If you go to the police station, the desks are broken. They do not have a room for gender-based violence or rape survivors, or the room is a mess. Put in a nice chair, get a bed, put in some flowers, add some colour. It does not have to cost a lot.

“For the next two to three years, we, as citizens, must fix the potholes ourselves, fix the broken pipes. Do not worry who is going to pay you, just do it. If you have the money, do it, fix it yourself. It benefits everybody.”

Sooliman’s foundation has 90 staff in South Africa and 410 staff internationally. About 320 of the international staff are in Syria, where the foundation runs one of the country’s biggest hospitals.

Government’s shortcomings

Sooliman says that two major factors impacted the South African government’s ability to deliver services.

“The first is that only seven million people pay taxes, which are supposed to see to the needs of sixty million people. With such limited resources, no government will be able to deliver properly when there is so much abject poverty.

“The second is that COVID-19 ate into the health budget. This is not only specific to South Africa, but everywhere in the world where expenses on COVID could have been used on other stuff.

“Where government is responsible is for the money that disappeared because of state capture. They have also failed as far as providing proper infrastructure.

“There is also a problem with government’s response to disasters. They have good people, for instance, in firefighting and search and rescue, but they do not have proper systems. With any disaster, and government does not understand this, there are three important words: urgency, emergency and disaster. Government keeps on making the same mistakes.

“It is all about training and being prepared. Disasters are happening too frequently with increased intensity in South Africa. When it happens, you must be able to react quickly and not have hundreds of meetings before doing anything.”

Sooliman says he has a good relationship with government, despite him being critical of it. “I punch them on the nose, but they know that I am only there for the interests of the people. They know that our bluntness and frankness are not driven by politics.

“Some people have asked me to stand for president, but I am not interested. I have no political ambition. My ambition is that if people in this country are in difficulty, we must sort them out.”