“Samuels Service Centre’s unique way of Finding Joy in others Good fortune”
Samuels Group, Veedol partner in South Africa has made a huge difference in the lives of many homeless and less fortunate individuals living on the streets of Durban. A subsidiary of Samuels Group is Samuels Service Centre, and they have dug into their pockets to take the initial steps towards helping homeless people restore pride and dignity in themselves again. The initiative is called the Siza Initiative where ‘Siza’ means to help. A Non-Profit Organization was formed by Samuels Group in order to coordinate the initiative. The NPO’s ethos is based off of a Sanskrit principle called ‘Mudita’ which means “finding joy in the good fortune of others.”
Durban is a beautiful, culturally diverse and vibrant city. From our beautiful beaches to our prized heritage sites – at its core Durban is a melting pot of most of the typically South African cultures.
Like most big cities, Durban’s streets are also the beds and homes for many street people of varying ages. Research has not identified any particular reason why so many people live on our streets, but it is a reality that we must face. The less fortunate of SA and Durban appear not to contribute to society, many of these individuals have fallen off the radar and have found themselves living on the streets, eking out an existence.
The initiative to help these less fortunate individuals had two key phases. Phase One was known as ‘Snap me’ where the homeless where given red t-shirts and instructed not to beg but to ask motorist to snap pictures of them. This is a unique way of presenting the beggars in Durban to encourage awareness on social media, as well as to create conversation about this very different approach to helping and preventing begging. The next phase saw the same people wearing green t-shirts where they started working to clean the streets of Durban by picking up litter, recycling and planting gardens at the intersections. This gave them a sense of purpose and responsibly.
Samuels Siza Foundation, as an organization, has responded to the cries for help from the people of Durban’s streets. They have assisted in making the beggars lives whole by providing social workers, councilors, assistance in obtained ID books, bank accounts and more. Together with this they have given these people a stipend of R100 a day for the work that they have done in making Durban Beautiful.
This is simple and possible by being kind to the nature, being kind to fellow human beings and by volunteering to make a change. In order to do so one has to be mindful and that has to come from with-in. Compassion is not injected it’s an inspiration. Samuels Siza since day one has been actively bringing in positive changes in the lives of poor on the street. This is a beginning and a lot can and need to be done which is a collective effort by people from all walks of life”.
To donate to Samuels Siza Foundation and to help change the lives of the less fortunate simply visit www.samuelssizafoundation.org for more information.