Cape Town - Huawei was so impressed to learn that their cellphone had saved a man’s life, that they gave the Cape Town businessman a new phone.
Siraaj Abrahams, 41, of Schaapkraal, was ambushed and shot in the chest by two robbers as he was pulling his bakkie into his driveway last Saturday.
Fortunately his P8 Light in his jacket pocket took the 9mm bullet.
The tech company read the story online and immediately sent in some bigwigs to check out the claim themselves.
On Thursday, Hawa Hyath, the Marketing Director of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, and Taryn Dredge, Huawei Digital Manager from Johannesburg, met with Siraaj and his wife Shamiela, 41.
They took the couple to lunch at a restaurant in Claremont, where they presented Siraaj with their latest model, the P9 Light, to replace his “heroic” P8 Light.
Shamiela revealed an ECG report found that Siraaj’s heart had actually stopped for a few moments after he was shot.
She said: “We said Allah is great, because this is all God’s work, everything had to happen the way it did. We received an ECG report that showed he had flatlined for a few seconds.
Hawa said they were keen to meet Siraaj because they want to know how their product impacts people’s daily lives.
And it’s apparently not the first time Huawei has saved someone’s life.
She added: “We had a similar story in Africa a few years ago where a media pad received a bullet while a researcher was conducting his field work.
“We first read about Siraaj’s story in our Nigeria office, then it travelled to our Kenya office and landed up in China.”
The delegation made a short film about Siraaj and the Daily Voice, which will be packaged and sent to the big bosses in the East.
Siraaj has also been invited to be a VIP guest at home matches for Ajax Cape Town, who are sponsored by Huawei.
Daily Voice