Durban - South Africa’s parents were not only not carrying out their parenting duties properly, but according to the founder of one of Africa’s largest charity organisations, parents had “absconded from parenting”.
Speaking at the Alan Memorial Lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus on Tuesday, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers charity, said many of the behavioural problems among the youth stemmed from bad parenting.
“We have absconded from our parenting duties. As parents we tell our children not to text while driving and yet we are the ones who do that,” he said. He said children had grown up in an environment that emphasised materialism as opposed to service to others.
“You see this in the choice of vehicles by students.The egoism is on display for all to see. This is not the way things used to be,” Sooliman said. He challenged institutions, including universities, to place more emphasis on serving humanity.
He urged South Africans to look beyond their religious beliefs as this presented a chance for people to help each other. “Our problem is that we want to put labels and forget we are all human and are basically the same regardless of skin colour.”
Sooliman gave an account of the challenges faced by Gift of the Givers volunteers over its 24-year existence. He said one of the reasons for Gift of the Givers’ success was the support the organisation enjoyed across religious and colour lines.
ANA