Durban - THE Daily News Milk Fund recently lost one of its longest supporters, who regularly helped feed thousands of children around the province over the past 29 years. Muniem Vaizie died last week after a long illness.
His son Imraan spoke about how his father not only helped children from the Milk Fund, but other disadvantaged families around the city, too.
His father was introduced to the Milk Fund by a late family friend, Essop Kajee, who had been an ardent supporter of the Milk Fund for decades. After Kajee died, Vaizie continued to collect money for the Milk Fund to help children in need.
“His passion was to serve the community,” Imraan said.
Sushie Munsamy, who works at Independent Media’s community projects, said Vaizie would collect R7000 every month for the Milk Fund, and during the holy month of Ramadaan he collected extra to help children in need. He also helped with fundraising at the Juma Mosque (Grey Street Mosque), she said.
OVER the past 30 years, Muniem Vaizie appeared several times in the Daily News for his fund-raising efforts.
The Milk Fund provides milk and milk powder to thousands of children in crèches in KwaZulu-Natal. It has been helping the needy since 1931 and gets funding from the public, Independent Media staff and various companies.
Imraan said his father was also involved in other activities such as the Al Wida, which was held towards the end of Ramadaan, and had been doing so for more than 50 years.
He had often been asked why he never became a trustee at the mosque, to which his father would reply that he didn’t want the responsibility of being a trustee and that all he wanted to do was to help the public.
Vaizie had worked as a shop assistant for more than 50 years at Star Stores and was also the last living member of the Overport Muslim Marching Brigade.
Describing Vaizie’s personality, Imraan said: “He was a family man. He did not care about what he wore and never drove a car and would often walk to places he needed to go to.”
Besides raising funds, he also helped the less fortunate in the community achieve their dreams, and some of these beneficiaries were doctors today.
“He was small, but he had the heart of a giant,” Imraan said.