Case Studies

BT helps feeding scheme reach out in South Africa

2010

Mohamed Bagha, a Service Manager in BT Global Services from South Africa was delighted to hear he had won a BT Community Champions Award for his work with the Umhlanga Islamic Society and in particular the feeding scheme.

Mohamed told us more about the society, "The members of the feeding scheme of the Umhlanga Islamic Society gather every Sunday morning from about 6:00 to 9:00 and using the ingredients that have been donated by other members we cook a nutritious and fulfilling meal in quite large quantities.

"The food is then taken to the neighbouring areas such as Blackburn and Phoenix where there are plenty of homeless and less fortunate people and handed out for them to eat. We like to think that the meals that we provide to the 200 plus individuals goes some way in sustaining them for at least a couple of days while they continue in their endeavours to get back on their feet."

Mohamed continued, "The unemployment rate in South Africa is over 20%[1] and many families have only one person who is the bread winner.  As such, even the little that we do is nowhere near enough, but everything we do does count and the reward is in the many statements of gratitude we constantly receive."

Mohamed has been an active member with the group for three years and gives up to 12 hours a month of his own time to volunteer on the scheme.

He described his involvement, "My personal involvement is to help with the cooking and distributing of the food. We take the raw ingredients and cook them ourselves. When the food is ready we pack it into containers take it to the rural areas where there are people in need and serve it to the individuals in the community there."

We asked Mohamed what will the £100 award money be spent on and how will it benefit the group. He told us, "The money will be spent on ingredients and food to help us prepare the meals for the people we are helping. I was delighted to receive the award and would like to thank BT for recognising the work we do here at the Society. It is a good feeling to know that BT values its people and the work they do in the community not just in the UK but overseas and in places such as South Africa."

[1] http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-29-sa-unemployment-rate-increases

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