samuels Siza Foundation Background

Samuels Siza Foundation is a non-profit organisation of Samuels Group. It was founded in February 2019 with its first initiative called the Mudita Initiative (Beggers Initiative) which assisted the destitute homeless people of Durban.

Mudita is a Sanskrit word that means “finding joy in the good fortune of others”. Samuels Siza Foundation seeks to spread this measure throughout Durban as it is the base principle of the Foundations operation.

Currently the Foundation is in the process of finding other avenues to achieve its goals and help the destitute homeless in our society.

The future plans for the Foundation is to replicate the good works that we’ve done throughout South Africa. We hope to positively contribute towards the National Development Goals and the 2030 Vision Plans set out by the United Nations. “We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.” (United Nations; 2015)

Samuels Siza Foundation believes that any act of kindness with the right intention however small will contribute towards a better tomorrow for our cities, country and world.

There are many people who want to help but don’t know how. So we as Samuels Siza Foundation have put up our hands to offer a solution to two of the glaring problems in society, homelessness and pollution.

If you would like to pick up your hand to assist too, and support what our Foundation stands for and is doing email us at: siza@samuels.co.za. We need your help to create a better society together.

References:
(2015). United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. [2020, February 27] Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

Siza Initiatives

MUDITA INITIATIVE

Mudita Initiative / Beggars Initiative

Samuels Service Centre chose to elevate our society in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Durban is a beautiful, cultured and vibrant city. From our populated beaches to our heritage sites where our culture and zest for life is vibrantly evident. 

Durban’s street are also the beds and homes of many people varying in ages. It has not been identified why so many people live on our streets but it is a reality of our city that we have to face. 

The Mudita Initiative sought to offer the homeless a fair way of earning money by picking up the litter on our streets at the intersections and to plant flower gardens in the hope of beautifying Durban. For two months Samuels Siza Foundation had given 80 homeless people hope by allowing them to positively contribute to society and provided them with a daily meal.

The whole initiative for the community upliftment is based off the meaning of Mudita. Mudita simply means finding joy in the good fortune of others. Inherently the less fortunate of SA and Durban appear to not contribute to society. Many of these individuals are seen begging for money on the sides of the streets and at traffic lights. And people tend to shy away from these individuals by rolling up their windows when they come past or completely ignoring them. 

The initiative’s initial phase was to get people to simply take a picture of the less fortunate in their red t-shirts showing a smile on their face instead of a begging face and posting it on Facebook with #Samuels. The more pictures and posts they got with positive comments the more those individuals would earn. We were not asking that people give out money to these individuals, but merely celebrate their good fortunate acts of cleaning our streets. 

Posting and tagging Samuels created awareness for this community focused cause. The more pictures and posts each less fortunate individual got the more Samuels remunerated them. 

Phase 2 of the Mudita Initiative was to have the less fortunate start to take pride in the corner that the commonly stood on. By starting to plant curb side flower gardens that were going to enhance the beauty of Durban.  

Unfortunately, these good works were forcibly stopped by the previous deputy mayor Fawzia Peer and the Metro police. 

It will take mere seconds for the privileged or fortunate to find good in what we are trying to do with elevating the less fortunate and Durban’s city. And we are positive that Durban will support such an initiative when given the opportunity again.

SIZA FOODS

Siza Foods

Samuels Siza Foundation (SSF) is an NPO that is trying to start an initiative to help our outer-skirted communities. COVID-19 has changed the way many of us socialize, communicate and shop. Due to the impact from the nationwide lockdown there are many companies that are hiking up their shop items prices to cope with the decreased demand and to cover their overheads. 

Siza Foods is an initiative that appeals to the South African community for donations to BUY DOWN the prices of essential food items. These donations will go towards covering the overhead costs of making the groceries available to communities. Samuels Oil and Samuels Siza Foundation will not take any profit from the sale of these food items. With donations covering the overhead costs we can make the essential grocery items cheaper every month, and increase the benefit to the poorer subsections of our South African communities. 

The essential foods that are offered to the communities are items such as rice, samp, mielie meal, oil, tin fish etc. These essential foods are being sold from Samuels Oil retail filling station’s shops. These filling stations shops are located in downtown areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

The Siza Foods Initiative should bring about cost effective and easy access shopping for communities such as Himeville, Dundee, Newcastle, Mount Frere and the like. 

We want to offer a place where monthly groceries can be bought at a price that is affordable while remaining sustainable. Samuels Siza Foundation is doing this to compensate communities for the long-term for the hardships that they have faced and will continue to face for the foreseeable future due to the Corona Virus and the global pandemic. 

Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC)

Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC)

Samuels Service Centre supports the non-profit charity organization the Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC) located at 16 Mona road, Durban.
Their good works stretch within the whole of Durban with the intention of empowering people to become self-sustained individuals.

This public benefits organization empowers individuals through care and counselling by hosting various talks and activities that empower people to become contributory citizens to our society.

Empowerment for those individuals that have lost hope in their lives or can’t find a way to rebuild themselves. The services that they offer is not subject to race, gender, religion or age; and empowerment of people stretches from domestic violence victims to victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse, to the unemployed, sick and suicidal.
There is a word that perfectly characterize the good works of the UCEC which is Mudita. Mudita means finding ‘joy in the good fortune of others.’ UCEC works overtime so that people in our Durban community are educated and empowered to obtain a second chance in society.
Their passion comes from knowing that destitute individuals are being helped and empowered to live better lives.

Samuels Service Centre finds joy in what the UCEC is doing for others and we have chosen to help and assist them in order to see that the good fortune onto others that they give spreads across Durban to make our city more joyous.

Please if you are willing to assist the UCEC in anyway with money, food or your time contact 031 824 7951 or 031 538 3214.
To learn more about events and programs that the UCEC do visit their website.