The Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH) will be hosting a multi-faith prayer to commemorate their centenary milestone anniversary on Saturday, 1 May.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the prayer will be live-streamed on the home’s Facebook page from 10am to 1pm. The multi-faith prayer will be conducted by Bishop Rubin Phillip and Dr A V Mahomed, while the Havan will be conducted by Arthi Shanand, the President of the Arya Samaj SA. Naren Pattundeen, CEO of the ABH, said Eshu Seevnarayan will deliver a speech on behalf of Jeremy Droyman, the President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Guest speakers will also include Pattundeen and Mohil Bandulal, president of the ABH Council.
The home has been praised by the first citizen himself, President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the stellar work that they have done throughout their 100 year existence. Ramaphosa said, “The ABH is a home of hope and compassion. Through the work that you do, you are building a united non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society. The government cannot provide social good and public services without the helping hand of organisations such as the ABH. You are an indispensable instrument in extending the reach of the state.” Noteworthy developments that took place at the home recently were the creation of the ABH Centenary School, the new Salligram elderly care facility which is now based at the ABH’s headquarters, the upgrading of the ABH VJ Kara Family Centre and the upgrade of the AYS facility. All developments and upgrades were made possible through donor funding. Pattundeen said the council implements the principles of King IV Report on Corporate Governance to ensure integrity, responsibility, accountability and transparency. “The ABH council has helped our home make tremendous progress over the last five years by improving our home’s governance, maintenance, new builds, rationalisation of assets, staff training, staff restructuring, expense control and strategy.”
He added, “The question we ask ourselves every day is what additional measures can we take to raise more funds and decrease expenditure to meet our running cost of R50 million per year. Fifty percent of our funding is subsidised by the Department of Social Development and the balance is raised through fundraising initiatives. Our projects, namely borehole water purification, harvesting and purification of rain water and an automated hot water system have decreased our operational costs however on a monthly basis we have to raise R517 000 per month through donations. In addition, we purchase PPE at a cost of R100 000 per month.” On the eve of the commemoration, Pattundeen thanked their supporters while appealing to businesses and individuals for assistance. “We are grateful to everyone that has supported our Home through the decades. Through your heartfelt kindness we have collectively been able to care and serve South Africa’s most vulnerable people. We appeal to corporates and individuals to assist us once again. Thank you very much for helping us serve humanity.”
