“Humanity is the best religion.” We have heard it often and from how many people! This line is more straightforward said and more easily forgotten.
But this heroic individual leads by example and serves the real purpose of humanity. This HatkeStory is of Mohammed Sujathullah from Hyderabad. His inspiring journey takes us approximately four years back when he was still in college and striving hard to get his degree.
Mohammed Sujath journey to become Foodman of Hyderabad
At that time, he took a vow to feed ten hungry people if he passed his exams. True to his words, Mohammed Sujath went to the nearby railway station and bought food for ten people after he passed his examinations with flying colors. It is where it all started. A single kind gesture, a vow. But little did he know that his journey as the “Foodman of Hyderabad” had already begun!
Slowly and steadily, he started feeding more and more people whenever he could. He did the first feeding with his own money, but he had to ask for donations to feed more people due to insufficient funds.
He first approached his family members to give out a day’s income. To his surprise, everybody agreed happily. Sujath is from a modest family. His father is a retired teacher, and they live in a rented house. But this did not stop Sujath from ‘giving.’ He wanted to do his best.
One day during his final year in college, he approached an older man sitting on the side of the road and offered him a food packet. But the man refused and said that he had already eaten that night. He requested Sujath to give the packet of food to someone else. It left Sujath speechless.
It indeed was a turning point for Mohammed Sujath. The older man did not think of the next day. He wanted the food to reach another hungry person instead. The older man knew the pain of starving and did not want someone else to suffer while he fed on more than one meal for the day.
It made Sujath realize that there were thousands of people who survived on just a single daily meal! He decided to feed them all.
During his Master’s Degree in Hyderabad, Sujath gathered several donors and officially registered his organization as ‘Humanity First Foundation.’ Due to his studies, he could not give out food at night. So he decided to start early in the morning. First, he brought 150 packets of food and went to distribute them in front of a hospital. He was a bit apprehensive about how many people might turn up. To his surprise, approximately 300 people turned up at the gates of the hospital seeking food.
From that very day till date, Mohammed Sujath has been serving food to people. From the past 1460 days (four years), every single day.
And today, one hospital has expanded into three hospitals. More than a thousand people benefit from this every day. Sujath is now Dr. Mohammed Sujath, and his Humanity First Foundation is now a vast family of love donated and served by thousands worldwide. A small act of help that started with a mere donation of Rs.5000 has now emerged as an international organization feeding and caring for the needy.
Along with food, the foundation also provides free tailoring classes, food to orphanages, hospitals, helps the elderly meet their needs, conducts medical camps, helps the needy during natural calamities, and many more. During the Hyderabad Floods, the organization raised funds to meet the people who lost their livelihood.
Mohammed Sujath is trying to help everyone in one way or the other. Even amongst this pandemic, he still stands in front of hospitals providing food. His organization is still working amidst the pandemic to provide for the poor. He has been providing free oxygen cylinders to Covid-19 patients for the last four months. He has successfully helped 400+ patients already!
Whatever noble event or camp it might be, Mohammed Sujath is never absent there. He does everything without refusing. Even after such a huge recognition and accomplishment, he still drives to the three hospitals daily to continue what he started, from where he started.
But this journey has not been an easy one. Apart from the financial roadblocks, Sujath encountered a lot of social and religious hurdles as well. He was criticized and refused help many times. Some people from his religion and some of his relatives did not approve that he helped non-Muslims. They forced him to serve only the Muslim community.
Sujath could have distributed food in front of a mosque to favor a single community. Still, he stood firmly in front of a hospital to show that religion is not essential. Humanity is. And it is the only thing that matters the most!
Mohammed Sujath has received many national and international awards for his selfless service and was honored as the Pride of Hyderabad. If a boy from an average middle-class family can feed thousands daily, it just goes to prove that humanity is the only thing that can change the world for the better.
He believed that he could prevent at least one person from going hungry to bed every day, and he proved what he believed and how! Humanity is never lost and will continue to prevail till the world has selfless humanitarians like Sujath.
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Wonderful story. Good bless Sujath. What a beautiful piece of write-up!