A law student used her knowledge and partnered with a law firm to draw up 240 wills for the Hanover Park community.
Kouthar Davids has been involved with charitable work over the years, which includes helping an orphanage with stationery, clothing and toys.
She also assisted the Hanover Park and Mowbray Maternity and Obstetrics Unit (MOU) collecting baby clothing, and helped out Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, and the informal settlements in Belgravia and Pooke se Bos.
In November last year, the conveyancing paralegal and LLB student, decided to formalise her charitable work, and launched the Kouthar Charitable Journey.
According to Ms Davids, the highlight of her journey, was when she and her team handed over 120 sharia-compliant and 120 non-sharia wills to the underprivileged on Saturday February 25.
This was done at no cost. Ms Davids was assisted by young people from Algoa Community Youth Development, under the leadership of Victor and Monica Roberts.
Other partners for this venture included, Advocate Muhammed Abduroaf, the owner of Private Legal, who offered his services for free, and Tashreeq Isaacs from the Cape Issue.
Said Ms Davids: “We didn’t want to formalise it too much, so we brought in Tolla Funny Kaap for entertainment, and we were also sponsored a 120-litre pot of food, which was handed out to the community. “We also received donations of cooldrink; Faik Lakay did the sound; Nabeel Saal did the design; Gotoprint helped with the printing of the wills and my mother, Naeemah Simons did a motivational talk.
“She played the role of my all-round personal assistant.”
She added that the community was overwhelmed by the free wills.
When asked why she decided to embark on a project specifically aimed at wills, Ms Davids said: “Death can knock on our doors at any time, and legal firms charge a lot of money for wills. We had so many positive feedback, and I believe we are on the right track. So many seniors told me that they needed it, and some said they don’t want their children to fight over their assets.
“Even if we just made one person happy, we would have fulfilled our purpose for the day,” she explained.
