In Hyderabad, social worker Mohammed Asif Hussain Sohail has spent the past 15 years supporting people in low-income communities through education, food, healthcare and rehabilitation. Through his Sakina Foundation and Slums to Oxford initiative, more than 1,000 learners aged eight to 80 attend three evening schools, while his team provides thousands of free meals each day.
The initiative began after Sohail lost his young daughter, Sakina, to pneumonia and organ failure. He left politics and chose to dedicate his life to serving vulnerable communities in her memory. Over 5,748 consecutive days, his team has distributed free meals, while the foundation says it has served more than 40 lakh underprivileged people, contributed over 15,000 units of blood and organised more than 111 medical and blood donation camps. Sohail says his work is driven by service rather than recognition or donations, with a simple vision: people living in slums should have opportunities to change their lives through education and dignity.
From Classrooms To Community Kitchens
Every evening, classrooms in Hyderabad’s low-income neighbourhoods bring together people who might otherwise never share the same learning space. Elderly residents, vegetable vendors, daily wage workers and children sit together to learn basic reading, writing and arithmetic.
Among the learners are people as old as 80, including a 78-year-old woman who took up a pencil to learn for the first time. Sohail believes educating adults can have a wider impact because their efforts can encourage children and grandchildren in the same family to value education. Through three evening schools under the Slums to Oxford initiative, more than 1,000 learners between eight and 80 are currently receiving education and vocational training.
The programme also addresses social concerns including domestic violence, human trafficking and drug abuse, while vocational courses particularly focus on creating opportunities for women. The initiative’s name reflects Sohail’s larger ambition: a person’s circumstances or address should not determine how far they can go in life. Alongside education, his organisation has built a community support system around food, healthcare and rehabilitation.
For 5,748 days without a break, his team has served free lunch in low-income neighbourhoods. What started with 50 plates has expanded to thousands of meals every day, prepared through community kitchens. For abandoned elders, homeless people and those struggling with addiction, the meals are intended to provide more than immediate relief, with the organisation also connecting people to rehabilitation and work opportunities. Sohail describes food as a basic human need rather than something divided by social identity, saying, “Food is beyond caste or religion. It is humanity’s need.”
A Mission Shaped By Personal Loss
The roots of Sohail’s work lie in a deeply personal tragedy. Fifteen years ago, he lost his young daughter, Sakina, to pneumonia and organ failure. At the time, Sohail was pursuing a political career, but the loss changed the direction of his life. He stepped away from politics and began building a service-oriented mission in his daughter’s memory. He later founded the Sakina Foundation, which has grown into a support network for vulnerable communities.
According to the details shared about the foundation, it has provided free meals to more than 40 lakh underprivileged people, contributed over 15,000 units of blood and supported families with rations, medical treatment and school fees. It has also organised more than 111 medical and blood donation camps. Monthly blood donation drives alone collect between 300 and 400 units for hospitals.
The foundation’s work extends to families struggling to meet everyday expenses, children requiring surgeries and people seeking rehabilitation. The organisation’s education and skill centres have also helped thousands of children and adults access learning and vocational training. Sohail’s approach is rooted in the belief that sustained community support can restore dignity as well as address immediate needs.
He has received state, national and international awards for his work, but says recognition is not why he continues. “I am not working for awards. My reward comes from the Creator,” he said. He also does not accept donations, saying that he considers it his responsibility to spend from what he earns. Reflecting on the loss that started his journey, Sohail said, “God took one daughter from me, but he gave me thousands more.” He has described the commitment as one he intends to continue for the rest of his life, saying he wants to serve people in need and be a voice for those who are often unheard.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Sohail’s story offers a reminder that social change does not always begin with a large institution, a major campaign or a government programme. Sometimes, it begins with one person responding to personal grief by choosing service over withdrawal. Over 15 years, his work has brought together education, food, healthcare, blood donation, rehabilitation and vocational training, addressing different forms of vulnerability within the same communities.
The most striking element is the emphasis on dignity: an elderly person learning to write, a child gaining access to school, a family receiving food or a person struggling with addiction being offered a route towards rehabilitation can each represent a meaningful change in someone’s life. His belief that food should rise above caste and religion also speaks to a wider idea of coexistence: basic human needs can bring people together when social divisions often push them apart.
At the same time, stories of individual philanthropy also remind us that lasting social progress requires communities, institutions and public systems to work together so that access to education, healthcare, nutrition and opportunity does not depend only on individual acts of generosity.
Sohail’s vision of taking someone from a slum to Oxford is ultimately about refusing to let poverty become a permanent limit on a person’s aspirations. Can sustained acts of kindness and community support become a stronger force for social change when we choose to see dignity as a right rather than a privilege?
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