Temple collapse victim with an artist's heart who fed communities

KISHORE Hurribhujan was a commercial farmer from Verulam with a fine arts degree. He dedicated 40 years of his life to building JH Fresh Produce and generously donated vegetables several times a week to feed the local community.  

His daughter shared how this artistic soul tragically lost his life while delivering fresh produce for charity.

An emotional Bhavisha Soorajmoney said her father was demanding but loved deeply.

“I grew up with tough love. My father wanted me to learn his business. He was strong-minded and always wanted to build big things. He had a big heart and helped anybody and everyone. We would never find another person like him,” she said.

She said her father supplied vegetables free of charge to Food For Love Africa.

“He was close to Vic and he knew the vegetables were going to a good cause. He fed so many people with his pure heart and kind gestures.

“Our father went to the temple three to four days a week to deliver the vegetables. On the day of the incident he went to deliver the vegetables and have a chat with Vic. They had a meeting and talked about the construction site – that is why they were inside the building. We did not expect him to die in such a traumatic way,” said Soorajmoney. 

She said they learned of the tragedy through social media.

“We only found out about what happened to him about an hour after the building collapsed. We saw his van at the scene on social media. We immediately went there.

“We did not know what was happening. We thought we would just fetch him and take him to the doctor. But the hours just flew by. That evening they called  off the search and told us to go home.

“That shattered us - to leave our loved one trapped and alone. There were so many rumours circulating that the victims had spoken and that gave us hope. It was a nightmare to constantly go back and wait there,” said Soorajmoney. 

She said her father had a BA in fine arts and once taught art through sign language at the VN Naik school before returning to farming.

“His calling was farming. He loved animals, rescued strays, and cooked for them every day. He just wanted to do good and be good. This year was meant to be special. He was the biggest hearted person and built a legacy. He was the biggest litchi farmer in Verulam.

“He had 700 lush trees and said this would be a great season. He did not get to reap his crop. He had built up the farm so much in recent years because he wanted to feel fulfilled as he was getting older.

“His birthday would have been in January. He worked day and night. I will miss his presence in everything. He was powerful and had a different kind of spirituality which drove him to always do good,” said Soorajmoney.

Cape Times