21 November,2010 10:14 AM IST | | Kranti Vibhute
Sajid Sheikh who earned Rs 15 at a bangle shop was picked up by a children's shelter. He's off to Australia soon to train in sound recording
How 18 year-old Sajid Sheikh's life turned around, since his bangle-making days when he earned Rs 15 a day, sounds like the making of a musical. In two weeks, Sheikh will make his way to Sydney for an introduction to sound recording thanks to Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children (PCVC), a Panvel-based NGO, Red Dust, an Australian NGO that works with marginalised children, and MusoMagic, an Australian agency that conducts music workshops.
Sheikh has been living with his younger brother at PCVC since 2005, while his widowed mother and two other brothers live in a slum in Malad. His family fell on hard times when they lost his father. "There was no food to eat and all of us stopped going to school," recalls Sheikh who was then aged 12.
While his mother worked as a domestic help, Sheikh took on various jobs to make ends meet. That's when he was spotted by Pratham's team five years ago.u00a0 "When the hotel I worked for shut down, I found work at a bangle-making shop. I had to stick metal wires to the bangles." Since the wire was thin and the task at hand tough, Sheikh often returned home with bruised palms. When a PCVC official expressed interest in helping her family, Sheikh's mother Rehana willingly let her eldest and youngest leave for the shelter. PCVC could afford to rehabilitate only two members of Sheikh's family at a time.
Five years at PCVC, and Sheikh, a class 7 dropout cleared the rest of his exams and is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Commerce degree. Just last month, the band Chocolate Starfish's singer Adam Thompson, who also runs music workshops through his organisation MusoMagic, noticed Sheikh's interest in sound recording. Now the 18 year-old will travel for a three to six month training in sound recording.
Says Sheikh's mother, "Today my son can pursue any career. I am happy for him since he is going to Australia, and am thankful to Pratham for educating him." Sheikh adds, "I'm eagerly waiting for my visa." Farida Lamba, vice principal, Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work and co-founder of Pratham NGO, said, "This is first time that a child from Pratham is going abroad for specialised training."
