Tea Seller Who Left Studies Due To Poverty, Now Teaches At University As Professor
Tea Seller Who Left Studies Due To Poverty, Now Teaches At University As Professor
We have heard many extraordinary stories of real people who despite being born with no privileges manage to pull their lives together.
This might be just the case of good luck like the tea seller from Pakistan who was discovered by a photographer and now owns a cafe, or sheer hard work like this tea vendor who worked several jobs and got himself a job as a professor.
Rafiq Ibrahim, a tea seller who hails from a small village in Kerala’s Echome village, was a bright student but describes his early years spent in poverty in a village, “ Though I had a first-class, my first thought was to try some manual jobs in the area.
Once out of school, boys would work in a jeep as a driver or a cleaner, and girls would be married off. That was how it was in Echome,” he said.
He and his sister clearly had other plans and were not going to be satisfied with just that.
“ I could see me wandering the streets filled with sandalwood agarbatti factories and lathe machines, screaming aloud ‘Tea Bekka’ (do you want tea) and pleading with customers to pay money.”
He had to give up his education at the age of 19. However, he kept on learning and reading in his free time while working minor jobs.
He worked hard and worked several jobs to survive and support his family financially.
He said, “ As the condition at home remained the same, I went to Wandoor in Malappuram district where I got a job in a hotel at the bus stand,” he said. However it got shut soon after and he had to take up another job.
He cleaned vehicles and worked as a footwear salesman for two years before his sister finally got a job and his family’s financial conditions started getting more stable.
It was then that he decided to complete his education.
He cleaned vehicles and worked as a footwear salesman for two years before his sister finally got a job and his family’s financial conditions started getting more stable.
It was then that he decided to complete his education.
We have heard many extraordinary stories of real people who despite being born with no privileges manage to pull their lives together.
This might be just the case of good luck like the tea seller from Pakistan who was discovered by a photographer and now owns a cafe, or sheer hard work like this tea vendor who worked several jobs and got himself a job as a professor.
Rafiq Ibrahim, a tea seller who hails from a small village in Kerala’s Echome village, was a bright student but describes his early years spent in poverty in a village, “ Though I had a first-class, my first thought was to try some manual jobs in the area.
Once out of school, boys would work in a jeep as a driver or a cleaner, and girls would be married off. That was how it was in Echome,” he said.
He and his sister clearly had other plans and were not going to be satisfied with just that.
“ I could see me wandering the streets filled with sandalwood agarbatti factories and lathe machines, screaming aloud ‘Tea Bekka’ (do you want tea) and pleading with customers to pay money.”
He had to give up his education at the age of 19. However, he kept on learning and reading in his free time while working minor jobs.
He worked hard and worked several jobs to survive and support his family financially.
He said, “As the condition at home remained the same, I went to Wandoor in Malappuram district where I got a job in a hotel at the bus stand,” he said.
However it got shut soon after and he had to take up another job.
He cleaned vehicles and worked as a footwear salesman for two years before his sister finally got a job and his family’s financial conditions started getting more stable.
It was then that he decided to complete his education.
He took up BA Economics course at Calicut University and applied for the MA Malayalam course at the Sree Sankara Sanskrit University in Kalady.
He then went on to get his MPhil degree and his PhD.
He secured a job as the assistant professor in Malayalam department at Kannur University and now teaches at the Nileshwar campus.
We often make excuses of not having enough time to read or workout or do anything else while working a desk job while here is an extraordinary man whose quest for knowledge earned him degrees and laurels and took him from dingy streets to a college campus where he now teaches.
