Every morning, Mohammad Mustafa, 55, sets off on his bicycle through the narrow bylanes of Ranchi. In a cloth bag slung from the handlebar are a set of brushes, a few bottles of paint and some placards. He stops when he sees a wall with enough space for a powerful message: “Adhe pet khaayenge, phir bhi school padhne jaayenge (We will go hungry if we have to, but will go to school to study).” This has been Mustafa’s routine since the early 1990s.
Mustafa’s only source of income is the Rs 4,800 monthly rent that he gets from a couple of fruit sellers who sit outside his family-owned fruit shop in Ranchi’s Daily Market. He says he has few needs and lives with the singular aim of getting children to school. Though Mustafa says he can’t put a number to how many children he helped put in school, people in his locality vouch for his work.
Mustafa is now building his own school.
Rarely we come across such motivational stories. Here, Mustafa, all alone, has been able to change life of so many. Hope the media also brings out more of such stories which can motivate others also to some more for the society.
Read more of this in a report of Prashant Pandey published in The Indian Express....
