It was an uneventful start to the first day of classes for seven-year-old Sameer Khan when his father, Feroz Khan, 37, gave him a ride to his school in Debe on his bicycle.
However, that image of the father taking his son to school on the bicycle, which was published in the T&T Guardian, caught the eye of a Central businessman who noticed that the bicycle’s front tyre was flat.
The businessman managed to track down Khan and purchased a brand new bicycle for him. But when he went to Khan’s home in south Trinidad to deliver the surprise, the businessman was taken aback at the sight of the family’s dilapidated wooden home which is on the verge of collapse. The house is sparely furnished with just a bed, mattress, hammock and a makeshift shelf with a broken one-burner counter top stove.
Khan lives there with his wife, Sharleen Ramoutar, and their four children ages seven, five, three and two.
Khan said he was very happy about what the photograph has generated.
“My neighbour called me and tell me that some heads wanted to meet me, some Muslim brothers wanted to meet me and they came and meet me.
“They bought a new bicycle for me that day and when they saw my house they tell me they will build a new house for me, so I clear out some grass and waiting for them to come and start it,” he said
Khan, who said he grew up in a swamp area with his parents and 11 sibling and has known poverty all his life, said, “My father used to do yard work and work CEPEP to take care of us. I was a school dropout. I grew up and live a hard life but I’m trying to get a better life for my children and for them to get an education.
“I don’t have a regular job but don’t mind getting one because I am a very skilled labourer. I could do anything. I could do painting, mortaring, plastering, digging trench, anything.”
One of the businessmen, who wants to remain anonymous, said they have been offering support to people in need for the past 15 or 16 years.
“This just shows that the society is still a caring society. In these trying times when you still have people recovering from the lockdown of COVID and people still willing to give, it augers well,” he said.
Anyone willing to help the family can contact them at 341-3236.
