He looks frail. But Syed Abdul Razaak has nerves of steel. For a 11-year-old boy, raising Rs. 80,000 to save his mother's heart is no small achievement. In fact, he relentlessly continues to collect the rest of the Rs. 1.23 lakhs needed for aortic valve replacement for A. Ayesha, his 33-year-old mother.
This standard VI student of a school on Vincent Road here juggles with domestic commitment and studies. He has to look after a 10-year-old brother and a three-year-old sister. "I study while on bus to school and between midnight and 1 a.m. after I finish domestic chores."
Razaak is scared to say why his well-educated father left them. But he is determined to save his mother. "I travelled to Tiruchi, Gobichettipalayam, Dharapuram, Udumalpet, Mettupalayam, Udhagamandalam, Erode and Salem to meet people for surgery expenses."
People at a mosque here provided him with the address of philanthropists. (The surgery is to be performed at the G. Kuppusamy Naidu Memorial Hospital in the city. It has also provided some concession.)
The way he has collected funds so far reveals maturity beyond his age. "I first got Rs. 1,500 from a mosque in Coimbatore. Of this, I set aside Rs. 1,000 for the surgery and used the rest for travel to various places to mobilise funds."
On how he travelled, Razaak says: "I left by bus at 6 a.m. to these places. There I walked to meet various persons and got back to Coimbatore by 10 p.m."
Ayesha's heart disorder was detected only in April. Till then, she worked in a pharmacy for five years and as a postal savings agent. But the family is said to have struggled to make both ends meet. Fortunately for Razaak and his siblings, a minorities' trust pays their school fees.
"I like Science and Social Studies. I want to study well. I do not play any sport. I was happy collecting stamps and coins. But now I need to save my mother," he says.
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