Learning a new trade helps expat climb out of poverty
KHAN, WHO CAME TO ABU DHABI WITH NOTHING 15 YEARS AGO, HAS A SHOE SHOP TODAY
Azad Bahadur Khan came to Abu Dhabi 15 years ago, carrying nothing with him except the clothes he was wearing.
Today, the 51-year-old Pakistani cobbler has managed to buy a Toyota sedan, a pickup truck and build a home in Pakistan for his nine children — five daughters and four sons — aged between two and 22.
Learning a new trade in the UAE completely transformed his life, Khan said.
Khan has come a long way from struggling to make ends meet as a pick-up driver in Pakistan. “I had nothing back home and was surviving on a paltry income from working as a pickup driver. But things have changed a lot for me since I moved to Abu Dhabi and started my own shoerepair business,” he told Gulf News in an interview.
Khan, who hails from Zhob, a district in Balochistan province of Pakistan, runs his small 5x8 foot Azad Shoe Repair Shop on Abu Dhabi’s Elektra Street.
“My elder brother, who runs a shoe-repair shop in Madinat Zayed, sent me a visit visa 15 years back. He taught me to mend shoes and supported me in opening this shop,” Khan said.
Far from being unhappy with his job, Khan has a profound love for what he calls his profession as it financially supports his family and children. He has now apprenticed Abdul Quddus, his 22-yearold son. Both mend people’s old shoes to earn their livelihood and support the family back home in Pakistan.
“I had no home, vehicle or business back in Pakistan. It was beyond my imagination to even think of owning a car. But destiny had decided something else for me,” Khan said.
Educating his kids
He mends people’s shoes here and thanks to this job, back home his children get good education and health care. “Any profession is not bad and my profession is bread and butter for me,” Bahadur Khan said.
Poverty back home didn’t allow Bahadur Khan to continue his schooling after grade 4, but he supports his children to get an education. ■ ■
“Things started changing when I came to Abu Dhabi. Now my children go to school. This profession helped me to live a happy life, he said.
“Despite the fact that my earning is limited but I’m happy and thankful to Allah,” Bahadur Khan said. He not only mends and polishes old shoes, he also sells new shoes and sandals, which he brings from Dubai. Most of his customers are South Asians.
Bahadur Khan pays an annual
Azad Bahadur Khan | Cobbler
rent of Dh35,000 for this tiny shop. More than a dozen customers visit his shop daily, and the number increases during the weekends.
“Due to increase in cost of living, people now prefer to get their old shoes repaired rather than buy new ones. Bahadur Khan charges a very nominal amount for his work.
He says the UAE has provided him a great opportunity to work and run his business.
His 22-year-old son, Abdul Quddus also works with him in the shop. Bahadur Khan brought him to Abu Dhabi some two years ago and taught him his profession to carry forward the business.
“My father taught me to mend the shoes and I feel fortunate that I am supporting my baba in his business,” said Abdul Quddus.
“When my father mends shoes I watch him closely and I have learnt this profession now,” he said. Abdul Quddus knows how to read, write and recite the Quran, which he learnt at an Islamic school in Pakistan but did not attend any formal school back home.
Located opposite Anarkali Plaza on Elektra Street, Abdul Quddus works at his father’s shop from 8am to 10pm, with a couple of hours of rest in the afternoon.