Sahil Bughio is here to motivate you to surmount challenges

The differently-abled young man is a success story other youth should follow

HYDERABAD: For some people conjuring rationale to justify inaction towards certain challenges and tribulations in life or situations is simply not a doable thing. Still greater is the resolve of a far fewer number of people whose capabilities, despite being restricted by their physical and mental impairment, do not prevent them from surmounting trials or circumventing impediments.

Sahil Hussain Bughio, a 21-year-old commerce student at Sindh University and an emerging motivational speaker, is an epitome of courage, determination and steadfastness. He dreams of becoming an inspiration for people like him and for the youth in general.

A congenital condition did not allow Sahil’s arms to grow. A partially developed leg, on which he cannot stand or move, and a fully developed one are his only limbs and he stands at four feet tall.

With these two limbs, he learned to move, hop, eat, write, wear clothes, take a bath and do the other things that most people take for granted. "I don't feel like I don't have arms. Perhaps that sensation never grew, like my arms," he said.



Since his birth, the odds of poverty, birth and upbringing in a rural set up, discrimination in different forms and a lack of social and state support were stacked against him. Relatives and neighbours would repeatedly offer a counsel of despair. But his mother, Sameena Bughio, always stood as a bulwark between everything despondent or pessimistic and their dreams for her son's future.

"Without her I couldn't have sailed the high tides of my life," acknowledges the son.

Childhood

Born on April 7, 1996 in Muhammad Ismail Bughio village in Moro taluka of Naushero Feroz, Sahil is the second eldest of six siblings and the only one suffering a birth defect.

"His birth deformities worried us. We were worried about how we would raise him and whether he would survive or not," recalls Sameena. "But we neither lost hope nor thought that he would grow up as a scrounger, drawing sustenance from the charity of others."

The young man remembers that he was only four years old when his mother encouraged him to write with his foot. "I hesitated and tried to avoid it, believing it was impossible. But her persuasion and conviction overpowered my dithering."



He uses four toes of his right foot to use a mobile phone, laptop and to eat. His left foot, on which he hops, has five complete toes, with which he writes as fast as an average person. He can move a maximum of 150 metres on his left leg and then pauses for a few minutes to restore his energy by resting his body against a wall.

When he was a toddler, Sahil’s parents gave him a tricycle. Pushing the wheels with his left foot, he would follow his elder sister and cousins to school.

"Our school was around a kilometre away from our house. But he would come after us every other day on this three-wheeler," recalls Umair Bughio, a cousin who now works at a private bank. "We would always dissuade him, fearing he may get harmed in an accident but he never listened."

Sahil completed his primary education at a government school in his village and studied at Iqra Public School and Degree College in Naushero Feroz till intermediate level. He began to hop on his left leg at the age of 10. He recalls being ridiculed at the co-educational private school where he studied from class six onward. "That stigma remained with me for many years in that school in Moro [taluka]."



Sahil completed learning the Quran when he was in fourth grade and has so far thrice sat in aitkaaf [a prayer during which a Muslim has to spend up to 10 complete days praying in a mosque]. He often gives azaan [prayer call] from the mosque in his locality.

Higher education

According to his Umair, when Sahil planned to leave the village for higher studies in Sindh University the family was afraid. "They couldn't immediately afford a house in Jamshoro or Hyderabad and they were fearful about how [Sahil] would survive living alone in the SU hostel."

But the young man's zeal won the assent of his parents and he was allowed to leave home and stay at the hostel for over a year alone until his family shifted to Hyderabad. In 2015 he was enrolled in Sindh University's BS commerce programme.

The discrimination which troubled him in his hometown fortunately did not follow him to the university. "I felt respected and appreciated [by the faculty and the students] for enduring the hardships of my disability to acquire the higher education," said Sahil.



According to him, the late vice-chancellor, Prof Dr Abida Taherani, who passed away in June last year, facilitated him by providing a special table for his classroom and waiving his hostel fees. However, that facilitation appears to be case specific at SU where he knows of around 50 students with varying disabilities but regrets the lack of support mechanism offered equitably to them.

SU spokesperson Nadir Mugheri could not say with certainty whether a policy existed or not for such students. But, he believed individual cases might be getting some required support.

Sahil suggested that SU and other universities should not charge fee from students like him and provide them classroom facilities and equipment that can help them learn. From his house in Qasimabad, he travels around 15km in a SU point bus to the university. "Getting to the bus stop [from home] is never difficult. Helping myself climb the vehicle's stairs is," explained Sahil, pointing out that an absence of special transportation facility is another problem students like him face.



While working at a private bank in Qasimabad as part of his six-week internship he was also offered a part-time job. But, Sahil says his priority at the moment is education, not earning. This is despite the pressing financial situation of his family whose only breadwinner, his father Nizar Ali Bughio, is a rickshaw driver.

"I was amazed watching his enthusiastic efforts to learn banking skills. The other interns rarely take as much interest during internships," said Hashim, a bank official. "He is blessed with courage. He wants to make progress and wants recognition."

The young man has planned to join a master’s of philosophy (MPhil) research programme after his graduation and is also considering appearing in the Combined Competitive Examinations. Launching a non-governmental organisation that will pay for the educational expenses of the poor and marginalised communities and writing an autobiography are also among his plans.

So far, Sahil has given over a dozen motivational lectures at universities, colleges and other educational institutions. He has been an avid debater since his school days. He feels sad watching the youth wasting their precious years after education waiting for government jobs. "Why don't they work hard and try to get private jobs, which are plenty?" he wonders in dismay.



Stacked at a cupboard of his home are various awards, certificates and trophies he has acquired during his academic career and at his sessions of motivational speech. "When I lose balance and fall, that's the moment I feel that I have to stand up, not only for myself but to give hope to the youth that if I can do it then why can’t they?"

In the evenings, his younger brother often takes him for a ride on a motorcycle and he sits comfortably on the pillion seat. "I balance myself well. Never be afraid of falling," he advised.