12-Year-Old Shoe Shiner, Who Was Enrolled In School By Good Samaritan Outshines Classmates

12-year-old shoe shiner, Ibrahim Bukar,
who moved around Maiduguri cleaning
shoes is now a pupil of Future Hope
Private School in London Chiki area of
Borno State, all thanks to a good
Samaritan, Ibrahim Yusuf.
Mr. Yusuf, met the young boy wandering
in the city in search of customers and
asked him questions about his life. Bukar
said he was the breadwinner of the
family, as he gives his daily earnings to
them. Moved by his condition, he asked
the boy to take him to his father.

“The boy took us to their house in
London Chiki, but unfortunately the
father was not at home. We were told
the father is a trader around Custom
area, so we decided to go and see him
in his place of business,” Mr Yusuf,
told DAILY NIGERIAN.
“On reaching there, the father was
not around also, but his goods were
there on display and his business
neighbours told us he went away, but
will be back soon. We waited, and
while waiting for him, I got to
understand why he could not send his
boy to school.
“We waited for about 45 minutes, and
throughout the time, nobody came to
buy the beans and the millet he was
selling. When he eventually came
back, we greeted him and informed
him about our mission there.
“The man almost burst into tears, he
told us that he had wanted his
children to go to school, but
unfortunately he can’t afford to. He
told us that before the insurgency
became worse, he had sent the boy to
Almajiri school in Dikwa, but when
boko Haram took over the place, the
boy escaped and came back to
Maiduguri.
“With the support of a philanthropist
and my little effort, Ibrahim is now in
Future Hope private school in London
Chiki area of Maiduguri, and so far he
is doing very well. I visited the school
today (Friday) to see for myself how
he is doing.
“His teacher informed me that
Ibrahim is already performing beyond
expectations. She told me that he said
he wanted to be the best student in
the class, and every evening receives
extra lessons from one boy in his
neighbourhood. Ibrahim can now
recite the English alphabets from A to
Z, just within one week. His is
outshining his classmates,” Mr Yusuf
said.
The head teacher said Master Bukar would be getting accelerated promotion
every year according to his level of comprehension and receiving crash lessons to make up the skipped classes.