BORN to parents Mohamed Yusuf and Mariam in the village of Johanna Cecelia on the Essequibo Coast, the life of Nazar Mohamed, 69, could easily be confused with something out of a fairytale, but that wasn’t always the case for the proprietor of Mohamed’s Enterprise.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Chronicle, the renowned philanthropist explained what it was like to grow up from humble beginnings in a home that had limited means, but they were always a content family.

Sitting in his pristine and comfortable office at Lombard Street in Georgetown, Mohamed recalled the emotions he felt as a young boy looking at his father working tirelessly as a woodcutter; he prayed for them to have a better life, one that doesn’t involve his parents doing much laborious work.

“My father was a woodcutter and we were very poor people; as I took his lunch, I looked at him as he worked and asked myself, ‘when will we be out of this bondage?”’

Even though life was challenging for them, he learned to appreciate the value of contentment and charitable work from his mother, who didn’t have any material possessions to give to others at the time but found a way to give back by doing the laundry of the patients at the hospital.

“I remembered my mom going to the hospital, collecting the clothes of the patients who were dirty and had surgeries and taking them home. She washed and pressed it with the hand-held iron that she had to put on the coal for it to get heated, folded the pieces neatly and took it back to the hospital for them to reuse it. That was a part of her charity because she hadn’t any money to give to help anyone.”

“If anyone visited us, my father would ensure that he gave them whatever he had, even though he hadn’t much and my mother would give up her bed for families or anyone who was visiting to sleep on; she preferred for them to be comfortable. I’ve seen this all my life with my parents and I prayed and hoped that Allah would take us out of this situation and he did.”

“I had 30 years of a hard life in poverty and 40 years of a good life and it was given to me by Allah and not from my personal effort.”

Mohamed’s simplicity is very much felt through his kind gestures towards others. He graciously shared that he has contributed to building many schools; sponsoring a lot of children and helping people further their university education in Guyana.

He has also built a school and many water wells on the continent of Africa.

According to Mohamed, he looks at “different issues and different things” and try to find a way in which he can make a contribution. Mohamed hasn’t forgotten where he came from and the values that were instilled in him by his parents.

He is now a proud father who has imparted the same values to his children so that they can continue to help the less fortunate.

Referring to his son Azruddin Mohamed and his daughters, the proud father said, “My son is a good kid and he, as well as my daughters, are very charitable people. My little daughter is studying in Scotland and she has formed her own foundation.

“She pushed me to establish a building that I am almost at the point of completing and that is where she will set up her Precious Angels Foundation. She will be dealing with handicapped children, children with autism, red syndrome and other ailments, as well as assisting persons who cannot afford testing for their basic needs.”

The successful businessman emphasised that he and his extended family are “generous people.”

During the interview, he paid homage to his grandfather (his father’s father), who came from India. He related that his grandfather was a very charitable man who established a masjid in the village of Johanna Cecilia.

“After he was out of indentureship, he built a mosque with a huge verandah around it so that he could have accommodated the people that were traveling from Charity to catch the boat to Parika; he wanted them to rest before they traveled,” said Mohamed.

In keeping with what genuinely makes Mohamed happy—giving back to others—last Friday, he and his family did their annual donation drive, where they gave almost two million dollars to 15 non-profit organisations (NGOs), orphanages and special needs foundations.

The proprietor is also a Cambio dealer among other business titles, but more importantly, he is now the king of his own castle and remains true and humble to his roots. He gave Allah, his God, full credit for what he had bestowed upon him.