The story of how a modest boy, grazing goats, went to study abroad. Mohammad Afik Ismail hails from a small village in Kelantan, which is located in Malaysia.
His father worked on a palm oil farm and grazed goats. Mother cared for her disabled brother. Despite the fact that they lived in poverty and interrupted once in a while, Afik's father wanted to change his son’s life for the better.
The family lived in poverty, but luck smiled at the boy
They worked hard to send their son to a private boarding school. However, the boy had to be transferred to another school when the exam results were unsatisfactory. There, he chose accounting and realized that he was interested in numbers.
When he received excellent results in the high school exam, the Department of Public Service offered him a scholarship to study in the UK.
Given that his parents do not speak English and that no one from his village studied abroad, Afik was more determined than ever before and had a great desire to make his parents proud of him. He flew to the UK to study accounting and finance at the University of Essex.
Afik invited his parents to graduation and paid for their flight.
During his three-year training course, he simultaneously worked as a part-time cleaner, so he was able to save up money and afford to buy plane tickets for his parents to attend his graduation.
According to Afik, his mom and dad have never been on a plane. The guy himself wanted to pay for the tickets as a gift for everything that they had done for him, and in particular for the fact that his parents helped him finish his studies.
Afik graduated with honors and spent this important day with his parents.
He also noted that he always wanted to give his parents the best, including the opportunity to see that his son was able to get an education.