Amin Sheikh (India, 42 years old) was born in one of the many slums of Mumbai, a city that had about eight million inhabitants in 1980. Now more than twice as many people live there and it is one of the richest and most unequal cities in the Asian country: about 40% of its neighbors live in slums like the one in which he grew up. At the age of five he fled with his sister from the family home, where he suffered abuse, and lived poorly on the streets, working whatever came out and without studying, until, at eight, a nun took him in a shelter for homeless children. In his twenties he met an Indian artist who hired him as a driver. And his life took a new turn.
Sheikh traveled with him to Barcelona and there, knowing another reality, he decided that he wanted to promote a social initiative that would break the vicious circle of poverty of thousands of street teenagers and orphanages of his hometown, which are in many cases doomed to crime and violence. But first, he had a dream to fulfill: buy a car and start a tour guide company. It was in 2016 when he founded his first Bombay to Barcelona Library Café in India. Today it has three, and they are more than just coffee shops. It is a project with which he has managed to provide a home, a job and training to more than 60 street children, which he pays for with the benefits of the establishments.
At the end of May, Sheikh returned to Spain, where he has given several conferences to disseminate his project along with his personal story, condensed in his book Life is Life. Soy gracias a ti (editorial Aina Pongiluppi Gomila), recently republished. On May 25, he participated in the Community Building conference of the ESADE business school.
Question. Why did he run away from home when he was five?
Answer. My stepfather used to hit me with a belt. My mother didn't want me to play, just to work 10 hours a day. She was the second of 13 children and had a forced marriage. I had to live in a station for three years, until Sister Seraphine took me into her orphanage.
Q. How did he survive those years?
A. I did a lot of jobs, more than 30, I was the guy for everything. I cleaned shoes or washed dishes – of which I ate the leftovers – in restaurants. He sang on the train and carried suitcases of 15 or 20 kilos, something that was not easy for a child. But the worst thing I saw was drugs, when I had to work for camels: I saw the worst things you can imagine in brothel areas.
During the pandemic we were all in the same boat: it didn't matter if you were rich or not. In Europe it was experienced as a tragedy, but in Asia it was one more problem.
Q. In his book he mentions that several "guardian angels", such as his sister or his boss Eustace Fernandes, gave him the confidence in himself to build his future. Do you try to do the same with the teens you care for now?
A. They come from an orphanage and they know that they can change and not go back to the street, but it is very difficult. Today many children have everything, but they are not happy: they are depressed and angry. I see it also in Spain and Europe. They think life is easy, but it's not if you don't work. I think the key to any human life is to work for something you believe in and want to see. But many people believe it is their right to have it.
Q. What are the biggest differences you have noticed throughout your many travels between Mumbai and Barcelona?
A. Tolerance for frustration. For the first time during the pandemic we were all in the same boat: it didn't matter if you were rich or not. In Europe it was experienced as a tragedy, but in Asia it was just another problem. When you have problems every day, a little good thing becomes happiness. I think that's the difference between growing up in the West and in Asia. There we multiply that happiness on another level; Here you always have to be happy and as soon as there is a small problem you get depressed. You cannot always be happy, you have to accept the moment that touches you and change it. And it won't be overnight.
I have knocked on many doors of rich men in Spain, but they have not answered
Q. What is the biggest challenge for children now?
A. As soon as a child cries in Europe, they buy him something. India is also becoming a very consumerist country. This way you do not give them a better life: it is important to teach them values and limits, but we are turning them into plastic beings. We fail to take care of people. To the elderly, especially. Here, I have hallucinated with the food bank of Catalonia, where passionate retirees over 75 years work. But the new generations are completely plastic, they have no feelings towards others. It leaves us a very robotic future, sentimental values are lost.
Q. He managed to raise 300,000 euros to set up his first social cafeteria eight years ago. How did he do it?
A. I did not ask for loans from any bank, the interest they ask for is criminal. I also didn't receive sponsorships from any company: it was thanks to my book and coffee. Now we pay 6,000 euros in rent and we are working to be able to buy that premises. I have knocked on many doors of rich men in Spain, but they have not answered. The money of the NGO managed by the volunteers in Madrid I can not send to India, we use it only to pay for the trips of my children to Spain to study. In half a year, I hope to be able to set up another NGO in Mumbai to be able to manage donations.
Q. How do you find the time to work as a tour guide, take care of your child, and manage the coffee shops?
A. I have quality time with my children and my son. After school, he is usually with me. He's not a scared kid. He talks to the customers [of the cafeteria], because he sees his father talking to a lot of people, and he says, "Good morning, we have the best coffee and hot chocolate." Children become what parents do, but now you ask them and they say, "I don't know what I want to do." You have to teach them the way and they will know what to become. They must be supported unconditionally.
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