Augustin was one of the first children to join the Trust in 1995 when he was 10 years old. He came from a very poor family and his father had deserted him and his brother and sisters when he was 8 years old. The family lived in a one room shack with no electricity or running water. When work was available, his mother worked as a hired labourer for day wages.
Augustin attended Anaikulam Primary School and studied hard before going to Kallikulam Higher Secondary School. He always wanted to become a Doctor but his A level marks were not high enough for a Government Scholarship so the Trust sent him to study for a Physiotherapy Degree at a college in Coimbatore. His first job after qualifying was with an international orthopaedic hospital in Chennai where he worked for 7 years rising to be Head of Physiotherapy in the hospital which caters for many patients from overseas on ‘medical holidays’. He has just been offered a new job by the Maldives Government in one of their modern hospitals and he joins there on 9th August 2010.
Augustin has two sisters and a brother who were also in residential care with the Trust. He eldest sister is a computer programmer for a US company in Chennai. His youngest sister, Belsie, is a Staff Nurse with an international hospital group also in Chennai. His brother, Immanuel, has just completed a degree in Business Administration and is now doing a year’s ‘management training’ and he hopes to return to College to start an MBA in 2011 where he will be supported financially by Augustin and his sisters.
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