EGYPT: Disabled Watch Repairer Rajab Mohamed Uses His Feet For Every Task In His Daily Life

Record ID: 861306

  • Title: EGYPT: Disabled Watch Repairer Rajab Mohamed Uses His Feet For Every Task In His Daily Life
  • Date: 23rd November 2002
  • Summary: (L!2) CAIRO, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 23, 2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS: RAJAB FIXING PARTS OF A WATCH WITH HIS LEGS USING SCREWS AND TINY PARTS. (8 SHOTS) VARIOUS: CUSTOMER GETTING BACK HIS WATCH AFTER BEING FIXED. (2 SHOTS) SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) WATCH MENDER, RAJAB MOHAMED, SAYING: "I was handicapped at birth, it is God who has inspired me to do everything with my feet - including having this talent to fix watches and do everything else. I shave myself and I iron my clothes, I cook for myself and everything - using my feet. All things that the man does with his hands, God allows to be done with legs and feet, fixing watches is no mean feat for a man. Through me God is revealing a message. The message that there is no challenge too big to overcome and there is no such thing as a handicap. A human being must be patient and have faith in God so that God will give him what he wants in the end. Now, I do everything with my legs and feet anything another human does in his daily life I can do." MV: OF RAJAB PUTTING THINGS AWAY MV/ZOOM IN: RAJAB ANSWERING THE TELEPHONE WITH HIS LEG
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • City:
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6OWE33QS58WHYSMUORR3CJYMI
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: In what he says is a gift from God a watch mender in downtown Cairo who has lost the use of his hands continues to ply his trade by mending watches with his feet.
    Rajab Mohamed was handicapped at birth - but has learnt to live without the use of his hands and continues to work as a watch mender... Using his feet.
    At his birth no doctor was available to supervise and his shoulder was dislocated as he was born, resulting in the loss of the use of his hands.
    Every task in his daily life is carried out using his feet, from shaving in the morning to answering the telephone.
    "Through me God is revealing a message. The message that there is no challenge too big to overcome and there is no such thing as a handicap. A human being must be patient and have faith in God so that God will give him what he wants in the end. Now, I do everything with my legs and feet anything another human does in his daily life I can do," said Rajab.
    He became interested in watches at the age of 13 and started going round the watch shops in downtown Cairo to ply his trade. He is now the father of a young son who seems keen to go down the same road, albeit fixing watches with his fingers... not his toes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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