Passion. A powerful emotional sensation, a goal to work toward that will keep you awake at night. Something you strive for and construct your life around. Some people have the opportunity to be happy and fulfilled at work, but what about the others? Those who are forced to adopt a different path because they are unable to pursue their passion due to barriers or their place in the world. Your joy has been stolen away from you. Your dream shattered.You’re thrust into an indifferent world where you’re not doing what you love. Is it still worthwhile? This is what Suleman Mohamed worked through. 

Mohamed is from a small coastal city in Kenya along the Indian Ocean called Mombasa. Mohamed grew up in a tropical environment, where he would spend most of his days at the beach playing with his friends and assisting his family with fishing. He would walk along the shore and get inspired by the sailors and their boats, imagining himself over there by sailing the sea one day; “ My aim was to become a sailor, I wanted to work in maritime with the sheeps, that was my ambition” he said. 

As he grew older, he began to realize that his ambition of being a sailor was far from reach.  “I opted to enter another field, this field of security, due to specific situations”. Mohamed’s ambitions were mostly financial and economic, and they drove him away from Kenya each day to travel to Qatar in search of money so that he could continue his sailing career afterwards.

Mohamed learned to like his job as a security guard, especially when it came to defending people’s lives. And so he chose to work as a security guard in a school because, as he described it, the environment felt like home, surrounded by trees and nature, making him feel like he was back in Mombasa. He enjoys waking up every morning knowing he’ll get to see the joy in the children’s eyes as they walk in through the gate, giving him a sense of purpose.

Security guards are an important part of the ASD community, according to David Finney, director of Safety and Security at ASD. “They’re overall responsible for the safety of the students, the staff, and the building itself,” he says. As a result, the school will not be able to function without them.” 

As much as Mohamed enjoys serving ASD’s community and has many years ahead of him in Qatar, he hopes to return to his homeland not as a sailor, but as a maritime security officer. His stint as a security guard in Qatar shifted his perspective, and he recognized that he liked both defending people and sailing, therefore a mix of the two was the way to go!

Mohamed discovered that just because you can’t do what you want doesn’t mean you can’t find something else. Dreams, ambitions and goals change overtime, and so do you.