Sherif's story
Sherif Mohamed is a trainee chef at Beyond Boyle. He is 12 months into the training programme and is starting to think about moving into paid employment, something that seemed impossible just over a year ago.
Sherif's family live back in Egypt. He was working at the Fleming Mayfair Hotel in Pimlico and at first things were going well; he was working his way up towards Head Porter. But then it started to go wrong. Alone in London, he began mixing with the wrong people and started taking drugs. Things began to spiral out of control and he lost his job and his home.
Fortunately, while he was living rough on the streets Sherif met a member of St Mungo's Southwark Outreach Team. They found him a place at our Rushworth Street hostel and after a couple of months he moved to Cedars Road. Here he met Christos Christophy from the Pathways to Employment team. Christos told Sherif about Beyond Boyle and, after attending an open day and interview, he was accepted onto the trainee programme.
At first it was a struggle. Sherif was often late and sometimes didn't turn up at all.
"I still felt like there was still something missing in my life".
But the team at Beyond Boyle stuck by Sherif. They supported him but were also frank and honest with him; he had to start attending if he wanted to continue on the programme.
Slowly things started to change. Sherif's attendance improved and the Pathways team began to receive updates from Beyond Boyle, including founder Simon Boyle, about how well Sherif was doing;
"The Beyond Boyle kitchen team has seen a vast change of attitude from Sherif, he is now displaying strong leadership skills within the training group".
When his girlfriend became pregnant, Sherif knew he had to do something about his substance use. He went to detox, which he feels is "the best thing to happen in my life along with getting married and having a daughter".
Sherif returned to Beyond Boyle six months ago and hasn't looked back since.
"When I started the training programme my self esteem was really low. It has given me confidence in myself again. I love coming here and I learn something new every day. I don't have to hide my past. I feel like I am with my family".
Sherif is now married and the father of an 8-month-old baby girl. He has moved out of Cedars Road and lives with his new family in South London. Jan Seymour is the Support & Liaison Manager at Beyond Boyle;
"Sherif has shown great strength of character in his determination to move on. He has turned his life around".
The future is looking much brighter for Sherif. Simon Boyle certainly believes in his potential,
"The training team is working on his professional culinary skills and hopes to make a fine chef of Sherif. There is no reason why he cannot build a new career for himself".
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