Local pharmacist has interesting journey to Seaforth from Kenya
Monday, February 6, 2012 Because Shaukat Mangalji’s older sister died when she was only seven from a reaction to penicillin, there was always a strong family wish that one or more of her siblings would go into medicine when they grew up. In time, that came about.
His brother is a doctor in Ohio today while Shaukat is our
knowledgeable and well liked pharmacist here in Seaforth. Mr. Mangalji has owned Keating’s Drug Store since 1980 now, but his journey here was both long and interesting.
I asked him about it because most of us who pick up prescriptions at his store scarcely know the man who fills them.
“I was born in Kenya,” he told me in a recent interview, “and my father was a businessman who had a hardware store in a small town there. It was somewhat like a Home Hardware. When I was growing up, I spent a short time helping out in a drugstore in Nairobi, and because of that experience, I decided I might like to go into pharmacy later on. It was as simple as that.”
So Shaukat left his homeland and pursued his dream.
“I had the option of going to other places,” he told me, “but I picked Aberdeen, Scotland. I spent four years in pharmacy there, and that was followed by one year internship in a little English town, a couple of hours north of London. I like small towns, so that is why I like Seaforth.”
But Aberdeen was special in another way. Shaukat met his wife Nargis there. Like him, she was a Moslem from Kenya, and their marriage has been a lasting one. In January 1978, they came to Canada, trading a hot climate for a decidedly colder one.
“We could have gone elsewhere,” he explains, “but Canada was always our first choice. We have no regrets about making that decision.”
The young couple lived in Woodstock initially, but then went to Niagara Falls for a couple of years because Shaukat was offered a job there. During that time, Nargis, who is an accountant, found employment in her field in nearby St. Catherines.
“We liked Niagara,” Shaukat recalls, “but then we heard that a drugstore was coming up for sale in Seaforth. We decided to have a look at it.”
The two of them came to Huron County, but always with the premise that Nargis could get work somewhere in the area. When she found a job in Exeter, they settled there, and Shaukat bought the Keating store.
“I have been commuting ever since,” he laughs, “but I intend to keep on doing so. I’m in no hurry to retire.” That, I told him, would please a lot of people in our town.
Shaukat and Nargis have a daughter who is an achiever like her parents. Alyza is a graduate of the Ivey School of Business at Western, and is currently working towards her MBA at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Many of us met her when she helped out in her father’s store here.
Life in Canada has been fulfilling for this family from Eastern Africa, and we are all pleased that they came to Canada. Nargis Mangalji is on the Board of Governors at the Stratford Festival, and her husband golfs when he can find the time.
Today though, there are so many new drugs coming out that trying to keep current on them all is a time-consuming task. Those of us who trust in his pharmaceutical expertise however, are grateful that he approaches that undertaking with the seriousness it demands.
Ismailimail 