The picture say it all!!

The picture says it all

By Rabeea Ahmed Khanqahi
Tattered clothes, dirty streets narrowed down by filth and piles of garbage.

I wonder, what environment these two children live in. Not two — maybe two million? Every child wants to study, wants to go to school, wants to come home to be kissed by a cheerful mother waiting for them; but these two and so many like them have to labour, so they can earn something to feed their many sisters and brothers. How unhappy they must be working when they could have a better future, a better world, if only we cared. If only we cared to go down their streets and knock at their doors, to ask them if they were having a bad time. If only we cared...

Ayesha Nasir

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The picture tells the tale of these two innocent and unlucky children. At such a young age there is tension on their faces. This is the age when children are supposed to smile, play and enjoy life without any tensions and responsibilities; but they are suffering. That's only because they are not provided with the basic amenities of life like education and care.

They go to work instead of school because of poverty. Don't they deserve a happy and cheerful life? Why are they living in such poverty? Have we ever sought answers to these questions?
Shazina Sattar

A day in the life of a slum child

It is at the crack of dawn that I, Beiru Khangas, age six, wake up in the slums of one of the metropolises. Today started like a good day. Ruqayya, my sister, who works for a big landlord was given leftovers last night. It was a very generous two chappatis and a spoonful of yogurt. It was like a banquet, but mother says that we should save it for the next three days to serve as our morning sustenance. After taking a bath in the local lake with our neighbour's cows, my younger brother Solomon, who is four, and I set out to work.

I work for the recycling mill downtown. They pay me 10 rupees a day when I do good work. This money is vital for our family especially since our father committed suicide due to debts and a poor harvest. After his death we had to sell our land to the people from whom we had taken loan.

My work starts with the yellow garbage containers outside colonies. Here my neighbours and I scavenge the mound of so called trash in search of treasure such as pieces of scrap metal, glass and above all paper. We work till about five in the afternoon scavenging and sorting putting each specific item in its respective bag. True we often get wounded by sharp pieces of metals and glass but now we have become used to all of this. This is our routine. An important aspect of our job is that we come across food like mango peels and half eaten bananas. This we put in a shopping bag, which we also find from the containers to be taken home after work.

After everything is ready Solomon and I load it on a wooden trolley which I pull from the front whilst Solomon keeps guard from behind for anyone who might try to steal our treasure. After we arrive at the recycling mill, we give a man our bags and he weighs them. If they are less than 10 kilos he takes them without paying us and also whips us five times until we bleed. Today was such a day.

Soon mother arrives, who works as a maid along with Ruqayya. She prepares food and is helped by my other sister, Zeba, who works in the fields helping with harvesting. Together they make dinner. At nine my elder brothers, Khalid and Tashfaen, arrive from the mills where they work. We have dinner quietly.

Today I heard my mother crying saying that if our financial conditions do not improve she too will take her life and kill all of us as well. This is all because of the loans which we take on 40 per cent interest rate. Nowadays we are taking more loans because Zeba and Ruqayya will soon be married and we will have to give them a good dowry. For now I can do nothing, I want to become a doctor and earn a lot but we can not even imagine paying the five rupees of fees every month at the government school. For now I stare at the stars hoping that sleep will reach me only to be awakened again to see the drama replayed.

Rabeea Ahmed Khanqahi

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These stories just bring tears to my eyes with a feeling of helplessness that why we are not able to do anything to help these children, its sad so sad 😭

yes this is indeed very very sad 😭 😭 😭

i wish i could do anything for children. 😭

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it's realy sad 😭
i wish if there is a way i cud help those poor fortunte chlidren

😭 ---> aren't there any charities or something established to help these poor people? I'm sure there must be some, does anyone have any info?

😭 thats soo sad ............i m wondering is there anything that we can do?????????
we can donate and i m sure all of us donate but does this money reaches to these peoples or not???????

this is really sad and we have to accept the fact tht this kind of stuff is not a shock to pple who live in poverty