When Iqbal Masih was four years old, he was sold into slavery. For 12 dollars.
Iqbal never knew a loving family or the joys of childhood. All he knew was the feeling of loss and pain, of toil and despair. And yet he was different from the millions of other kids who sat beside him working their bloody fingers on the loom. Because he stood up and decided to do something about it.
The conditions in which Iqbal worked were absolutely horrendous. The children had to squat on wooden benches and bend forward, tying millions of knots into carpets. If the children talked, ran away, or were physically/mentally sick, they were severely beaten. Other punishments included being hung upside down, locked in the dark for long periods of time, and being chained to their loom. And for all of this, working 14 hours daily, Iqbal earned about 20 cents a day.
When Iqbal was 10, he snuck away to a meeting of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front ( BLLF ), eventually convincing both the president and his cruel employer that he he had a right to be free. Then he went to a BLLF school in Lahore, and finished four years of school in just two! Increasingly, Iqbal's leadership skills became more apparent as he became involved in demonstrations and meetings, even pretending to be a factory worker so he could question the children there.
As Iqbal spoke to more people with more and more passion and conviction, people began to take notice. The 4-foot 60 pound 10 year old may have been physically dwarfed in size, but his presence was huge. As his popularity grew and he received Human Rights awards, the number of death threats grew, but Iqbal ignored them in his quest to free the children. Most believed that the leaders of the carpet industry ordered Iqbal to be murdered, disliking the influence Iqbal had. Whatever it was, the world truly lost a great hero in that moment. But the memory of his smiling face lives on.
Iqbal never knew a loving family or the joys of childhood. All he knew was the feeling of loss and pain, of toil and despair. And yet he was different from the millions of other kids who sat beside him working their bloody fingers on the loom. Because he stood up and decided to do something about it.
The conditions in which Iqbal worked were absolutely horrendous. The children had to squat on wooden benches and bend forward, tying millions of knots into carpets. If the children talked, ran away, or were physically/mentally sick, they were severely beaten. Other punishments included being hung upside down, locked in the dark for long periods of time, and being chained to their loom. And for all of this, working 14 hours daily, Iqbal earned about 20 cents a day.
As Iqbal spoke to more people with more and more passion and conviction, people began to take notice. The 4-foot 60 pound 10 year old may have been physically dwarfed in size, but his presence was huge. As his popularity grew and he received Human Rights awards, the number of death threats grew, but Iqbal ignored them in his quest to free the children. Most believed that the leaders of the carpet industry ordered Iqbal to be murdered, disliking the influence Iqbal had. Whatever it was, the world truly lost a great hero in that moment. But the memory of his smiling face lives on.
You should talk about the "School for Iqbal" project.
ReplyDelete