On the Other Side of the World

The doorbell rang and my heart was beating fast. As I opened the door, I saw my mother standing there sobbing. When I asked my mother about my father’s health who had been in hospital for a month now, my mother informed me that my father passed away. I got shocked and started crying. 

My name is Abdul Hammed and I have one sister and one brother, but both of them are younger than me. My younger sister was just 4 and my brother was just 1 and a half years old. My mother could no longer do any business or work except housework and care for her kids. That’s why I had to search for a job so that our family could survive.

In a few days, we moved to a smaller house. It was our aunt's house. She never demanded any rent as she knew that we cannot afford it and sometimes she even sent us some lunch. But we could just stay with her all our lives. 

I got a job at a factory that produced and sold many food items like chips, chocolates etc. I wanted to continue my studies but I had no other choice. I watched kids going down to the end of the street to school, happily. 

In the factory there I saw how these things were produced and I promised myself never to eat any of these things because the place where they were produced was so dirty that you would wish to run a mile away from the factory. Flies would fly around in swarms and ants would crawl on the ground. I promised the factory manager to come regularly and to do my best. 

The night before, the first day of my job was really terrible for me and my family. My mother fell ill and my younger brother also was not feeling well and cried all night. I stayed up all night and nursed my mother and brother. Just when I was about to sleep, it was time to get ready for the first day at the new job.

I wanted to sleep but I had to go to the factory for work. I had no choice. So, without any sleep, I went to the factory and started working. I worked very hard for the first 2 hours, but then I felt drowsy. I somehow managed to continue working. But I could work very well because of less sleep and less food. 

The supervisor sometimes even hit my back with hard things, so I could keep on working. The supervisor was not fond of my work and made a complaint to the manager about me. The manager beat me but I didn’t mind and just went home. I was beaten almost every day but I could do anything about it. But still, I used all my courage in my job. I earned Rs. 700 a day, but sometimes the manager deducted my pay and sometimes my whole family had to sleep without any food. 

I also taught my younger sister. My mother's health also got worse and worse and I sometimes did an extra job as a guard at night to pay for my mother's health expenses. I am now 12 but still work in the same factory and run my home. My mother has been away. Now what can I do? My younger sister is now 7, and she also tries to do all the household work as our mother is in the hospital. I could take loans from many people, but I did and starved from hunger because I knew that if I took a loan, I wouldn't be able to repay it. But still I did not lose hope and kept working in the factory till 18 to keep my house running and to be able to pay for my mother’s health expenses.