Poverty of wealth but not love

In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of; additionally in a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of as well.

The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other.  It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich.  Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied but written off as trash.  The twenty first-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing.

Muhammad Umer 12, one another boy who is a prey of poverty. He has got 5 brothers and 4 sisters. His father and his elder brothers work as the transporters of vegetable to the ‘sabzi mandi’. His mother is a housewife.

He studies in Centre Government School in grade one which is located near Zia Masjid. After his school, he goes to his home to have his lunch and then leaves for work around 2 pm and gets back to home around 7pm.  He takes his small sister Takhreen 2, along with him to work. He sells pen near court in F-8 markaz. He daily buys the pen from the shop near by for Rs6 and then sells it for Rs10. He daily earns Rs100-150 and then buys flour on his way to home with that money. He travels in vans which charges him Rs20. Buying flour on daily basis is my duty whereas my dad saves the money for the house rent. We live near Zia Masjid in a rent house.

Umer said that, “Life this way is really tough but I am very happy and satisfied with it. We all live together with great love and care. It’s my daily duty to take flour along with me on my way to home. The day when I am unable to take the flour, it is hard-hitting to manage with the meals. No matter how the situation is my parents are happy with me. We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty as well.”—