In LOVE with Humanity

Hero #086: Iqbal Masih
Iqbal Masih was born in 1983 in Muridke, a commercial city outside of Lahore in
Pakistan. When he was just four year old, Iqbal's family borrowed 600 rupees (less than
$6.00) from a local employer who owned a carpet weaving business. In return, Iqbal was
required to work as a carpet weaver until the debt was paid off. Every day, he would rise
before dawn and make his way along dark country roads to the factory, where he and most
of the other children were tightly bound with chains to prevent their escape. He would work
12 hours a day, seven days a week, with only one 30-minute break. Even though he was paid
3 cents a day towards the loan, the amount due on the loan continued to increase. This dire
situation persisted for the next 6 years …
Then, at the age of 10, after learning that bonded labor had been declared illegal by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iqbal escaped. And yet his freedom was short-lived. He was
caught by the police and returned to his ―employer‖, who told the police to tie him upside
down if he tried to escape again. Undaunted, Iqbal indeed escaped a second time – only this
time he found his way to the Bonded Labour Liberation Front School, a refuge for former
child slaves, where he quickly completed a four-year education in only two years.
Thereafter, most remarkably, instead of using his hard-won education for purely
personal gain, Iqbal dedicated the rest of his life to helping over 3,000 Pakistani child-slaves
to escape to freedom, and began making speeches throughout the world about the vile child
slave-labor trade. Iqbal's courage and selflessness inspired the creation of organizations
such as Free The Children, a Canada-based charity, and the Iqbal Masih Shaheed Children
Foundation, which has founded over 20 schools in Pakistan.
―Children should pens in their hands, not tools.‖ ~ Iqbal Masih
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