By Hamid Khan Wazir
Selling mask for free to penniless
WANA, Pakistan: An underprivileged and poor little soul, who lives in the rugged terrains of South Waziristan, is selling home-tailored face-mask for free to destitute and needy at the time when the profiteering and hoarding on the rise in the country.
The poor child has set a high standard amid the lockdown due to Coronavirus pandemic, which is even hard to be followed for the well-offs and tycoons of the country, who are mostly busy in minting money when people are confined to their homes to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
The eight-year-old penurious face-mask seller belonged to Tehsil Makeen of South Waziristan is selling home-tailored face-mask to earn a livelihood for his downtrodden family at this trying time when the country is in the grip of deadly Coronavirus that wrought havoc across the globe.
He sells a face-mask at Rs 30 but gives the underprivileged and penniless free of cost, despite the fact that it is the sole source of his family earning due to the closure of all sort of business in the wake of the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country.
The picture of a little soul with torn clothes and broken old chappal sitting at Chowk-e-Yaqgar Shaheed in Makeen along with a heart-wrenching Urdu transcript is being widely circulated on social media these days.
The little child daily sits at the Chowk-e-Yadgar Shaheed with his home-tailored face-mask since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, waiting for customers in the mountainous area, the area which is luckily safe from the life-taking virus hitherto.
The transcript reads, a man asked the little soul for a face-mask, he instantly replied that I will give it to you at Rs. 30. However, the man responded that he doesn’t have Rs. 30. He replied no issue at all and you just give me 20 rupees. But the man asked that he even couldn’t pay 20 rupees for the mask. The little soul looked that the man and asked him to take the face-mask free of cost.
The man wrote that he surprised by his answer and asked him that if he doesn’t pay him he will face wrath of his mother because it is the sole source of their income, but the child replied no issue as my mother advised me don’t take money from penniless and poor because we have to help them save from the pandemic.
The little boy sets a great example for the countrymen to follow despite the fact that he is destitute and battling for his livelihood; hence we need to learn a lesson from him. Pakistan could defeat the Coronavirus with ease since we have such mothers and children who are ready to give all sort of sacrifice for their brothers and sisters.
We need to salute such mothers and children who are playing such a crucial rule and they are needed to be adjusted in the praise-worthy incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) initiative of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme helping the poor and destitute by distributing Rs 12,000 per family.