“I started selling boiled eggs on Murree Road Rawalpindi in the winter last year to pay the fee of my school. I am studying in class 2 and the school increased the fee two years ago. My mother asked me to sell boiled eggs to earn some money to pay the fee as their earning is not sufficient to make ends meet.

I come here with about 15 boiled eggs at 5pm every day and sell them within an hour or two. I earned Rs300 daily. On the first day, my mother bought the eggs but after that I purchase them from my own earnings.

I do not have a fixed place to sell the eggs. Sometimes I sit on 6th Road and at times at Commercial Market. I am not allowed to go further as my elder brother has been asked by my parents to keep an eye on me.

We are three brothers and two sisters. My father is working as a Rickshaw driver and my mother is a housemaid. My elder brother is working as a salesman at Rabi Centre. My family belonged to Jhang and we are settled in Rawalpindi. We live in a rented house near 6th Road.

I give all my earnings to my mother who saves it for my school fee an d books. Providing better education to us is my parents’ dream as they did not get the opportunity to go to good schools due to limited resources. All my brothers and sisters are studying in private schools.

My parents do not spend their earnings on themselves and utilise it for the well-being of us. I want to become an army officer and I will achieve my dream.”

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2020