Iqbal Masih

Iqbal MasihAneladgames [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

My hero is Iqbal Masih. He was born in Pakistan in 1982 and he died when he was 12 years old. Iqbal Masih is a hero because he helped to free slaves in Pakistan. I think he is a true hero; he is not like the cop type of hero, he is a person who really helped the world and who was not paid to do it. He has inspired me that just one kid can make a huge difference in a country. Pakistan is the country Iqbal is from and it would not be the same without him, especially for the kids. I hope you enjoy reading more about him.

Iqbal was born in 1982 in a very poor family. When he was four years old his parents sent him to work in a carpet factory. They sent him there to pay off a debt to a moneylender. At the factory Iqbal and the other children were treated like slaves. Iqbal worked till age 10 when he finally escaped. He wanted to help the other children who were slaves. Iqbal joined the Bonded Labour Liberation Front of Pakistan.

Iqbal wanted to free all of the children and slaves who were like him and working in factories in Pakistan to pay off debts owed by their families. The slaves worked hard. They had to work from dawn until dusk doing jobs that damaged their bodies. When they got hurt they could not get help. They had to keep working. They were not given enough food and they could not get an education because they had to work all the time.

Iqbal Masih was angry that children had to work as slaves in Pakistan. He wanted to help to end slavery in his country. He joined the Bonded Labour Liberation Front of Pakistan which was already fighting against slavery. He helped to educate people about what was going on in factories. He made speeches in public to tell people about the slavery even though it was dangerous for him. Some reports say that he snuck into factories to take pictures of the working conditions. Because he was trying to free the slaves Iqbal Masih was a target for the Pakistan mobsters, moneylenders and factory owners who used slaves to make a lot of money. Iqbal was murdered when he was 12 years old.

Because he was a hero Iqbal Masih brought a lot of attention to the slavery that was happening in Pakistan. He traveled to America and did many speeches about it. He spoke to students and other groups. He told one group that Abraham Lincoln was his role model. In one of his speeches he said, "I want to do for my country what Abraham Lincoln did for his country". Iqbal Masih had a dream to become a lawyer and free slaves in Pakistan. He never got to see his dream come true but he still inspires children like me. I hope his story will inspire you too.