"I want to be a doctor when I grow up"
When Musin has his breakfast in the morning there are no cornflakes or bread rolls on the table. No, his mum bakes pita bread every morning over a little fire of buffalo dung. They are called Chapattis and you dip them into stew made from potatoes, lentils and carrots.
There isn’t a table because in Pakistan you eat on the floor. The whole family sits round a table cloth on the floor and eats with their fingers. They only use their right hand because the left one is used to wipe your bum!
Musin is nine years old and is in year 4 at school. He walks through rice fields on his way to school. On the edge of the fields water buffalos lie around in deep swamps.
Musin looks really smart in his blue school uniform. His favourite subjects are science and English. Musin is a really good pupil. That’s probably because he has a tutor every day after lunch for two hours.
Musin’s parents hope that he will become a doctor one day and that’s why they pay extra money for the tutor. They hope he will get a good school leaving certificate and that he will be able to go to university one day.
Musin’s parents don’t have a lot of money. His father works in a brick factory. Bricks are burnt in a massive oven and then they are used to build houses. But he doesn’t earn a lot of money.
Musin’s mother sews footballs. It takes her about three hours to sew all the 32 patches together. She earns 25p for each ball. That is not enough to pay for rice at the local shop.
But sometimes Musin’s mother makes fair trade balls for Fair Trade shops. Fair Trade shops in places like Germany, United Kingdom and Denmark sell footballs that are a bit more expensive than in sports shops. If you buy a ball in a Fair Trade shop that Musin’s mother has sewn, then she earns nearly double. With this extra money the family can pay for Musin’s tutor.
Musin is not the only one at school in his village who gets extra lessons from a tutor. Most of the women in the village sew footballs for Fair Trade shops so lots of children can have extra lessons after school.
Musin’s favourite game is tag (tick, catch). He plays with the other boys and girls in his village, running through the narrow streets. The streets are so small and winding that it is the perfect place to play hide and seek. One game that you need lots of skill for is the “wheel rolling” game. You push a wheel or a tyre around with a stick for as long as you can without it falling over. Children all over Europe used to play that too years ago.
Musin won’t be able to play with the girls for much longer because when girls in Pakistan become 12, they aren’t allowed to play with any boys other than their brother(s).
Musin doesn’t mind though. He’s more interested in learning how to play cricket as soon as he can than playing with girls ! In cricket you have to hit a small ball with a big wooden bat and it is Pakistan’s number one game – like football is here.
Ten years ago Musin’s day would have been completely different. The children in Musin’s village didn’t use to play out or go to school. They had to sew footballs like their parents.
At dusk Musin makes his way home. He has to help his mother with the shopping for dinner. His family lives in a small brick house with one room and a small yard. There isn’t a lot of furniture: four beds, two chairs and a ventilator. That is a really important thing to have in Pakistan because it is nearly always very hot.
Musin, his parents and his five brothers and sisters all live together in this one room. Because they haven’t got any tables, Musin does his homework sitting with his legs crossed on the single bed that he shares with his little brother Yousef. But that doesn’t bother him.
He is happy that he can go to school for quite a while and that he doesn’t have to work – like other children in Pakistan have to.
(Author: Katharina Nickoleit)
What do you want to be when you grow up?
