Noor Rehman was standing at the beginning of his third grade classroom, carrying his report card with nervous hands. Top position. Yet again. His teacher smiled with satisfaction. His classmates clapped. For a fleeting, wonderful moment, the nine-year-old boy felt his hopes of becoming a soldier—of helping his nation, of making his parents proud—were within reach.
That was 90 days ago.
Today, Noor doesn't attend school. He assists his father in the furniture workshop, learning to finish furniture rather than learning mathematics. His school attire sits in the cupboard, clean but unworn. His learning materials sit arranged in the corner, their pages no longer flipping.
Noor never failed. His household did everything right. And even so, it proved insufficient.
This is the tale of how poverty doesn't just limit opportunity—it destroys it wholly, even for the most talented children who do all that's required and more.
Despite Top Results Proves Sufficient
Noor Rehman's dad labors as a furniture maker in Laliyani village, a compact community in Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan. He is talented. He remains industrious. He exits home before sunrise and gets home after dusk, his hands rough from decades of creating wood into furniture, frames, and decorations.
On successful months, he brings in 20,000 Pakistani rupees—approximately seventy US dollars. On challenging months, even less.
From that salary, his household of six must manage:
- Accommodation for their little home
- Meals for four children
- Bills (electric, water supply, gas)
- Medicine when kids get sick
- Travel
- Clothes
- Everything else
The math of financial hardship are uncomplicated and unforgiving. There's always a shortage. Every unit of currency is allocated before it's earned. Every choice is a decision between needs, never between necessity and extras.
When Noor's academic expenses came due—together with fees for his brothers' and sisters' education—his father dealt with an unworkable equation. The math wouldn't work. They not ever do.
Something had to be cut. One child had to surrender.
Noor, as the senior child, understood first. He remains dutiful. He's sensible beyond his years. He realized what his parents were unable to say aloud: his education was the expenditure they could not any longer afford.
He did not cry. He didn't complain. He simply put away his school clothes, arranged his learning materials, and requested his father to show him woodworking.
Since that's what young people in financial struggle learn initially—how to give up their hopes silently, without weighing down parents who are presently carrying more than they Nonprofit can sustain.