Nine-year-old Noor stood at the beginning of his third grade classroom, carrying his report card with shaking hands. First place. Yet again. His instructor beamed with happiness. His fellow students clapped. For a brief, wonderful moment, the 9-year-old boy imagined his hopes of becoming a soldier—of protecting his nation, of causing his parents satisfied—were within reach.
That was several months back.
Today, Noor is not at school. He works with his dad in the carpentry workshop, practicing to finish furniture in place of learning mathematics. His uniform remains in the closet, pristine but idle. His books sit placed in the corner, their pages no longer moving.
Noor passed everything. His parents did their absolute best. And nevertheless, it proved insufficient.
This is the story of how poverty goes beyond limiting opportunity—it removes it completely, even for the most gifted children who do everything asked of them and more.
Despite Superior Performance Remains Sufficient
Noor Rehman's dad works as a carpenter in Laliyani, a compact community in Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan. He's talented. He's dedicated. He exits home before sunrise and returns after dusk, his hands hardened from decades of creating wood into items, frames, and ornamental items.
On successful months, he makes 20,000 Pakistani rupees—roughly $70 USD. On lean months, even less.
From that salary, his family of six people must afford:
- Housing costs for their humble home
- Food for four
- Utilities (electric, water supply, gas)
- Healthcare costs when children fall ill
- Travel
- Apparel
- Additional expenses
The mathematics of being poor are basic and harsh. It's never sufficient. Every unit of currency is committed before earning it. Every decision is a selection between essentials, never between necessity and extras.
When Noor's school fees came due—together with charges for his other children's education—his father confronted an unsolvable equation. The math failed to reconcile. They don't do.
Some expense had to be sacrificed. Someone had to forgo.
Noor, as the first-born, understood first. He is conscientious. He is mature past his years. He realized what his parents were unable to say aloud: his education was the outlay they could not any longer afford.
He did not cry. He didn't complain. He merely arranged his attire, set aside Poverty his learning materials, and requested his father to show him woodworking.
Since that's what children in poverty learn from the start—how to abandon their ambitions without complaint, without weighing down parents who are presently carrying heavier loads than they can bear.