Published by Disclaimer: The following story is based on my personal experience.
I live in Dubai—the city where new buildings are constructed each and every day. With the construction boom, a lot of construction workers and lower-level servicemen from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have come here looking for a better living. However, many of these workers are lied to about their salaries. They come here believing they will make their families back home rich but they end up under so much debt that they live in conditions worse than they were back home. Their poverty is not foreign to them; however, it is really painful to see their dreams shattered the moment they set foot in Dubai.
I don’t exactly come from a very rich family. I too struggled financially in my life and it is because of that that I told myself that the day I have enough money I will try to help someone in need. Being a Christian, I wanted to do it the way Christ said we should; that the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing.
About a year ago, when I found a very well paying job—because of which I was very happy and thankful to God—I decided that it was time now for me to deliver on the promise that I made to myself. I went to the closest mall that employs a lot of cleaners from the three countries I mentioned above. I went to the food court and bought something to eat. While eating, I was just looking around noticing all the cleaners there. I saw this one man who was working very hard and was hardly even getting thanks from people whose trays he was clearing.
It was heart-wrenching to see that man. He wasn’t smiling at all and his eyes looked like he was lost in his thoughts. He was just moving about, doing his job like a robot—without a feeling or expression. It seemed as though he was so lost, so sad and forgotten that even if the whole world came to an abrupt end that very moment, he won’t even flinch. Looking at that man made the world seem like the worst place to live in.
After I finished eating, I got up and walked over to put my tray away. All of a sudden, that man came over to take the tray away from my hand. He looked panicked as though it was his mistake somehow that I didn’t let him clean my tray but was doing it myself. I said thanks and he looked at me like I had just told him he’d won a million dollars (or dirhams, UAE currency). I turned and started walking away but then I remembered my promise once more.
I stopped, turned back and saw the man doing his job as before. I approached him and asked him where he was from. He told me he was from Bangladesh in a very repentant way. I asked him if he was here alone or with his family. After talking to him for a while, I found out that not only was his family back in Bangladesh, but he was supporting them through this job and also his parents. He told me he missed them very much but he didn’t have enough money to call his family often. He would save a coin here and a coin there to be able to call his family every 2 or 3 months.
It was sad and at the same time I realized how blessed I was that I had more than this guy could earn and spend in a life time. I took out money from my pocket—enough for him to call his family and talk to them for a reasonable amount of time—and gave it to him. I told him he should use this money to call his family in Bangladesh. He looked at the money in unbelief. I told him to take it, which he did. He started to shake. Then, as his eyes were still fixated on the money, I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down. He looked up, tears running down on his face. His robotic stature had broken down and the human inside of him had come out. He had a face full of expressions—expressions that relayed the message that today he will be able to talk to the people he loved and missed so much and he was able to do that not because of anything that he’d done.
I said goodbye and walked away thanking God continuously. That day I did what I did because I thought that is what God wants me to do. Being in Dubai, it is not easy to be a Christian, however, it is never hard to be Christ-like.
