Hazim The Little Blacksmith
A story of worker, father, student, and child
It is said that “name is destiny”. It seems that Hazem, a 10-year-old boy, has his name foretelling his destiny since it refers in Arabic to a person who controls everything resolutely and firmly.
Hazim … The Worker
His working day starts at five am
He goes to work before everyone else
He gets up early in the morning and goes every day to the blacksmith’s shop in his town Talmenes located in the south countryside of Idlib, in Syria.
He has been working there for more than a year specifically after his father’s death.
His relationship with his father, whom he remembers to be a burly man, was distinctive.
His father, too, used to work as a blacksmith before participating in the battles that took place in Syria after war broke out there.
He was killed at the hands of the Syrian regime forces.
Suddenly, the 10-year-old child found himself the breadwinner and thus he determined to cater for his family and meet their needs.
Usually, this craft needs to be practiced by physically powerful people.
Hazem was thin, but his hands can narrate the stories about the tough work he does in that place.
The blacksmith’s shop was owned by Hazem’s uncle. He hired Hazem to work with him to learn metalwork on the one hand and to earn money on the other hand.
Hazem puts on a plastic mask on his face to protect him from the fire of the soldering iron and to be able to begin carrying out his works.
His diverse tasks in the shop range from cleaning the place to cutting and welding iron, receiving in exchange a low salary of two thousand Syrian pounds per week, which is equal to $4.
This means he earns $16 monthly, but he expects himself to turn in a veteran blacksmith over time, just like his father was, and when this happens, he will get a higher salary that may reach about $50 monthly, he said.
He works ten hours a day for $4 weekly; that is, $16 monthly.
He works ten hours A day
For 4$ weekly
Which is 16$ monthly
Hazim… The Father
"He is talking about his siblings eagerly"
Ahmed/ 8 Years
Ahmed/ 8 Years
Yasmin/5 years
Yasmin/5 years
Hajar/3 years
Hajar/3 years
It’s five o’clock pm and it’s time to go home now.
Usually he gives the money he takes from his uncle to his mother to buy the needs of home like food and other things.
They buy bread, yogurt, and eggs basically for feeding the family.
"Everything is expensive and I cannot afford desserts to me and my brothers always", said Hazim.
He goes home back with his dirty clothes on where his brothers and sisters; Ahmed 8 years old, Yasmin 5 years old, Hajer 3 years old ,Sabrin one year and a half; they are waiting for him.
His relation with Sabrin is amazing, she loves him very much, so she waits his coming home back eagerly.
She never leaves him from the moment he entered the house.
"Sabrin was born after one month and a half of killing my father, that’s why we called her Sabrin as a proof of our patience after my father’s death" said Hazim.
"She never leaves me, maybe she considered me her father because she never knows him."
While the other siblings know him well and they never forget him especially when he came back and enter home with his huge body holding toys and desserts for his little kids.
Hazim does like his father and buy desserts sometimes to his siblings as his father did.
Wearing the same work clothes, he prepares food which his mother cooked it earlier because she is still at work.
They eat and tidy the place after finishing their meals.
Hazim, who stopped from going to school because of the pressure of work, is keen on his brother Ahmed's commitment to school attendance.
Hazim says in a tone of the father in charge of his children "My brother Ahmed goes to school and he is now in the second grade".
He finished his talking about Ahmed while he was packing the dishes in the kitchen because his mother is about to come back from work.
but he did not finish his work yet because he should study as his brother Ahmed, but in his own way.
5.5 of children are living in conflict zones in Syria and they are in need for help as Unicef published.
Hazim….The Student
He studies in his own way without school or teachers
While he spends his time working in the blacksmith shop, his mother works in the field of land cultivation.
They agreed together on this work to be able of helping this family.
This means that Hazim has stopped from going to school but he has kept one of the roofs at home for his school’s books.
‘I read these books daily trying not to forget my lessons’ he said.
Although he stopped going to school, he insists on completing his study to achieve his dream and become a teacher when he grows up.
He prefers reading books than playing with the kids who are the same age in the street because he does not have time for that.
He says this sentence and his eyes are full of tears and sad to deprive him of playing like other members of his generation.
More than two million children; the third of the Syrian children; are not registered at school and1.3 million children at risk of stopping from study as the Unicef said
Finally, Hazim…the child
The secret is in the remote control
Now, after this long tough day, Hazim wants to watch TV, so he picks the remote control to watch cartoons.
Through minutes, the firmness and seriousness started to go away of his tired face after his hard work.
You will see the child Hazim who is interested in watching cartoons.
He spends his time laughing and kidding with his brother and sisters, and while he is watching TV he fall asleep because of his hard long day.
