Iqbal

Fatima is one of 14 children who are forced to make decorative carpets for Hussain Khan. Hussain’s carpet factory is located outside of a city in Pakistan called Lahore. The children were sold as collateral by their families, who were forced, for different reasons, to borrow money. The children’s work is intended to pay off the families’ debts.

The carpets are made in a building on Hussain’s property. Each morning, Hussain Khan’s wife brings food to the children in the early morning, and the children eat and talk about their dreams. Fatima learned from her grandmother that dreams come from heaven, and anyone can receive any type of dream. She was also taught that not receiving dreams is a bad sign, and that “it’s like not receiving the warmth of someone who is thinking of us even if they are far away” (10). Fatima no longer dreams, and she thinks the others have stopped dreaming as well, but to ease the loneliness they all feel, they make up dreams to share with each other. Fatima, who has been at the factory for three years, has also lost the memories of her family and her life before she was bonded.