by Nicolas Carlo

Created on: November 04, 2009   Last Updated: November 07, 2009

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, or something to that effect.

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

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