Sajjad Khan Tea Seller Lahore, Punjab

As I was only two and a half years of age, I did not know what was happening. I fell ill and a few days later my parents came to know that I had been paralyzed for life due to polio.

I am sure my parents were devastated because they had no knowledge of polio other than it mainly affected young children. I couldn’t ride a bicycle and play. My lack of mobility set me aside and made me appear different to all other children in the neighbourhood.

Now I am 24, I feel very frustrated that I have an active mind in a disabled body. Even when I am offered a job, I am often paid meagre wages. I stand the whole day on my impaired leg at a tea stall for 600 rupees only.

Shahid Afridi is my idol, but polio has shattered my dream of becoming a cricket star. My goal now is to make my own tea stall so that I can manage my time and income.

I look at polio vaccinators and health workers as heroes. Their task is fraught with huge dangers, but they are never deterred from their noble mission. I want to go door to door with them to inform the community about the dangers of polio virus in our city. I can convince the mothers and fathers that polio drops are the only way to protect their children from disability.

Sajjad Khan
Tea Seller
Lahore, Punjab Province