Elliot’s – Abolition of Slave Trade in my Family

“Elliot’s – Abolition of Slave Trade in my Family” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Abbas Aliasgar Kassam, Tanzania.

Elliot’s – Abolition of Slave Trade in my Family

In early 19th century, Eliot, 10 years old, a sweet loving girl, was the daughter of Jack and Jill, a very rich and healthy couple. Her parents were very rude and mean. They used to buy slaves and hit them and make them work without providing basic needs. Whenever they came across any poor person who asked for help, they would either remove the sword to threaten them to be killed or give them torn money to make a joke out of it.

One day Elliot saw this and it hurt her deeply.. Many questions rose is her mind. She was so sad and inactive the whole day. That night was a sleepless night for Eliot. The next morning, during breakfast time with her family, Eliot gathered up some courage and spoke to her parents about her concern.

“Dad I have been thinking about yesterday, many questions rise in my mind, aren’t we doing something wrong with the way we treat the Slaves?”

Dad stood up furiously and said, “That was just a dream you had”.

“It’s true, Eliot’s concern is very true, let’s reconsider” said Jill.

But this is an era of slave trade argued Jack. “What is Slave trade mummy?” asked Eliot.

“Slave trade is buying and selling of slaves with money and making them do our work without pay. It’s something I realize now is very bad. Just because we are rich and they are poor doesn’t give us rights to buy them and make them do what we want. They are humans too and need freedom and expression of speech. They are citizens too of this village and city. This is their home too. We need to reconsider Jack”, said Jill.

“You are right” said Jack. “Let’s bring a change to this world where we live in and make it a better place for all”.

“Thank you, Eliot, for bringing this to our attention, you have indeed a good, kind and humble Heart. May we all have a good and kind-hearted child in each family with concerns for the humanity”. Jack hugged her daughter and planned up to release all the slaves they had.

Jack started paying money to the slaves and employed them instead. He helped the poor with shelter and many other basic needs. Eliot’s town was becoming a better place to live in and that’s how Slave Trade was abolished eventually.

Mother Teresa has well said when she was asked “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

The famous peace keeper had said “Poverty is not an accident, like slavery, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings”