Poet schoolboy pays tribute to child slave

9:00am Saturday 3rd January 2009

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The life of a Pakistani child slave inspired an award-winning poem written by a Tooting schoolboy.

Yusuf Steel, a year 4 pupil at Gatton School, won first prize in his category in the Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition this year.

The eight-year-old received his award at a prize-giving ceremony at the Unicorn Theatre near London Bridge.

It was presented by children’s laureate Michael Rosen and Andrew Fusek Peters, said to be the world's tallest children's poet.

Mr Rosen said: "What a terrific set of poems with a wide range of feeling and thought.

“One minute we were laughing, the next we were amazed. One moment we were in the land of the impossible, the next in the land of the very real."

Yusef’s poem, Carpet Boy, told the story of Iqbal Masih, a child slave working in a carpet factory in the 1980s.

He ran away at the age of ten and started school, gaining international recognition for his inspiring speeches.

While still a child he was honoured by the International Labour Organization in Sweden and received Reebok's 1994 Human Rights Youth Action Award.

But at the age of 12, he was murdered in a mystery attack which many people blame on carpet trade criminals who were outraged at his public attack on slavery.

Carpet Boy focuses on his life as a slave, ending with the lines, “One day we will break free and ride my carpet to the sea.”

More than 3,000 children entered the national competition run by the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf and the British Council.

The challenge was to write a poem on the theme of work, and winners were picked for two different age groups.

The winning poems are featured at childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk and britishcouncil.org.