The thread that joins them all
KARACHI:
Youth from Bajaur, Kashmir, Lahore and other cities of the country got together in Karachi on Thursday to find out where their dreams might take them. From all walks of life, the 300 participants attending the Young Leaders’ Conference (YLC) had one thing in common: the urge to discover.
The 2010 YLC, organised by the commercial enterprise The School of Leadership, was inaugurated at a local hotel on Thursday afternoon.
This is the ninth YLC to take place in the country, in which300 participants, aged 18 to 24, will take part in a six-day training programme. The programme aims big: it wants the young, aspiring leaders of tomorrow to undergo a personality overhaul. YLC is meant to be an experience that will help young men and women discover what is already within; help them gain the confidence and ability to make decisions and to become acquainted with economic and social challenges that their society is facing.
The most common phrase that went around the young participants was “I’m so excited to be here!”
As one of the young women at the ceremony, Sadaf Aslam, said, “I got to interact with people from Bajaur and other places up north so it was definitely interesting.”
For others like Salman Zafar, 2009 YLC alumni and currently a youth facilitator at the YLC, the experience is much simpler, “To enter heaven, one needs to pray, and to be successful in life, one needs to attend YLC.”
“YLC helped me discover qualities within me that I never knew I had,” he added.
Of course, like anywhere else, YLC had its share of unhappy participants. As Shireen Naqvi, the CEO of the School of Leadership put it, the government is not the only thing in Pakistan that has its problems. “My aspirations are so high each year but when I see the students, uncivilised behavior, no respect for the environment, I feel that whatever is wrong with the government is wrong with these students,” she said.
However she, too, felt that YLC had a positive effect on the participants, “They go back to their villages and towns and share what they learnt with them; the fire catches on.”
Provincial minister for youth affairs Faisal Subzwari was the chief guest at the event. He briefed the audience on the government’s projects for the youth.
They have planned to build a youth development centre in Karachi and regional ones in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah and Larkana, said Subzwari. He also talked of ILead, a series of sports activities that have been launched in the province.
“We can celebrate small things like winning the T20 World Cup, we can sing nationalistic songs and feel proud of ourselves but the basic task of building our nation from within has not been completed yet,” said Subzwari. He praised platforms like the YLC, which he said teach us how to live in harmony. Ending optimistically, he told the young participants, “You have been given opportunities that were not available to me when I was young. Make use of them. We are firm believers that you will be the ones to build and save Pakistan.”
Kamran Rizvi, director of The School of Leadership, highlighted the diversity of the participants. He also commended the courage of one of the participants, Irfan, who is confined to a wheelchair.
“I need help even in simple things like changing clothes but I try to stay enthusiastic,” Irfan said.
Rizvi also commented on YLC’s secular approach and expressed his hopes for making the conference bigger and better. “Maybe next time, we can call 60,000 people and arrange the conference in Gaddafi stadium, end it with a concert. Who knows where YLC can go,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2010.
Youth from Bajaur, Kashmir, Lahore and other cities of the country got together in Karachi on Thursday to find out where their dreams might take them. From all walks of life, the 300 participants attending the Young Leaders’ Conference (YLC) had one thing in common: the urge to discover.
The 2010 YLC, organised by the commercial enterprise The School of Leadership, was inaugurated at a local hotel on Thursday afternoon.
This is the ninth YLC to take place in the country, in which300 participants, aged 18 to 24, will take part in a six-day training programme. The programme aims big: it wants the young, aspiring leaders of tomorrow to undergo a personality overhaul. YLC is meant to be an experience that will help young men and women discover what is already within; help them gain the confidence and ability to make decisions and to become acquainted with economic and social challenges that their society is facing.
The most common phrase that went around the young participants was “I’m so excited to be here!”
As one of the young women at the ceremony, Sadaf Aslam, said, “I got to interact with people from Bajaur and other places up north so it was definitely interesting.”
For others like Salman Zafar, 2009 YLC alumni and currently a youth facilitator at the YLC, the experience is much simpler, “To enter heaven, one needs to pray, and to be successful in life, one needs to attend YLC.”
“YLC helped me discover qualities within me that I never knew I had,” he added.
Of course, like anywhere else, YLC had its share of unhappy participants. As Shireen Naqvi, the CEO of the School of Leadership put it, the government is not the only thing in Pakistan that has its problems. “My aspirations are so high each year but when I see the students, uncivilised behavior, no respect for the environment, I feel that whatever is wrong with the government is wrong with these students,” she said.
However she, too, felt that YLC had a positive effect on the participants, “They go back to their villages and towns and share what they learnt with them; the fire catches on.”
Provincial minister for youth affairs Faisal Subzwari was the chief guest at the event. He briefed the audience on the government’s projects for the youth.
They have planned to build a youth development centre in Karachi and regional ones in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah and Larkana, said Subzwari. He also talked of ILead, a series of sports activities that have been launched in the province.
“We can celebrate small things like winning the T20 World Cup, we can sing nationalistic songs and feel proud of ourselves but the basic task of building our nation from within has not been completed yet,” said Subzwari. He praised platforms like the YLC, which he said teach us how to live in harmony. Ending optimistically, he told the young participants, “You have been given opportunities that were not available to me when I was young. Make use of them. We are firm believers that you will be the ones to build and save Pakistan.”
Kamran Rizvi, director of The School of Leadership, highlighted the diversity of the participants. He also commended the courage of one of the participants, Irfan, who is confined to a wheelchair.
“I need help even in simple things like changing clothes but I try to stay enthusiastic,” Irfan said.
Rizvi also commented on YLC’s secular approach and expressed his hopes for making the conference bigger and better. “Maybe next time, we can call 60,000 people and arrange the conference in Gaddafi stadium, end it with a concert. Who knows where YLC can go,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2010.