The unsung heroes: Envisaging the ‘Karachi dream’

KARACHI:

Young men and women belonging to different parts of the city shared stories pertaining to the 'Karachi dream' — youth rising from the slums making their journey to the hallways of universities and organisations through education and diligence.

The two-day 'I Am Karachi' Youth Champions event was organised by the 'I Am Karachi' initiative in collaboration with the School of Leadership to mark International Youth Day at PC Marquee on Wednesday. Boys and girls belonging to different areas and socio-economic backgrounds — from Hijrat Colony and Soldier Bazaar to DHA and Zia Colony — participated in the event.



The programme was divided into different sessions including motivational sessions, beat-boxing and theatrical performance, documentary screening and story-telling sessions of the unsung champions of the city. The story-telling sessions were perhaps the most intriguing. Four themes were taken into account in narrating the stories: 'I am Resilient', 'I am Responsible', 'I am Inclusive' and 'I am Diverse'.

Among the narrators was Siraj Aslam, a community trainer, who shared his knowledge on the risks of drug usage that prevails among the youth of Lyari. Similarly, Farhat Rasheed, who was wheelchair-bound since birth, shared her tale of how she became not only a gold medallist at Institute of Business Management but also runs an organisation called 'Show You Care' for differently-abled people today.

These narrators, called the 'Champions', were selected through online nomination. Over 8,000 young men and women shared their stories on the online portal of the School of Leadership.

"The idea was to celebrate the success stories of youth from all across Karachi and appreciate the impact that they have made in their communities," said Sumaira Salamat, the executive coordinator at the School of Leadership. Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui encouraged the youth to be confident. "You have to make yourselves the ambassadors of peace," he said. "Never have a complex about anything."

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2015.