A young 23 years old talented Pakistani boy Usman Shahid will be receiving “Asian Youth Model” award in Lahore during Asian Youth Conference and Peace Festival on 28th of September by CDA, UNFPA and Information, Culture & Youth Affairs Department, Government of Punjab.
He born and raised up in Saudi Arabia and worked as Journalist in Urdu News and Saudi Gazette of Saudi Arabia. He is much active in social activities, community services and youth development. He run his own organization We The Youth having members and activities all around the world. He done a lot for Pakistani Community abroad. He is also writing a novel these days.
Usman Shahid:
With parental roots in Pakistan, I have born on 7th March 1988 in Saudi Arabia. My mother died due to cancer and I was 14 years old at that time. I started helping the community as a social worker in different fields. I joined World’s Largest Virtual Welfare Organization Contact Pakistan as a social worker and also won “Volunteer of the Year” award at the age of 15. Later I started reporting different community events of my area for their newsletters.
In 2005, I joined “ARY MUSIK” channel as Promotion Coordinator of weekly show “Living on the Edge”. In 2006 I was selected in Saudi Research and Publication Company for Internship. After internship I started my career as a Journalist. My first article “Why Teenagers Think of Suicide” was published in “Urdu News” in August 2006. I have interviewed many community leaders, sports men, singers and media personalities. Later I started a page for youth in the newspaper and I was appointed editor of the weekly youth page.
In April 2007, I left “Urdu News” to join Middle East Largest English Newspaper Saudi Gazette, where apart from working in their Urdu section called “Aawaz”, the opportunity to work on technology, national, travel and social pages was available.
I run an International Organization “We The Youth” to promote the young talent. “We The Youth” is an International Non-Profit Organization dedicated to providing different opportunities for the Youth. Our primary focus is Talent Promotion. “We The Youth” is run by young volunteers from the community. We have no full-time or paid staff. The governing group is Board of Directors, which handles all related business affairs and administrative work. We organized series of events, activities, workshops, seminars and exhibitions in Saudi Arabia for the development of Kingdom’s Youth.
I am an award winner social worker, youngest journalist of Saudi Arabia. I am a certified Meeting Excellence Professional from Marriott International and I also have a Diploma in Telecom (GSM/WLL) Engineering. I worked for British Council as Invigilator, for McDonalds as Call Center Agent and for Zain Telecom as DT Engineer. I am a simple open minded social person with variety of ideas, for development of youth and betterment of society. I am a silent observer. I write about different community, social and youth issues.
I think if any activist can feel the pain of the victims and the community he/she will be the perfect one for social work and activism. When my mother was admitted in hospital for cancer treatment, I lived with her in the hospital and I felt the pain and ignorance of people. I Observed the Behavior of Relatives and Family Friends. I passed from several social issues when I was in my teenage. I left my family and traveled to another city when I was 16 years old to work in social field and Journalism. Lived alone and faced so many challenges. I observed that foreigners don’t receive justice in Saudi Arabia just because they are Non-Saudis. Attitude of locals and officials there with foreigners is not good. Foreigners are treated worse than servants. Daily thousands of human rights violations can be seen in Saudi Arabia but they are unreported. The issues and problems I faced in my life; raised more courage and spirit of sacrifice in my life to work for the humanity. I joined several national and international organizations for different social projects and volunteered for them.
My skills, hobbies and interests are Leadership, Writing, Team Development, Traveling, Music, Inventions, Socializing, Documentaries, Human Observation, Trying New Things, Exploring New Places, Increasing Knowledge, Raising Level of Awareness, Sting Operations and Hanging out with Friends.
Recent Events Organized by “We The Youth”:
1. Youth Talent Promotion Event
2. Event for Special / Handicapped Children
3. Expatriates Accolade Award
4. Say No to Smoking
5. Indo-Pak Friendship Special
6. Special Event For Special Guests
7. Musical Night (For Flood Victims)
8. Say Yes to Higher Education
9. Volunteers Convention
10. Youth & Violence
Youth Projects by “We The Youth”:
1. Clean the City Campaign
2. No to Drugs Campaign
3. Human Rights Campaign
4. Young Scouts for Hajj & Umrah Pilgrims
5. Job Hunt for Youngsters.
6. Blood Bank
Achievements:
* Directed & Produced 2 Short Movies on Youth Issues
* Model of Giordano Fashion 2008
* Gold Medalist of Forever International
* Chief Scout, Hajj 2008
* “Volunteer of the Year” Award
* “Youngest Journalist” Award
* “Heart of the Expatriates” Award
* Prepared “Hajj Guide” for Pakistani Pilgrims
* Supervised Nokia Promotion Campaign
* Qualified & Certified Trainer / Facilitator
* Participation in 1st International Media Conference by King Abdullah
* Participation in Arab Direct Marketing Conference
* Participation in International Youth Meeting, Turkey
* Participation in Young Leaders Conference
* Participation in International Youth Conference