The three-day Asian Youth Conference and Peace Festival 2011 ended with full swing in the city of Lahore, celebrating the theme “Together We Are The Solution”.
On the First day of the conference, “Asian Youth Model” Award was given to young activist “Usman Shahid” working actively across Asia & Middle East. Usman Shahid was invited in Asian Youth Conference & Peace Festival for the Panel Discussion (Young Asian Role Models) as Panelist, more than 650 participants were there in the Panel discussion. The panelists included social activists Usman Shahid and Tanzila Khan, Geo Youth Ambassador Ali Moeen Nawazish and Call Band singer Junaid Khan. The award was given to Usman Shahid by Deputy Secretary (Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Department, Government of Punjab) “Maqbool Ahmad Malik” and Miss Zoya Ishaq, Representative of Chanan Development Association (CDA).
Separately, Usman also won a video competition during the festival. With parents hailing from Pakistan, Usman himself was born in Saudi Arabia. At the age of 15, he joined the World’s Largest Virtual Welfare Organization Contact Pakistan as a social worker and also won the “Volunteer of the Year” award. Later, he started working as a reporter, covering different community events for their newsletters. He is a writer and his priority is to write about different community, social and youth issues. The first article he wrote was “Why Teenagers Think of Suicide”.
Talking to the Media, Usman talked about his works and future planning for the youth of Pakistan. When asked about who/what inspired him to become a social worker, he said, “At the time when my mother was admitted in hospital for cancer treatment, I went through a lot and experienced several painful moments. The issues and problems I faced in my life; raised more courage and spirit of sacrifice in my life to work for the humanity. My inspirations are my Mother, my Teachers specially Sameera Aziz, Siblings, Friends, Hitler, Martin Luther King and few other Historical Personalities”.
Usman added that the situation allowed him to relate to other people’s sufferings, adding that he left his family and traveled to another city at the age of 16 to work in social fields and as a journalist. He joined several national and international organizations for different social projects and volunteered for them. Usman currently runs an International Organization with the name of “We The Youth” dedicated to providing different opportunities for the Youth.
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Achievements:
• Directed & Produced 2 Short Movies on Youth Issues
• Chief Scout, Hajj 2008
• 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
• Participation in Asian Youth Conference as Panelist
Awards:
• “Volunteer of the Year” Award
• “Pride of Pakistan” Award
• “Youngest Journalist” Award
• “Heart of the Expatriates” Award
• “Asian Youth Model” Award