Two Pakistanis among ‘Asia 21 Young Leaders’

Mohsin Mustafa of the Strategy and Programme Development, Aman Foundation, and Muhammad Sabir, community worker and founder of Slumabad are the ones named in the list.

The Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative has become a robust network of more than 800 young leaders from 30 nations.

Asia 21 young leaders are selected through a highly competitive process based on outstanding achievements, commitment to public service and a proven ability to make the world a better place, a press statement issued here said.

Mohsin Mustafa is a medical doctor in Pakistan who manages the communications and strategy of Aman Healthcare Services. This position has allowed him to work with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, where he is creating a disaster-management framework for Karachi and eventually the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia regions. He has trained over 11,000 people in basic life support and first response.

Mohsin is passionate about disaster-management, politics and the outdoors. He has trekked to the base camps of K2, Nanga Parbat and Rakaposhi. This August, he will scale a 7000-meter peak, Spantik. He is also an advanced open-water scuba diver, and runs a diving company with friends called Divers Reef Karachi which has introduced over 5000 youth from Karachi to aquatic sports. Mohsin graduated from the Aga Khan University and, after obtaining his M.D., chose to pursue public health full-time in Pakistan.

Muhammad Sabir is the founder of Slumabad, an organization that seeks to give every child living in slums the opportunity to experience joy, and to save lives through promoting safe sanitation practices. Previously, he worked with Khudi Pakistan, Door of Awareness, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Muhammad grew up in a nomadic family, and in his own slum the air was always heavy with the smell of human waste and children could be seen picking over piles of garbage. Since his childhood, he has struggled to educate himself and his siblings. His passion for reading kept him and his dreams alive – reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens was a defining moment of his life – as he washed cars in markets, sold newspapers, and picked up garbage. Having worked as a child laborer himself, Muhammad is motivated to improve the slums and the quality of life for children there by building toilets and sending children to school: a child with a school bag means a world of difference for the slums.