‘Generation Amazing transformed my life’: young ambassador from Pakistan

Karachi-based Fahad Habib, one of the six youngsters who were appointed Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s (SC) Generation Amazing (GA) Pakistan ambassadors, says the programme will have a ‘long-term’ positive impact on his life.
“I went to Brazil immediately as a GA ambassador and watched my favourite footballer Eden Hazard playing for Belgium against South Korea. But more importantly, GA has been the long-term platform for my personal and social development,” the 17-year-old engineering student told www.sc.qa.
Fahad’s tireless work over the past two years has now earned him a position as a football coach at a British Council-organised local initiative for social transformation through football called ‘Dosti’ (meaning friendship in Urdu).
Delivered at the Karachi United Academy, where Fahad has been a midfielder and captain since 2011, ‘Dosti’ brings vulnerable and ethnically diverse boys and girls, aged 12 to 18, onto the football fields and away from the streets.
The SC funds ‘Dosti’ through an Education Above All initiative called ILM - Possible, a youth mentoring programme, and the synergy has helped Fahad settle into his new role.
The proud teenager also says that it was his experience of travelling to Brazil as a GA ambassador which enabled his selection. “Thanks to GA, I am the only footballer in my locality with international exposure. I have also worked hard on GA’s Pakistan-based community initiatives over the last two years in both Karachi and Islamabad,” said the youngster.
Fahad lives in one of Karachi’s most crime-ridden areas – Lyari Town – but historically football has had a positive impact on the area and has proven a valuable community engagement tool to keep youngsters away from gang wars and drugs. He spent his childhood near Lyari.
Fahad’s childhood love of the sport was a huge factor in keeping him disciplined and in the educational system despite his family coming from a modest background and barely managing to pay his school fees.  
As a passionate football fan, Fahad has preferred the sport over cricket since childhood. “I used to watch the local football tournaments during the Holy month of Ramadan and fell in love with the sport. Unlike most Pakistanis, I chose football because I have never been a fan of our country’s cricketers. Pakistani and Indian cricketers are spoilt because they are celebrities in the eyes of the media and the public. I prefer modest Pakistani footballers any day.”
Fahad is a man who keeps off the beaten track in more ways than one. He believes GA has boosted his confidence and enhanced his skills, allowing him to venture where most in his locality fear to tread. “As part of the GA programme, we organised a girl’s tournament in Karachi last year. The management of the tournament was in my hands. Together with my fellow GA ambassador, Uzma, we instilled morale in them and coached them, much to the amazement of the local community,” remembered Fahad.
He continued: “The local people could not believe what was happening. In our country girls are not encouraged to play sport. But we asked them to look at sport positively and not on the basis of whether the girls wear shirts and shorts. The girls were overjoyed. Now we will focus on organising a tournament for boys aged under 12,” he said.
Fahad understands the excitement of the girls. “I went through the same emotion in Brazil when I watched Hazard and met Cafu, the 2002 World Cup-winning Brazil captain. GA has given me everything – happiness, social mobility, career progress and respect in the community. You can say it has given me a new life, and I am now motivated to finish my degree. I have three more years to go but I will get there eventually – GA has given me the confidence to achieve my goals.”   
Generation Amazing (GA) is the SC’s flagship programme that uses the power of football and the opportunity of Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup to educate and empower the next generation in Qatar and surrounding regions.
 (SC.qa)