By Sher Bano, Youth Exchange & Study (YES) alumna
Reprinted with permission from Khabr-o-Nazar Magazine, March-April 2014 issue.
Last fall, I along with Abdullah Dayo (IVLP alumnus) and Umair Aziz (Professional Journalists Exchange Program alumnus), got the opportunity to visit India for the “South Asia Summit on Social Media for Digital Empowerment” Sept. 19-20, 2013. The event was an initiative of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), at the American Center in New Delhi.
The Pakistani delegation joined forces with 12 social media gurus from across South Asia to energize and inspire each other and develop exciting sessions on how social media has become a tool for empowerment in our countries. We generated workshops for empowering audiences to leverage social media more effectively.
In the two-day event I met wonderful people and made many new friends—and was even interviewed by India’s most popular television channel, NDTV! One inspiring person I met was Mr. Osama Manzar, an entrepreneur, author and new media specialist who is spearheading the mission to overcome the information barrier between India’s rural sector, and the so-called developed society, through Digital Empowerment Foundation. His efforts are commendable and what is even more inspiring is his humility.
Through the numerous discussions, I realized how most of the South Asian countries face similar problems and how big a potential role social media can help play in solving those problems—whether it is empowering the women, improving the Education scenario, helping the businesses, or assisting youth. If these countries could collaborate (even via social media), imagine how much these forces could progress together!
During the hectic two days as we finalized sessions, I took some time to explore the thrilling city of Delhi. An exhilarating experience was the visit to Khwaja Nizamudding Auliya’s shrine (Dargah). A wave of joy swept through me on entering the Dargah; blessed people of God have an aura of exuberance even after they die. Standing next to the webbed window with multiple knotted threads, a 14 year old girl told me how each thread symbolized a prayer. To my surprise, she handed me a thread with a smile. “Ask for whatever you want,” she said. The only words that buzzed in my mind as I tied the knot was the wish that the bond between Pakistan and India grows stronger than all the knots combined on that wall.
Coming back from India, the Pakistan delegation plans to carry forward the great work done in India and spread the multiple insights via a social media summit in Pakistan, and planning is underway. Social media is a great tool for developing countries like ours to progress in this globalized world. But it can only be beneficial if we have the drive to change things for better.
Learn more about the Summit at http://defindia.net/our-projects/social-media-summit.
