Pakistani-origin individuals honoured with 2021 Diana Award

Individuals with Pakistani-origin have been honoured with the 2021 Diana Award Roll of Honour.

The Diana Award recipients include individuals who are sources of inspiration from around the world. They demonstrate their ability to mobilise new generations to serve their communities on a global scale.

Mashal Amir, who is Scottish and of Pashtun ethnicity, has been honoured for her services towards humanity.

She has studied law from Cambridge and Glasgow universities. She has worked on eradicating racial and socioeconomic barriers.

Mashal has raised funds to provide scholarships for young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds as well, along with mentoring children who face difficulties in getting enrolled in universities.

Speaking with Samaa TV, she said she is being rewarded for her hard work.

Hailing from Faisalabad, Hassan Ashraf is the Chief Executive Officer of ‘UMEED’ school, which has 20 branches across Pakistan.

The institution educates more than 1,500 children. Their projects include leadership training and free internships.

Hassan has hosted fundraisers for families during the coronavirus pandemic as well.

Danyal Khan began helping people after a terrorist attack in Pakistan when he was 16 years old. Since then, the official of the Youth Council on Dublin has been spending his time to help marginalized groups. He believes that the trauma of undergoing such an attack can affect mental health. He has set up an initiative called Project Let’s Move Forward, which helps refugees who struggle to continue with their studies. He has collaborated with the United Nations to raise awareness about issues relating to education and discrimination.

Yumna Majeed, another Lahore-born on the list, founded an organisation by the name of Exploration. The programme inspires a new generation of space scientists in Pakistan. She has played a helping hand to make the field a trend since 2016. She has been an inspiration to thousands of people who wish to develop an interest in astronomy along with space sciences.

Ayesha Shaikh from Sukkur seeks to empower young people and help those in need through her knowledge. Her motivation to raise funds has helped nearly 350 struggling families during the coronavirus outbreak. She is a dedicated educator, who has mentored people through her public speaking, debating, creative writing along with How To Earn Online course. It has helped people earn livelihood.

Izat Ullah has been honoured for his educational services in his home province of Balochistan through Kurram Welfare Home. He has helped more than 5,000 young people as a counselor and came up with youth-focused campaigns during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has volunteered in a variety of organisations across Pakistan, where he displayed impressive leadership skills.

Muhammad Hamza Waseem from Lahore believes that scientific education should be accessible to all, for which he came up with Spectra in 2017. The initiative aims to promote the scientific education and it has published 225 articles and mentored more than 200 students. He arranged the biggest public science festival in Pakistan named the Lahore Science Mela that was attended by over 60,000 people. He got the Rhodes Scholarship, which is awarded in recognition of his academic success.

Muhammad Asim Masoom Zubair from the Islamia University of Bahawalpur played his role as a frontline healthcare worker during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. More than 5,000 bottles of hand sanitizers were produced under his supervision to curb the virus' spread. Asim has taken part in programmes for raising awareness about cancer and matters relating to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that help thousands of students in Bahawalpur.

There are disparities regarding access to resources, advice and support available for students to sit in their exams. To help them, 23-year-old Zubair Junjunia from Karachi started a blog named ZNotes to share his knowledge and resources without any charge. The alumni of London's Global University, believes that quality education being a right, not privilege.

The foundation started after students started to avail its services for their benefit. So far, it has passed 21 million hits with over three million unique visitors, becoming a go-to resource for students and teachers all around the world.

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