Lyari’s children claim change begins at home, in video which goes viral

“Lyari is a good place,” says a young boy in a video which has gone viral on social media.

The one-minute video is part of a documentary being shot by a journalist Benjamin Zand for BBC.

The children from the Kiran School in Lyari talk in perfect English to the journalist. “We are also living here. The people say it’s bad. It’s nothing,” says a little girl.

When the journalist asks him what would they do if they were president of Pakistan, their response is charming. “It’s not important to be president to bring change. We can bring change as well. We need a degree, and then we are free to do anything.”

The British Iranian journalist posted this video on his Facebook page 20 hours ago and it was viewed 125,000 times.

 “When I was in Karachi, Pakistan, nearly everyone I spoke to told me to avoid a neighbourhood called Lyari - Karachi's "most dangerous" area. I was told a whole number of things would probably happen to me,” he wrote.

“I decided to go, check it out and see if it was true. When I got there, I met these kids from the Kiran School System. Probably the most impressive kids I think I may ever have met. I asked them about Lyari's negative connotations. Just have a listen to them, this is just a short clip,” he added.

Lyari’s Kiran School started in 2006. The kindergarten-school carefully selects first-born children of fathers who don’t do drugs and have jobs, and train them to take admission in top schools of the city. Each child is sponsored by a well-to-do family.