GILGIT: At just a young age, Muhammad Shiraz from Gilgit-Baltistan has managed to do what many adults only dream of – bringing real change to his community.
The child vlogger, who first won hearts by sharing glimpses of his everyday life and the breathtaking culture of Baltistan through social media, has now turned his growing popularity into a lifeline for his village.
After using his earnings from social media to renovate a dilapidated school into a modern educational space, Shiraz has launched yet another initiative – a free ambulance service for his people.
In a video shared on his Instagram ID with two million followers, Shiraz explained why he felt compelled to act. “There is no proper hospital in our village. For treatment, people must travel one to two hours to the city. It is difficult, expensive, and sometimes life-threatening,” he said, adding that women often suffer during childbirth, while in winters, heavy snowfall and freezing conditions make life especially hard for children, women, and the elderly.
“In such circumstances, even arranging a vehicle in case of an emergency becomes impossible. That is why I bought an ambulance for my village, so that elders, women, and children can reach hospitals in time during emergencies.”
The service, offered free of charge, is expected to save countless lives in an area where a simple medical emergency can quickly turn into tragedy due to lack of access to healthcare.
Just three days earlier, he released another video showcasing how he, alongside his father and with crucial help from two overseas Pakistanis, transformed a local village school.
The video, which earned 214k likes and around 8,000 comments, initially depicted the dilapidated state of the school, where children sat without chairs in open air, classrooms were in poor condition, and the overall learning environment was far from adequate. The video shows Sheraz’s father, Muhammad Taqi, showing the renovated institution, a modern school building equipped with proper classrooms, a playground, and swings for children.
“People ask what I gained from social media. We turned a broken village school into a modern one,” Shiraz wrote in the caption of the video.
In another video, the young vlogger revealed that the school project was completed with the help of overseas Pakistanis.
“Our school needed a lot of work. Kids didn’t even have a safe place to learn. That’s when two overseas Pakistanis – Fauzia Zaki and her niece Zehra Zaidi – stepped in. To honor their father and maternal grandfather, Capt. Mohammed Zaki, they didn’t just fix the school – they built a brand-new one,” Shiraz added.
He said that now children study in a safe environment, and even Shahbaz Zaki, Capt Zaki’s grandson, teaches technology online all the way from the USA. Shiraz said that the duo also built a dam, installed pumps for clean drinking water, added solar panels, and provided essential health support with medicines and even an ambulance.
Apart from this, the young vlogger also took part in relief activities after the floods last month. He donated essential items and cash to people affected by the disaster.
