By Violet Li
Local charity Bakhtar Community Organisation held its annual Bakhtar Youth of the Year Award Dinner on Friday 11 October.
The night recognised the outstanding contributions and achievements of the youth, with a turnout of over 300 attendees, including dignitaries from more than 70 organisations as well as government representatives.
Award winners included Parisa Sekandari for Bakhtar Youth High Achiever of the Year, Zahira Malikyar for Bakhtar Youth Volunteer of the Year, and Nilab Mohammadi for Bakhtar Youth Athlete of the Year.
Bakhtar founder and chief executive Bassir Qadiri said this year the award night was a bit different because it wasn’t for the Afghan community only.
“It was inclusive of everyone. As in the guests, they were not only from the Afghan community. We had guests from different community backgrounds, and the session was full in English,” he said.
“That’s how we moved on to become a multicultural organisation. That’s why we wanted it to be reflected in our events as well.
“We had performances like Bollywood performances from India, and we had a Turkish performance.”
