LAHORE, Pakistan (UCAN) -- A Catholic's account of his accidental journey into the world of TV makeup artistry was a motivational highlight at a recent seminar on alternative employment possibilities for poorly trained youth.

The local Young Christian Workers (YCW) branch organized the seminar that about 200 poorly paid domestic, factory and sanitation workers, and unemployed youths attended on Nov. 25 at Loyola Hall in Lahore, 270 kilometers southeast of Islamabad.

Nadeem Fida, a full-time coordinator with YCW, told UCA News the group plans to arrange several more such programs in 2008 on various kinds of employment possibilities. This first program focused on makeup and hair artistry.

Azeem Gill, 27, made clear to the audience of Christians and Muslims, most of whom had dropped out of school, that developing new work skills can provide a passport to a new life. He began by telling his audience how honesty led to him joining a specialized course in makeup skills for performers.

While working as a TV production assistant in November 2006, "I saw a mislaid wallet laying on the seat where an old man had been sitting," he recounted. "I rushed towards the studio exit and handed it over to the man, who turned out to be a makeup artist."

The man, Rana Saghir, is well known in the Pakistani film and TV industry, and he invited Gill to study at his college for related arts.

Saghir, 62, also made a presentation at the YCW seminar. Speaking after Gill, the makeup man said he developed a special regard for young Christians after his encounter with Gill.

"Now, with the help of the eight Christian students in my Hair and Beauticians' Arts College, we are trying to create skills awareness among young people including Christians," he continued. The opening of private TV channels in Pakistan, he told the audience, provides "gates of opportunity" for even an illiterate person.

During the five-hour seminar, the YCW organizers led the singing of Indian pop songs, popular in Pakistan, and staged a short drama about gaining new skills and joining Saghir's college.

Gill stressed that training to work as makeup artists, beauticians, TV set designers and singers could help poor Christians get out of the daily-wage drudgery of factory, domestic or sanitation work.

"The problem with the today's Christian youths is that they are ashamed to do ordinary or menial jobs but do not have the skills to move up to better jobs, he said.

Youths who had to drop out of school due to poverty or for domestic reasons can still gain the skills they need for better jobs, he stressed. He said women could learn to be beauticians and men makeup artists or barbers.

Saghir told UCA News his college has run on a "welfare basis" for six years and is open to students of any religion. While other professional colleges or beauty parlors charge up to 10,000 rupees per month, he charges only 4,300 rupees for a one-year diploma course. The college currently has 35 students.

"For me humanity is the best religion and I consider my work as jihad (struggle) against unemployment," he said.

Gill shared with UCA News about his past as a poorly paid teacher. "I used to be worried about my future and marriage, since 3,000 rupees a month was my salary as a teacher," he said.

He managed, through a relative who works in TV, to get a job in set design and production, where private production companies can pay up to 10 times as much, but only on a project basis. Once he has finished Saghir's makeup course, he is hoping for a more secure, salaried job as a makeup artist.

The YCW in Pakistan focuses on empowerment and helping youth who do low-paid work under poor and sometimes dangerous conditions.

The national chapter of the international Catholic movement founded by Father (later Cardinal) Joseph Cardijn in 1922 in Belgium began in Faisalabad in 1997. Worldwide the movement has approximately 3 million members in more 60 countries, according to its website.

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