Picture this: September 2020. The world felt… disconnected. Yet, amidst the news cycles and the distant echoes of division, a quiet little spark ignited. It wasn’t a grand plan, just a handful of us, driven by a simple, almost naive belief: that genuine connection could bridge even the widest divides. Our first bold step? Reaching out across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. We called ourselves the Pak Afghan Youth Forum.

It began simply, really. Late-night Zoom calls, hushed voices sharing stories, the raw, unfiltered truth of lives lived just beyond a line on a map. We poured our hearts into these dialogues, convinced that understanding was the most powerful balm for decades of distance.
And then, something truly magical happened.
The ripple spread. Young people from across Asia, drawn by the authenticity, by the sheer humanness of what we were building, started to lean in. They shared their own narratives, posed brave questions, and dared to dream with us. By May 2025, it was undeniable: our little spark had grown into something far bigger than we’d ever imagined. The frame was too small for the vibrant picture emerging. So, we widened the lens. That’s when we became the Pak Asia Youth Forum (PAYF) – a sprawling, cross-border, hybrid space where young hearts and minds from every corner of Asia could converge, not just to talk, but to actively sculpt the future of our shared region.