In a world full of Instagram models and millionaire accounts, Usman Rafique, a 13-year-old YouTuber from Lahore, vlogs his every day life as a “middle class” citizen of Pakistan and the internet is loving his wholesome content.
Rafique started his channel in February 2019 and has been uploading videos frequently ever since. He currently has almost 7,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Starting his channel, his main goal was to make content that he would like to see and relate to but could not find enough of online, so he took it upon himself to film, edit and upload daily vlogs.
The student is proud to showcase his middle class life and one of his most popular videos, with over 22,000 views, is of Rafique's day attending a government school.
In the vlog, he films his morning routine right from when he wakes up to his full day at school.
He begins the clip saying that people have criticised him for “spending his day making vlogs” so he decided to show the world that he attends school every day.
The video features his friends and him, who speak about the positives of going to a government school – low school fees, free books and “good food”. They even make a trip to a vendor selling bread at the school during their lunch break and give a mini review of the food.
However, Rafique isn’t entirely uncritical, the description for the video contains a long paragraph about the disparity between public and private school education in Pakistan.
“[The] state is responsible to provide free and quality education to children. But in Pakistan the laws are not taken seriously and are not well implemented,” a part of the description reads.
He also wrote that private schools provide better education but “a private English medium school cannot be afforded by common people of lower class”.
The video is also subtitled “hardest vlog ever” because mobile phones are not allowed at his school, he says, and it was difficult to film inside the facility, his friend explains.
His other videos include him cooking for his family. In a vlog titled: “Making Pakory for family”, the youngster is seen standing in his kitchen, frying vegetable fritters for his relatives.
Speaking to a Pakistani media outlet, Rafique said that he started his channel after watching American YouTuber Casey Neistat.
He started the channel with the help of his cousin, who lent him his phone to make videos, as well as helped edit and upload the content.
Now the youngster edits the videos himself on his cousin’s phone, since he is too young to have his own phone. He also said that his family is supportive of his aspirations.
Upon discovering his channel, Twitter users recently asked people to support him.
Tweep @Rameezay wrote: "Found a little Lahori kid with a YouTube channel named 'Middle Class Usman Rafique' who makes the most wholesome vlogs and videos. This one is of a day in his life at his government school. So wholesome. Please support his channel!"
Some like, @angremaruu, even appreciated his views on the state of education in Pakistan: "This is what he wrote in the comments section of the video, and it honestly makes me so sad that this kid recognises how pathetic the edu[cation] system is. We really need to fix our private edu[cation] system."
