Growing up in Asia’s largest slum, Orangi, presented 12-year-old Mubashir Malik with a raft of challenges. One of the hardest, he shares, was seeing his father struggle to continue funding his eight children’s education on a mall worker’s salary in a time of unprecedented inflation. Mubashir was keenly aware of the pressure men face to hide their emotions, sensing that his father was falling into depression.

But he was not about to let unhealthy masculine norms stymie his family’s well-being.

That he was enrolled at DIL Secondary School Asman did not stop Mubashir from promising his father that he would take a part-time job doing repairs at a motorbike shop after school. His father was not happy about this, concerned that his son may fall behind in his studies. Luckily, though, Mubashir managed to maintain strong academic performance, delighted to make his father proud.