Omar becomes a labourer
Manama : A Bahraini YouTube star posed as a construction worker for a day to shoot for his YouTube channel.
22-year-old Omar Farooq, who runs a popular YouTube channel by his name, conducted the experiment in early March to depict the tough lives led by expat labourers.
“My inspiration for the project was the labourers of different nationalities who struggle under the heat and winds. They might be more humane and intelligent than any of us but their fate and circumstances have led them to this foreign land,” says Omar.
A day before Omar set out to begin shooting the workers, he started off by studying their clothes and following their routines so he could blend in between them with ease. As he watched from his car, he took note of the time at which their day started and when they were dropped at the construction site.
The next day, Omar went into stores and bought several items including blue rompers, muffler, shoes, a woollen hat and layered tiffin box to look like a genuine construction worker.
He then got on to the bus at 4 am next day and blend in to capture the entire events in his camera.
“At one point, I was summoned by the supervisor, and against all my fears of getting caught, the supervisor appeared to be anxious and give me helmet and gloves to work with,” Omar said.
When they grew more suspicious, Omar cooked up a story about being a Jordanian boy living in Bahrain with his little brother and wanting to earn for him and his family back home. “However, they sympathised with me and showed all the work which were very hard,” he said.
When the young YouTuber was exhausted by the tiring labour and cold weather he had to stop mid-way and sneak out for a quick break and warm tea. “While I was at the cafe taking a break, baristas suggested me of cheaper options thinking I would not be able to afford a drink from there,” he said.
Omar’s video on the workers has received over 30,000 likes on the video-sharing website. He now plans to make more of such videos that will reach out to his followers in a more in-depth manner.
Recalling an unprecedented respect for the workers, he said: “We always enjoy day-offs including the International Labour Day, but it is these people who make themselves too busy building someone else’s dreams.”
Omar, who enjoys film-making and travelling, has recently graduated from the University of Bahrain with a degree in Mass Communications. He regularly updates his YouTube series ‘Omar Tries’ with out-of-the-boxcontent.
You can follow the journey of his exciting trials on the following sites: https://www.youtube.com/user/omarfaroo8 and watch his construction worker video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxVPAOz7Djw
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