LONDON: Rizwan Javed, an exemplary British Pakistani rail worker who has prevented 29 people from committing suicide since 2015, has been awarded an MBE. Riz Javed of Leyton in east London, works for the MTR Elizabeth line at Ealing Broadway and Paddington. He has saved many people at the platforms from committing suicide due to his vigilance and compassionate attitude towards difficult situations.
Having joined the railway around a decade ago, Rizwan Javed completed the Samaritans training course early in his career. In an interview with Geo News, he thanked and said, «I am grateful to Allah for this honor. All this is due to the prayers of my parents that I have been recognized on the King’s New Year’s Honors List. It’s a huge honor for me that my work in the mental health area has been recognized in this way.
He said that his training with the Samaritans enabled him to spot somebody in a vulnerable condition and know how to engage with them. “With the Samaritans, I learned how to identify vulnerable people, what kind of conversations to have with them, how to engage them, how to look out, and how to take them to a point of safety,” he said.
Only in the first week of his railway employment, Rizwan Javed successfully intervened to prevent someone from attempting suicide. In 2019, he was given the Samaritans Lifesaver Award for outstanding use of talking and listening skills in saving lives.
He shared his notion of heavenly reward— “I believe that Allah will always reward me for helping others and being there for all those who have no one else to talk to or who are going through tough times.” He acknowledged his Pakistani parents for instilling in him the values of being helpful and charitable from a young age.
One incident he recalled seemed rather poignant: when he helped a girl in her mid-20s who was in great distress, then weeks later met her again in the street, when she came up to him and thanked him, saying that if it weren’t for his actions, she wouldn’t be alive today.
Rizwan Javed said that very few were educated about mental health issues and how they affected people. He and his parents were overjoyed when the government letter arrived to inform him that he had been appointed an MBE for his services.
He pointed out that people who need help will display many factors, such as facial expressions, dressing according to the weather, missing a train, acting strangely, wayward behavior, and inquiring about non-stopping services. Stressing that mental health problems are present in all communities, he reiterated the need for allocating more resources to help deal with these problems.
The MBE stands for Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, which in turn is the third order of importance in the Order of the British Empire series after CBE and then OBE.
