Khaibar Rahim is 20. He and his family are from Afghanistan. They have refugee status in the UK.
How did you get into modelling?
Five years ago, when I was in Afghanistan a friend of mine said he knew someone who did fashion photos. He said “You’re tall, you have nice hair, you’re good looking, you could do some modelling”
I said, “Come on!” I didn’t believe him. I said “You must be joking.”
Anyway, he persuaded me to go and see the photographer. He said he liked the way I looked and he’d like to do some work with me. But I didn’t know about modelling, he said, no problem, we will tell you what to do. He said come back and we can do some pictures.
But I had to leave Afghanistan so I didn’t go back.
So, are you doing any modelling here now?
I hope so. I looked for a modelling agency here on the internet. I found one and sent them my photo. They called me up a couple of days later and said come to London for a photo shoot. It went very well. The photographer said he normally only takes about 35 pictures of someone at a photoshoot, but he took about 93 of me, he said he never usually took so many pictures.
What kind of clothes do you like?
I like to wear jeans and a shirt. I don’t mind about labels and designers, so long as it looks good on me. Actually, my brother chooses a lot of my clothes. He has great taste. He is a medical student.
Do you get a lot of attention from women?
I don’t know about that, how can you tell? In my culture we don’t go out nightclubbing or any of that. I am very busy, studying IT and web design.
We have all been taught it’s important to study in our family. Someone in our family is always sitting an exam.
What else do you like to do?
I like to exercise. I go out running, for about 45 minutes at a time and I do some exercise at home. We all exercise in our family. My Dad gets up at 6 o clock and does some exercises. I like cricket and football. I like to watch cricket, but there’s not much of it on TV, so I watch it on the internet.
Who do you admire?
I admire David Beckham. He is a great footballer, I like his modelling and he goes to other countries and helps poor people.
Do you mind people calling you sexy?
No, it’s alright. I can’t stop people saying whatever they think.
