Taking Flight 🕊

It is 5th of February, a sunny day, which marks the upcoming ending of winter. Today is our last session. Our fellowship is going to end like the winter, like everything else which ends.

“Goodbyes make you think. They make you realize what you’ve had, what you’ve lost, and what you’ve taken for granted.” — Ritu Ghatourey

Although I know that today is the last session of this beautiful 3-month journey, but I am not sad as I know that fellowship may be ending but our connections and learning journey is not. Endings are inevitable, we cannot escape from them. However, we surely can decide where they lead us to. Had there be no endings, no separations, we would have never realized the beauty and value of the things and the people around us. And as they say:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss

I am very excited to be part of the session which is happening outdoor, Outside the boundaries of a traditional classroom. I do not want to get late therefore I have arrived before time. I am happy to see my mentor Sir Adnan getting out of his cab and he smiles as he hands me his bag for safekeeping. I am happy to see him and glad that he is trusting me with his things because I can run away with his precious ‘weapons’ (as Touseef said) :).

We wait for other fellows to join and play a game. After that comes the most important activity of the day. We all are asked to stand in a circle and our PM takes out a ball of string. I am confused and curious that what is going to happen. He unrolls some of the string from the ball and hands over its end to our PA Ahsan Ali. He says that he is grateful to have him as his team member and learned a lot from him. Mr. Ahsan than passes the yarn to his brother and shares that he is proud to see the growth in him.

Our facilitators

This cycle keeps running and the fellows keep passing the string to one another fellow and shared the reason that why they are grateful to have that person in the fellowship. It is very heart whelming to see this happening. Everyone is sharing their feedbacks, comments, reflections and although I am not showing it but I am feeling a bit emotional. And then yarn is passed to Rameen. She passes over the string to me and thanks me for understanding and encouraging her. This is kind of unexpected and a lollipop moment for me. I never knew this was a big deal but it was for her. I then passed over the string to Hadia and she too was very happy that I passed it over to her.

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Now the activity is almost at end and there is web of network formed through this. Each one of us is connected to every one of us through a string.

Amal Family

Learnings from the activity:

This activity was very deep, and I have realized that we all are connected to each other. Gratitude played an important part in making this connection and I know these are the people I can rely on for my growth and learning. These connections are beyond the classroom and beyond the work. We are emotionally connected to each other, and I think this is the best form of support one can ever dream of. I am grateful to have them as my fellows and team and would try my best to be there for them always.

“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.” — Garrison Keillor

Future:

I will keep in touch with Amal Family by meeting them time and again. We will plan tours and attend events together, which will not only entertain us but at the same time we will keep growing. We also plan to learn new skills together and one of the fellows also confirmed that he will invite the amal family to his wedding ceremony (can’t wait!).

This journey was completely life changing for me and I learnt uncountable things. And the best of them was that the learning should not stop at any stage of life. I will keep growing by learning more and more skills. I am also enrolling in new courses and grab each and every opportunity I get to maximize my potential. I recently also appeared in an interview and utilized my interview, resume, and cover letter skills. I am also going to keep applying to more places to discover new things and practice what I have learned.

My first in-person interview after Fellowship

“So, old friends, now it’s time to start growing up, taking charge, seeing things as they are, facing facts, not escaping them, still with dreams, just reshaping them, growing up.” — Stephen Sondheim