A time to remember
When I sit back and think about my Amal journey, I think back to all the amazing people I’ve met, all the fun times I’ve had with my fellows and all the laughs we have shared along the way. I don’t think that I could have gotten as much done in such a short time without this experience, I wouldn’t have gotten the exposure to all these fun and unique individuals, who are all here for their journeys and own paths, and yet we have all come here together to work on our careers, build strong networks, and honestly just meet each other with our shared goals in mind.
However, if I think back to which one stands out to me the most, it has to be the memory of when the fellows and I were out in the streets of Islamabad, going shop-to-shop and person-to-person to ask them whether or not they wanted to make a donation to Akhuwat Foundation. We had to explain to them what the foundation does and how they are striving to make a difference, we took turns in who would go to talk to the people this time, we would laugh together every time people would accuse us of being scammers, and strategize the next place we would target — in short, it was awesome. Not just as a bonding experience, but also because we got to do some good and make a difference — even if its just a small blip.
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I remember stopping and thinking about what a great experience this was. I remember us coming up with ways to approach people, using trial-and-error, polishing it up the next time, learning from our mistakes. I remember us trying to encourage those that seemed shy and nervous and were more on the quiet side, and them actually feeling more confident afterwards. I remember feeling nervous myself, but by the end actually feeling more sure and able to speak to people more easily.
I think the helpful and non-judgemental environment that was present in the moment really helped me come out of my shell and be more bold and brave when approaching people. I also think that the words of encouragement my fellows would give me and the others was also really helping. If the environment had been one where people were making fun of each other, putting each other down, or being generally discouraging, I would definitely have had a more negative outlook on not only the experience, but public speaking as a whole.
If I had to change something, I would try to be more bold and reach out to people more. I would try to go to more places with everyone, and maybe go with other teams as well. But overall, I wouldn’t change much because I think that experience helped me learn so much and see myself and others in a more empathetic way, so it would take away from its charm.
