Being Human

First day 10 August 2016

No Where to Go

We were very lazy as we were not able to make a plan during session. After that we wasted 2 precious days in which we could have done better. On Tuesday evening, thanks to Mehjabeen and Muzzammil Arfat Khan for coming up with a proper plan. We all planned to go to Amal for further work on project.

Ali- The Artist

At Amal I found Ali Afraz, Asif Hashmat and Mehjabeen were working on charts. I saw Ali Afraz writing and it was unbelievable. His hand writing is better than many artists. He wrote really well in Urdu and English. I (Akasha Munir) made different logos and Mehjabeen did her part in decorating charts, while Asif Hashmat just filled. We were joined by Muzzammil Arfat Khan, Raheel Asghar, and Baseer Hussain soon.

Getting started

We started collecting from Amal. It was a really good start. benje williams and Aigerim gave us 500. I gave elevator pitch while everyone praised Ali Afraz’s work. It was all good at Amal but when we stepped outside it was not the same. At start we tried at few homes around Amal. One person in Land cruiser asked us to come to 7 star motels on Thursday 2PM.

The first place

We planned about liberty but thanks to our miss-informer at Amal who said many teams have been there. So, I gave the idea (I take the whole blame) to go to DHA H-Block market. When we reached there we started trying at road. After a while it turned out not a good idea. One beggar kid asked us to help and Asif said we are also begging. He replied; you look like beggars too. We were all ashamed. An Uncle in their 40’s stopped a car and gave us 1000, we were ecstatic but he said kindly give me 900 back. We all tried hard to suppress our disappointment and gave him his money. After that we thought about going to shops to collect and it turned out to be a great idea. We got really good response.

The Cops Cornered Us

It was not more than 20 minutes that two policemen on bike and two from Dolphin squad cornered us with 3 policemen in civil dress. They told us that we had to have a permission letter from DHA authority. They asked us to stand infront of a shop and wait for senior police officer. We waited for almost half an hour before A police car and wagon came. They asked for a single person to come forward and speak to them. I go to him and tried to explain, showing my CNIC and letter from Amal. Unfortunately he could not read English. He went back to van standing almost ten feet away from us. He came back after 10 longest minutes of my life. I was scared that we are going to be arrested; Mehjabeen was confused by people staring us like terrorists. The shopkeeper complained about to Cop that we are standing right in front of his shop and it looks like there is an issue with shop. He came back wrote all of our names and told us to apply for permission letter from DHA at first than come to collect.

Kareem Block Market

It was only due to the super excited, hardworking team that we planned to forget about the ad experience and moved to a new place for collection. Thanks to Almighty that it all went down well. We worked for almost 2 hours continuously. We moved from shop to shop and asked people. Ali did not have breakfast still he hold my laptop bag as I was holding donation box. Mehjabeen showed great courage and Muzzammil Arfat Khan was really in high spirits. Baseer Hussain showed much effective communication skills and Asif Hashmat encouraged us to move. Raheel Asghar was our great warrior who came after 2 hours of driving. We collected 4300 Rs on first day.

The wicked second day

On second day I reached Amal at 2PM. I went to 7 star motels with Mehjabeen. They did not allow us to enter as we did not know the name of person who asked us to come. I recognized his white car but it was of no help. Ali Afraz had already excused, Asif Hashmat had to go on work and Raheel Asghar was not able to come due to some family business. It was just me (Akasha Munir), Mehjabeen and Muzzammil Arfat Khan. We went to Ichra for fund raising and it was a huge disappointment. The people there did not believe us. They even gave us coins. It was humiliating and tiresome.

We did not lose hope and went to Moon market. It was very small but we were able to get a few collections. We were joined by Baseer Hussain after he was free from internship near the end. It was really nice of him to come even after working for 8 hours. We collected 2000 on second day. I cannot appreciate Muzzammil Arfat Khan and Mehjabeen enough for tremendous courage and support.