Visualizing experience at Amal Academy
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
― Randy Pausch
This part of the project work is so amazing because I have never experienced this type of journey in life. I never thought that I would miss this time so much. So the last weeks of the fellowship were amazing and exciting at Amal. I have learned many new things during my learning journey with Amal academy so far. When I got selected. I never thought I would meet so many brilliant fellows in this fellowship.
Let’s start a conversation on my Amal journey……
I came to know about Amal from my Madam. she already did 3 months Amal Career Fellowship as well as internship at PepsiCo . She encouraged me and my other four fellows to join this fellowship. She encouraged me and my four friends to join the Amal academy, so we applied for this fellowship and we 3 were selected out of 5. I was very confident and excited after attending the first intro session. But the two weeks of the start were not very good for me. This fellowship was not the same as my interest in the beginning. The hard thing for me was time management. Being engaged in many activities as well as low confident level which made me the lowest in the group and in every activity.
No need to be sad “ picture abhi baki hy”
Let’s move on to how I overcome these problems…
My first two weeks at the fellowship were similar to the blank piece of paper. I was not sure about why and how it would make a difference in my life. Nevertheless, I liked the feeling of being included in a group of motivated individuals. At the start of my fellowship, our facilitator Ma’am Areej said something that has stayed in my mind till this date.
“Your growth/improvement is dependent on whether you want to grow/improve or not.”
It was something that motivated me to come out of my comfort zones, and I wanted to make a fresh start. Hence the blank paper. I was not really sure about how it is going to help me. But till then, I had already watched Steve Job’s video of connecting the dots. So, I was hopeful that someday, my dots will connect. Today they do :)
But here also some mistakes made by me which depressed me a lot and I decided to leave this Fellowship. I was thinking that only I am the one who does not know anything that can not continue this fellowship. Some small mistakes made me more sensitive. I started thinking what my group members would think about me that I am an incapable student, but my friend encouraged me and relaxed me about the effort that I did in past weeks, then I decided to face my problems and had a one-on-one session with ma’am Areej and told them to help me with my problems. She is a supper lady. She encouraged me with her life examples and told me that everyone makes mistakes in his/her life. Her words made a positive change in me. I am very THANK FULL to ma’am Areej.
Little by little, my blank page started to fill. In every session, I learned something new. Some from my facilitators and some from my fellows. I discovered that I actually had leadership skills and that those “random Facebook/Google surveys” were not lying about it. I tried leading my group by example. I made friends, and most importantly, I learned the art of “fake it till you make it” and now that I connect my dots by looking backward. They connect. After that I got high marks in every PW. Made a good excel sheet. participated in every session and group activities. started attend meetings and started making social Networking through social apps followed. Got a reward on Quality project work. started following these values.
Collectively both these things” Amal values” and” Act of kindness” become my story. It was a wonderful experience in Amal first two weeks. In the ending, I am very thankful to my Program Manager/facilitator Ma’am, Areej and Mam Namra, my Amal fellows, and the whole Amal team.