By Rizwan Akram
The person who hears the name “AMAL Fellowship” is confused about its meaning. When I heard of this name initially, I thought it’s a kind of an NGO working for the placement of students or arranging motivational sessions and or career counseling activities. I applied for it and was selected after a scrutiny process from 5000+ applications. So when I attended this beautiful never ending life long journey of Amal career prep Fellowship, it resulted in the Amal family as a whole.
Amal is taken from the narrative of Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s saying; “Amal Se Zindagi Banti Hai Jannat bhi jahannam bhi”. Amal Fellowship as named, is about Amal and Khudi (خودی), the philosophy of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the poet of east and thinker of all ages. The fellowship is based on the principle of Amal (عمل)itself. The 2nd is “kam kam kam” (as said by father of nation). The 3rd one is “khudi” (self actualisation). The last but not least is “1 aur 1 Gyara”, (the power of Union).
It’s a concept of doing something. Amal fellowship was introduced a few years ago by an American Benjamin from Standord University California, for the graduates of Pakistani Universities and colleges. Until 28th of February 2020, Amal has turned out 5000+ alumini in its 128 batches from Lahore and Faisalabad. Presently it is expanding its canvas to Karachi and Peshawar for the first time.
Amal is a beautiful concept that is preparing students for the future jobs, entrepreneurship social work with very nominal subsidized Fee, with the help of a multinational beverages industry.
The whole Amal Fellowship is covering all these four principles and it’s being practiced every week via online video lecture through Google classroom whereas every weekend there are interactive sessions with activity based, fun filled learning. The teachers here are not typical, they are the facilitators for the learners. They are the mentors for the seekers. They are friends of every fellow in the personal and academic matters. There is a beautiful concept of one on one meeting with program manager (trainer) for addressing the personal problems of every individual. They connect people from different fields on the same platform to help every individual to learn something from each other. They make a tree with different branches with the same roots and encourage everyone to learn from each other and sit under the shadow of that flowery tree.
The fellowship is a 3 month long journey that consists of 12 weekend base classes and online learning. A project work has been assigned to every individual every week and few online courses are also sent to him. Everyone has to complete and submit within due time. Every week the progress of every single individual is measured and the best project award is also given. The projects are not like some construction building rather they are about human engineering and building of self-actualization. It teaches you about communication, CV making, job searching, interview skills, cover letter, how to dress up for the interview, how to appear before interviewer, what should be your body language, how you should present yourself before and after the interview, how to show the gratitude and how to overcome the failures. In the end there is a mega project which is based on personal thinking of Amal Circles that also encourages leadership and team management skills within every individual. These projects might consist of some social issues, entrepreneurship, educational philanthropist or any activity that can be completed within the period of Fellowship and can impact the society. Impact factor can be up to individual helping hands or it may influence a large group of people. The best Mega project is also announced after competition between the circles of the fellowships.
Graduation ceremony took place in the main Auditorium of UET Lahore consisted of 1000 plus fellows then stood as Alumni called Amal family. The event was a realization of a dream of Amal family to make Pakistan progressive and prosperous. To make the youth of Pakistan more energetic and more passionate for their future and career. Such organizations like Amal must be highlighted on every scale that it is making silent revolution in the country. Soon these graduates will find their best places in the career to show their all efforts become fruitful. It would be a reward of “Amal, khudi, kam kam kam, and 1 ur 1 gyara”.
Best of luck to the Amal family and very best of luck for the future of Pakistan. لازم ہے کہ ہم بھی دیکھیں گے
