THE JOURNEY CONTINUES . . . . . . . .

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES . . . . . . . .

I am a very passionate Pakistani. I take Pakistan with me wherever I go, from the way I look to the things I do and say. Since my return from the IVLP in February 2007, I experienced many new and adventurous things in life. And I am sharing this all with you here because man has evolved by learning from each other and perhaps some of my experiences could be of use to you in your own lives. Also it is enlightening for us to observe how one achievement supports the others in becoming successful stories. Also observe (while you go through this essay) how I have utilized my experiences from my trip to States and used them to promote work in Pakistan for my people. This in my view should be how we should contribute if we have had the chance of gaining knowledge from the rest of the world....

Soon after my return I was interviewed by several TV channels, invited on various TV talk shows / discussions and was exclusively interviewed for a live Radio show. This was all very encouraging and the best part was that I got to share my IVLP stories with people all across the globe (and hopefully inspire some in the process).

By the mid of the year I was chosen to be a part of a group of forty participants from all over Pakistan for training vis-à-vis selection of consultants for a project of the British Council (Pakistan) and I am proud of the fact that I was selected from the same and am now amongst a group of 10 consultants who are trained in Africa, UK and Pakistan by African and British senior consultants and we are now working for development of youth all over Pakistan with special focus on Leadership, where I am also utilizing the learning from my IVLP experience. During my journey, I have also had the opportunity to meet many prominent international figures such Mr. David Milliband (Foreign Sec. UK), Dr. Kenneth Kaunda (The great African leader) and many more.

I also was generously invited to participate in selection, interviewing & training of school children from all over Pakistan by the country coordinator of International Education and Resource Network (iEARN). This was a very interesting experience. The children after selection are then sent on a one-year study in the United States under the Youth Exchange Program (YES) and they act as little Pakistani ambassadors. Because of my experience in IVLP I had a good understanding in selection and training these students for their participation in this program. I enjoyed this immensely.

I try to remain in contact with a lot of wonderful people I have met in different States and we exchange ideas and knowledge from time to time. For example, soon after I came back from IVLP, for a brief period of one year I joined one of the leading Financial Company of Pakistan, (they deal with electronic safe keeping and transfer of shares in the market) anyway when I joined I was designated with the task of designing the upcoming year’s calendar and for the same I got in touch with a Lady whom I met at the Library of Congress during my visit and she & her colleagues were kind enough to share some very good ideas from Historical point of view from the Library content.

During this time I have also had the opportunity of serving as Project Director for an upcoming unique Boarding school of excellence in Karachi (God willing, it will be first of its kind in the region). Again meeting with educationalists and visiting several schools during IVLP has added much to my knowledge which I utilized extensively for developing concepts and linkages for this school which will have boys and girls from all over Pakistan. I wish the school loads of success.

For the past few months now I have been involved in facilitating school heads and staff in learning latest ICT tools which will help them connect their classrooms with those from other regions/countries so on and so forth. This also has been a most amazing experience so far and through this I have been lucky enough to travel to some of the most remote and fascinating parts of our beautiful Pakistan.

There comes a time in all of our lives when opportunity knocks on our doors and it may be in any form. Now it is up to us whether we answer the call and how we answer it. Choice is simply ours.....

Athens State hosts international educators. Four international educators were guests of Athens State University’s Wallace State-Hanceville Center recently.

Dr. Wanda Hutchinson, assistant professor of education, was host to the educators from South Asia. Hutchinson and her colleagues prepared detailed teacher training and highlighted teaching methodologies, including online classroom management. The visit is sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with the Alabama segment being hosted by the International Services Council of Alabama.

Last year Hutchinson hosted a similar group from Bulgaria with an emphasis on ethnic diversity and civil rights education. “I was asked to serve as a consultant as well as host the international visitors again this year,” said Hutchinson. I will facilitate experiences with program themes to include the use of technology in teaching distance learning courses, student teaching and rural education.

Foreign educators Sheela Rajendra from India, Abdul Sameu Hassan from Maldives, Hum Nath Acharya from Nepal, and Gulrukh Razi from Pakistan will be traveling throughout the United States to explore pre-service teacher training in a program that will expand their knowledge of educational procedures that will combat some of the obstacles they face in their home countries.

MY IVLP STORY:

They say ‘will & determination’ can take you to places and destinations sometimes beyond your expectations. For me this became true when one fine day I received an invitation from the US State Department via the US embassy in Pakistan inviting me to visit their country as a guest of the State to share and learn all there was to offer in the field of Education with reference to Primary, Elementary and Secondary levels under the auspices of International Visitors Leadership Program.

I got a lot of support from the Karachi office of the Public Affairs and then also in Islamabad for my Visa and other travel details and briefing. Finally the day arrived when I said goodbye to family and friends and embarked on this journey full of excitement, knowledge and opportunities for meeting with diverse groups of people. For this particular group I was the only one representing Pakistan and was to be joined in Washington D.C with people from the South-Asian region namely, Maldives, Nepal and India. After a long journey I finally reached the Dallas International Airport and was received by the representative of the State Department Ms. Jackie, who then introduced me to the rest of the group members who had already arrived. I felt proud being the youngest member of the group and representing Pakistan.

Traveling is my hobby which proved to be a good thing as this was a really stormy trip from one part of this large country i.e. Washington D.C to the other end Los Angeles in California with mid stops in various other States. Every day was jam packed with scheduled meetings with Government/State officials, Non-Govt. Organizations and then visits to various institutions like Schools, Libraries, Museums, City tours and other amazing places. Then there were official lunches and gatherings and we were also invited on various dinners by American families who opened their doors for people from the other side of the planet to share their culture and get to know what we had to offer each other.

Everybody we met greeted us very warmly and apart from briefing us about their work also answered several queries which we asked time and again as this exchange of ideas was very informative for the group as well as the people we met.

The comments I received from different people I met on several occasions were very interesting, like when I told them that ‘I am from Pakistan’, many of them in a very polite way asked me how is that possible, Pakistani girls are not allowed to come out of their homes, or work or for that matter travel!! And you are this young Pakistani female who has done so much work and now you are here, how is that possible? And my response was always simple, with a smile I said, ‘here I am standing in front of you and that in itself is an answer of the misconceptions that are unreal and created by those who do not like the nations of the world to develop, unite and live in harmony’.

Throughout this visit I found people quite eager to know what kind of a country Pakistan is, how are the people, culture and traditions, what aspirations do we have and what kind of festivities and celebrations are there. This was all very encouraging as I got to speak passionately about my homeland and I was so happy to enlighten the American people about so many beautiful things Pakistan has to offer including the gift of friendship. Some of the people actually became quite eager to visit Pakistan! It was most wonderful when we were invited at a big school gathering in Alabama and I gave a presentation on Pakistan and then all the hundreds of kids, staff, the City Mayor and other people sang “Jeeway Jeeway Pakistan” (A national anthem “Long Live Pakistan”) with me. It was just so amazing.

I had taken with me souvenirs from my beautiful motherland and whomever I presented these different items, they were most amazed of their uniqueness and thanked me immensely.

I am therefore very glad that there is such a program and I know of some others too where through exchange these misconceptions can be removed for good and people can come closer to each other and understand the beauty of the diversity there exists.

“The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds.”
Abraham Lincoln.

BRAINDUMP

Every story when written has a set plot in mind, a beginning, the main story, climax and then finally an ending no matter what the story is about. But how to make a plot out of something which is not created by the writer, in fact which is far beyond the imagination even when it is right there in front of us as the truth, 'the reality' itself. It is after all 'LIFE'. A small four lettered word where the word 'everything' really fulfills it's deserved meaning. It is all around us, in us, surrounding us in all shapes, forms and sizes. There are then portions of life which is like mitosis and meiosis when some of us are being given life from something/ someone and the other where we are going back to the origin to the source where it all began a great big journey, an evolution, a cycle. I myself travel between the thoughts where I feel all of this is really very simple yet there are challenging times when I fail to understand the complexities of it all. Is it us who have failed to understand the delicate balances or is it really that it is an unexplainable phenomenon. Little minute things that either shake or strengthen our foundations like understanding of the journey from the seed to the plant to the bud to the flower and then pollinating everywhere and during it all the relations good bad and unexplainable. It's like solving the mystery of the Pandora box itself. Is it that we have evolved ourselves into as the most complex creatures existing on the face of this planet or was it meant to be this way? Being a part of the same unit yet so much apart, or is it a journey that takes one from being 'a part' to being 'apart'!! Language …another phenomenon I need to dig in to find the roots of. One can't just blame the tongue for the whole body speaks much more than just the very small muscle itself. How much of what or how we express ourselves is actually our self/ myself. Many things come from the fact that we did not choose to be given birth and then into a particular family and then into a particular culture and then into a certain religion or creed or cast …!! Which brings us to the point where we have to decide how to lead our life (if one has that choice) and then whether to experiment with new ideas of living or follow the orthodox way of existing, in a way it all makes sense and in the spur of the moment causes chaos, given the fact whether we have the liberty or we are tied down because of emotional or cultural bounds. When to do, how and why, how much of it is my choice, who am I in the given situation and in the fast pace changing life which is dragging and pushing me like a strong current … what to do? So much confusion!! Need to stop, stop everything and ponder who I am? Where I am? Where am I going and why? In everybody's life every passing day, for all of us we have a natural tutor who is 'time' but is the passing time changing itself or is the human race actually forcing it to change. It's just like a saying I once heard that ‘future is not some place we are going to, but it is some thing we are creating, and this journey changes both, the creator and the destination.’

No matter how much superior our evolution takes us these natural questions have and will derive our behavior. Because they have been a very important source of information and act like milestones in our journey.

We are creating ‘things’ everyday when one day we know these things will be the reason for our destruction. When they talk about hope, I sometimes laugh, it's amazing that in the name of 'a better life' they are actually inventing newer ways of eliminating the human race. But what they do is give 'hope' in many shapes and forms and they sell 'hope' and the irony of the situation is that… we buy it! Is that really hope, is it what I hope for or just a manipulation of my dreams and aspirations presented so beautifully that it mystifies the original concept and influences all our previous thoughts. Every day marketers sell us hope and everyday we give away our hard earned money, time and energy in various forms to have more and more 'hope' in this hollow life. Hoping someday it will feel 'filled' and 'contended'. And these marketers can be anyone ranging from the shop seller who sells products, to family and friends who trade emotions.

They say every one has been sent with this gift of life for some reason and during our life time we struggle to find out what that purpose is. It is heard some did achieve that goal, amazingly those too who were not prophet, saints, or some other superior form. But was it truly the reason or whatever they thought they could do or achieved, they named it their reason for living. I mean a kid can look up to an Air force pilot dreaming of becoming one all his life thinking of many things like protecting the country or looking good in the uniform but in the end when he actually becomes one and during a flight when his plane has some problem and he decides to give his life and save many others, was that the real purpose why he chose to become a pilot?? (Of course every action has consequences). Because in that case it would have been better if he was not, then he wouldn’t have to waste his life like that. Or when he is posted in a war afflicted area where he is bound to kill innocent civilians in the line of duty, is that why he as a kid dreamt to become a pilot. Thing is we might dream of a destiny but in order to achieve that we forget all the dreams of others that we tread all over. We are all individuals yet our actions can affect so many we don't or will never get to know, yet we may change their lives forever (for better or for worst). Probably the thought of being answerable to a Superior being can support to this idea of dreaming and aiming positively instead of walking all over someone shattering their image of the future.

Nature itself teaches us many lessons for life and yet the brain can draw as many and as different directions/solutions from those lessons depending on its inclination towards being good/ bad, logical/ emotional or otherwise etc. Maybe it's all the different changing needs that develop inside of us that force us to act in certain ways or move in a particular direction. We also built on the actions of people before us, and the decision for that is based on facts and past occurrences and again the direction we chose to move in is purely our choice. There are many kinds of humans some who give in to the decisions of the nature and others who rebel or are too egoistic to let nature take hold of them whereas they are naïve or plain stupid in understanding that there are some things which are truly beyond us and that when they take a decision for us nothing can change that but them. We are not puppets yet nature has a string attached to all of us which it keeps pushing and pulling at all times. Over here I would like to share an amazing statement of Imam Ali (as) (Brother of Hazrat Muhammad pbuh, Messenger of God): ‘More wonderful than man himself is that part of his body which is connected with his trunk with muscles. It is his brain (mind). Look what good and bad tendencies arise from it. On the one hand it holds treasures of know- ledge and wisdom and on the other it is found to harbour very ugly desires. If a man sees even a tiny gleam of success, then greed forces him to humiliate himself. If he gives way to avarice, then inordinate desires ruin him, if he is disappointed, then despondency almost kills him. If he is excited, then he loses temper and gets angry. If he is pleased, then he gives up precaution. Sudden fear makes him dull and nervous, and he is unable to think and find a way out of the situation. During the times of peace and prosperity he becomes careless and unmindful of the future. If he acquires wealth, then he becomes haughty and arrogant. If he is plunged in distress, then his agitation, impatience and nervousness disgrace him. If he is overtaken by poverty, then he finds himself in a very sad plight, hunger makes him weak, and over-feeding harms him equally. In short every kind of loss and gain makes his mind unbalanced.’

So, what is the best way to live? How to be aware of our actions, our actions and their repercussions. Human thoughts are like big tidal waves bringing so much from so many places and dumping it on the verge of the brain for us to pick up and start building on. We have all been gifted by nature with the power to think analyze and act but how much of it has been granted is the question only nature can answer.

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE:

Is all this development really necessary? I mean for me the question must have risen like a gazillion times that, how do we know when to stop? Is there actually a time where we realize that this is it! Or is death of one the actual answer to this process, and I am talking about all this evolution, discoveries and inventions. Basic human need is food, healthy environment, security, what else? How much ‘ease’ do we actually need in life? Isn’t this a little ridiculous? We are all really becoming lazy bums because now we can drive automatic cars, never feel the heat of the sun (accept when sun-bathing at the beach), lit up the whole house by clapping, eat frozen food by microwaving it like crazy, use up all the power supply to lit up a few dazzling (larger than life) Billboards, and yet that is all the lavish life-style of the filthy rich, because the mass is still searching for ways to keep up with the pace of this so-called modern world. As I had mentioned earlier, that all this ‘development and technology’ has made us blind, every day many environmentalists try to bring these people to their senses by protesting and spreading awareness that we are limiting our own existence by making our life ‘easy’. Why is it so hard for our leaders and scientists combined to think that all this money they are using to make our world more and more robotic can actually be used to make simple houses for the shelter-less people across the globe! Who are we competing against? Ourselves…? Mad aren’t we? All this has made us worst than animals!

There is no absolute ending to this debate, it has been there and will stay there. It is a thought-provoking message that needs to be sent across over and over again. Living in the third world and trying to keep up with the changes the developed countries bring overnight it has become suffocating and tiring. We have forgotten our original issues. A designer would launch something one evening in a cat-walk in Paris and by next evening it would have reached the boutiques from United States to Tokyo, this might be of preference to the designers or the fashion industry, but then why do the developing countries feel left out…?? Reason being, we have other priorities, people in our neighborhoods are dying of diseases and economical issues, they give a damn to what the fashion industry has to offer, for them just having one decent, clean set of clothes on them to cover them is all they ask for. Those are the issues of the masses which are overshadowed by the glamour and shine of the riches. People need work, education and literacy to guide them to lead better lives. Education, trust me, is the only thing that differentiates us from the rest of the beings, otherwise if we only live in the false belief that we are created as the superior beings we will gain nothing from these lives. A literate mind is all that is needed to make our lives a whole lot better. Another funny dilemma that we suffer from is that whom so ever has the highest degrees from the best institutes is the most literate person … if that’s the truth look around you … there are so many ‘educated’ people who are nothing but a burden on the society because once they receive their degrees and shiny, glittery medals on the chest they upgrade themselves on the superiority scale and just expect to be treated like royalty.. The real deal my friends, is a ‘Literate mind’, a mind that has understood the phenomenon of our existence and is ready to play its role in this world. I am not generalizing this statement but I am pointing to the masses who think on these lines. The more tech-savvy our world is becoming the lower our rate of communication ‘real’ communication has become. I am not against that, its great to have such a communication device with you that you can use anywhere and at anytime to contact absolutely anyone in the world, but, this way we have lost essence of touch and feel which are the basic elements of a human being. How many of us especially in the developed countries feel the cover and smell of a book from the library or personal collection. Let me share a blessing of living the third world, so we are facing energy issues and continuous flow of electricity is rare especially in summers, trust me it has its own benefits, when the electricity power is turned off temporarily during load-shedding and all the televisions, computers, Air-cons, printers, faxes, microwaves, lights and God knows all that goes off (and an average family cannot afford to have generators running for three-five hours continuously), then everybody comes out of their rooms, in the living rooms of their homes or on the terrace / roofs, balconies and sit together in the light of candles or battery lamps and then they get a chance of interacting with each other, share with each other what is happening and feeling each others expressions (laughter, worry, suggestions etc) giving a hi-five, tickling, hugging, holding hands etc. Everyone sort of comes together to the very natural essence of human society where we live together.

Whatever we say, there is a difference in holding and reading from a book, feeling its cover and weight, thinking how much time, energy and knowledge it must have taken to write it and instead just typing search words and extracting information from Google/Wikki etc. Another example which will support my cause and this one is focused from the developed world’s point of view (because such things are still hobbies of the rich in the underdeveloped countries), so tell me, why is it that people still prefer to ‘go’ to the concerts (rock, opera or whatever). We see everyday such massive crowds gathering for concerts on various locations. The reason being the sense and feeling of being there in that place, listening and feeling the thump of the speakers, looking at the artists performing, all the lights and sounds, people all around jumping, dancing and creating that environment of enjoyment. Would it be the same if you are watching the concert ‘live’ on television or internet?

You know what… I might sound like a huge critic of this modern technology stuff, but on the contrary I am a huge advocate, in fact I have been involved in projects where schools have been introduced with the idea of using technology to interact and share with the rest of the world and in the process support children in using these technology tools that should help them coup with their peers across the globe.

When we talk about existence of human essence perhaps very importantly we need to have enough room in our daily lives where we are able to communicate with ourselves. In this rushed up mechanical environment where it is difficult to take out time for others, more challenging is to find that cushion during the day where we just turn the power switch to an offline mode and only let one line active which connects us from our inner person, our soul and lit up the world inside. One of the most important tips to have a healthy mind is to have a sincere relationship with yourself and your conscience. Only when you are aware of your own needs as a human being will you be able to realize the needs and wants of others around you. Scientists, writers, teachers, people, everyone and anyone if are sincere with themselves they will definitely add positive value to this world.

The point I want to make through sharing this is simply this: ‘it’s good for mankind to evolve but all I am asking is that should we evolve so much that we turn into something else, or should we engage ourselves into evolving in better humans? Growing together in harmony, sharing powerful resources gifted by nature and not race ourselves into extinction! THINK.

‘There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation.’

Brain Dump