The spark that makes #AmanKahani worth it

In June of 2016, I gave interviews and follow-up interviews at what they called a “social corporate enterprise” for my first job, fresh out of college. I was sceptical. I wasn’t sure I wanted to work for a non-profit foundation, even if I got in. But an interview is an interview and you give it your best. That is what I did.

Eight months in and I have been working, churning out words as a content developer and wordsmith, to inform people about what the Aman Foundation does in the verticals of health and education. But have I really made any difference? I’m not out there in the field in a yellow Aman Ambulance or in the vocational training classrooms teaching students. Does the work I do have any real impact?

My questions were answered when I started working on a project that involved getting close to beneficiaries this organisation helps build better lives.

During my time here, I have been taken out into the field quite a few times to witness counselling sessions and interventions. But never have I felt so connected with the communities till I started working on this series of stories called #AmanKahani.

True, factual story-telling. that leave a lasting impression.

We contacted people who had benefited from Aman’s services, to tell their stories, to know if Aman had made a difference in their lives. After listening to their tales, I realised there was a lot more to the impact that the development sector is making. If we save a single life, we make a difference in the lives of that individual’s family members. If we teach and train a single student, we improve the lives of his/her parents, brothers, and sisters.

The people we invited had a lot to say, we just had to listen. It seems a rather small thing, but living through medical trauma can alter the path of one’s life. It becomes difficult to get all the way back up and recover fully because nothing remains the same. Overtime though, gratitude settles in. One becomes thankful for the new perspective and new shot at life that he/she has received.

What about the man who suffered a heart attack but came back from the ventilator seven times and still had the courage to go back to work? What about the man whose bi-polar disorder robbed him of his job and family because he was too poor to afford mental health counselling, but is now back on his feet and hopes to get back his family? And what about the young man from rural Sindh who was affected by Polio and his village was wiped out in the floods, but now he is a trained instructor at this institute in Karachi?

Multiple heart attacks and a cardiac arrest. Syed Imran Shah was placed on a ventilator seven times. But he came back every time, and that’s nothing short of a miracle.

After the incident, he became a little edgy, and even suffered from short-term memory loss. People at work began to notice the difference. They said they wanted the old Imran back because he never said no to anything. But it’s going to take him some time to recover properly; after all, he did almost lose everything.

He is grateful though. Grateful for a second shot at life.

“I believe that in every person’s life, there comes light after darkness. Aman brought that light back into my life.” These were Imran’s words of appreciation.

Back in O level’s, I interned at a government school as an English Language, as well as a Sports teacher. The moment I would step into the classroom, the students’ faces would light up. I have seen the gleam in the eyes of the people Aman serves. And let me tell you, it is not a myth. It is not made up. That spark is real.

That is what #AmanKahani is attempting to document and bring forth; the unique sparks of countless individual lives whose existence has been threatened by the ignorance of the society we live in.

Just story-telling is not enough. There is a lot more to be done. Lives cannot be transformed over a day; it takes dedication and consistency to reach a point of sustainable and scalable impact. It is a group effort that extends beyond any one organisation. Pakistan needs that effort…we all need to put in our bit.

That is the change that my colleagues and I, at Aman, are attempting to bring.