Visualizing my Amal experience

Maryam Noor
3 min readJun 11, 2021

It has been an amazing 3 months at Amal and I am kind of shocked at how quick time passed by. The journey has been full of surprises with so many unforgettable moments. When I sit back and reflect I think of so many warm memories of my amazing batch along with all the moments where I struggled, moments where I picked myself back up and moments where I learned so much about myself. When I compare myself to who I was 3 months ago I feel proud of my progress and I am beyond thankful to past me for having the courage to take on this journey. I also know that she would be happy to see that her commitment payed off.

Reminiscing about my first 2 weeks at Amal, I am flooded with all the emotions I felt. A hint of nervousness mixed with anticipation. I remember feeling very nervous but also excited in my first session. Looking at all those new faces was intimidating at first. Introducing myself felt like a big task. But as soon as the session began, minutes flew by and before I knew it we had an exit ticket in our hands. I found myself looking forward to the next session. The first weekly project was also very exciting. I found myself feeling impressed at the quality of the online courses and I remember sitting down taking notes and planning out my tasks. The second week session was even more fun. The activities were so engaging and for once I felt included in a class of 50+ people. I also remember receiving the most thoughtful project award for my second week project. It was such an unexpected moment and I felt truly humbled by my fellows warm wishes.

If I had to visualize my experience and present it in the form of a picture, it would be this

A picture I took on my smartphone to try and visualize my experience

The thought process behind this picture was the way a prism reflects light. I wanted to capture a picture which showed the way white light passes through a prism to split into colors of the rainbow. Everyday a little before evening when the sun is about to set, this little rainbow appears in our dining room. The light passes at an angle through the glass of our center table and casts this beautiful rainbow on the walls and beneath the sofa. The prism I had did not reflect light the way I wanted so I had to work with what I had.

So how does this image or the theory behind it relates to my experience you ask? Well, the reason behind it is simple. If I had to equate this phenomenon to my experience I would say that I am the glass prism intercepting all the new things I learned from Amal (the light), and using it to shape myself into a better version of myself, creating a rainbow. There is a quote by Jonathan Kellerman which inspired me to make this comparison. It goes something like “Life is a prism. What you see depends on how you turn the glass”

My experience with Amal taught me how to use my learnings and apply it practically. Especially in the first two weeks I felt so motivated to put everything I learned to practice. As a result I realized my potential and learned to use it to the fullest.

In the end I would say that I can probably write so much more about my journey. I owe every single person at Amal who supported me, guided me, tolerated and appreciated me a huge thank you. This was surely an unforgettable experience and I hope that I am able to keep up my progress and become an even better version of myself in the future.

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