It was our fifth week of Amal fellowship and we got an interesting project. We get this challenge to collect funds for the Edhi foundation. When I read the task, I got excited about it because it is something which I never did.
BEGINNING:
I have started working on this project since Sunday. Due to covid-19, we are not allowed to go to any crowded place. Also, my culture does not allow girls to go out and openly interact with strangers. The first thing which I thought I could do it and I asked my friends and other contact to help.
First Problem and Solution:
On Sunday, I contacted 8 people who were close friends of mine or someone whom I thought would help. It seemed like a fun thing as 6/8 people agreed to help and to donate some money to Edhi foundation. Here came an issue, how will I get their donations. My friend suggested me That I should get an Easypaisa account.
First donation:
The first person who donated 1k rupees was a complete stranger to me. I asked my closest friends to speak the message in their circle. One of my friend’s classmates donated that sum. At this point, I thought it is a piece of cake and I will be able to complete this task in a really good manner.
Second problem:
On Tuesday, I was super excited and composed a message in which I appealed for donations. Here comes the hard part. More than half of the people ignore this message and I got the lesson that a forward message will not help. I decided to text them personally and discuss this project. This was a tragic day. Why? Well reasons are many.
Some people said I need this money for myself. It was shocking, like what on earth will I do that and in the name of EDHI FOUNDATION. Some people say I am stupid for participating in this activity while other said that this donation collect does not suit me and my people. Some asked me to review everything as it might be a fraud project.
And then came the second problem — How to convince people. I took a screenshot of my project and sent it to all people and encouraged them to ask me anything they wanted to know about the project. I literally spent hours telling people about Amal fellowship, what does fellowship mean, how did I get part of it, fellowship is not a job and all the PW and courses we get. I never share any life events etc. on social media and at this point, I was regretting why I did not upload STATUS on WhatsApp about my enrollment in Amal fellowship with lots of smileys and big words. It might have saved me from all these explanations, and it would have been easy to convince them.
Third problem: Ignoring and forgetting
In the next few days, I convinced a lot of people (I will share the figures later) and they said they would help, but no one was really helping. I texted them again and asked them if they are still willing to donate a sum. Some said they would do it next week and some refused. Here are the facts and figures of my first week.
Next Problem — — ambiguous response
The most difficult part was dealing with the ambiguous replies. I was not sure if they would help or not. It made me kind of anxious and discouraged. People prefer to be diplomatic and answer in a way which might confuse others, I got to know this side more. I learned that people who crossed age 28 are more diplomatic. (I got a hypothesis for my research and a goal not to become this so-called diplomat. I am not judging anyone, and I am sure they have good reasons to act that way, but I do not like that trait for myself just).
Friends of friends:
I also asked my friends to tell their friend about this project. Some of the donations I got were from people who were not in my circle.
Next week:
This week, I did nothing much in the beginning because of some health issues. I also waited for people who promised to help and some actually helped. On Wednesday, I collected donations from my colleagues. I repeated the same story about my project and fellowship to them. Until now, I collected 8510 rupees. Following is a table which contains name of donors and the amount they donated.
Main reason of rejection:
· Many people refused to help because they said that they would prefer to help poor people around them.
· Some people did not have enough pocket money.
· Others said they have not got a salary.
Summary:
It was not an easy project and I decided so many times just to quit it. I lost motivation with each passing day, but I will admit that I learned a lot from this project. I interacted with so many people and learned how to convince them. I applied several problem solving techniques and learned how to keep going despite the things which discourage you. I listened to people and knew what a variety of opinions there can be about a single topic. Overall I can call it a nice experience from which I learned a lot.
The following pie chart summarizes all my effort and its result.
