My Global Talent with AIESEC in Pakistan 2021

Pakistan has been on my list for years. The first time I considered it was when I was 13 years old and watched a documentary on children in Karachi. During COVID in 2020, I came across another documentary. It was actually about India but in one episode the reporter crossed the border from India to Pakistan, specifically to Lahore. I remember the comment he made: “Compared to India it’s so empty on the other side of the border – you can barely find tourists over here. India has a very good image in the West meanwhile Pakistan has not.” Then he filmed a group of young girls playing football in sports shorts and added: “Nobody in the West would expect young girls in shorts playing football in Pakistan.” And I remember thinking: “Exactly. That’s why I need to go there.” And searching for countries that were open despite COVID and didn’t ask me to quarantine Pakistan was one of the options. So, I decided to go. My parents were not that shocked by my decision because they already know me but everyone else was. Many people told me that "now I had completely lost it".

Welcoming by AIESEC in Lahore at the Airport

I organized my internship with AIESEC because I had already another project with this organization in 2019 in Mexico. I was employed at a Start-Up in the Business Development Department. It was a Software Company that outsourced engineers and projects. Meanwhile, my colleague took care of offering Outsourcing to clients in the USA I took care of clients in Germany. Soon I realized that I was not good enough for the job. Writing emails to potential clients or contacting people on LinkedIn was not a problem at all (although it was a little boring and I had a very high daily target which was difficult for me to achieve) but calling people was so difficult for me. I am not a person who likes to “convince” other people. I like to offer things and let people decide for themselves if they are interested or not. I don’t like to “bother them until they agree”. So usually, I would ask them if they were interested, and if they said no, I would only say “Ok no problem. Thank you anyways and if you are interested in the future, please consider us.” And it`s actually frustrating to work 8 hours a day and don’t see any results. What I learned from the work is what I don’t want to do in my life (everything that has to do with sales and marketing basically) – and actually, I don’t think this is something bad. Excluding jobs helps you get closer to what you really want to do. The experience also showed me that I need to do something with purpose where I can see results and especially results for a better world and a better society – probably more focused on politics or education and less on business.

Working at kickstart Co-Working Space with iTitans

My company was working at a co-working space. This relatively new concept, where people from different businesses and freelancers work together in the same building, is spreading very fast across Pakistan and has many advantages, like free coffee and tea :D The co-working space had a nice cafeteria on the last floor and a rooftop where I would take my 5-minute breaks and just look down on the streets of Pakistan or watch the sunset. At my company, most people were working from home (also due to COVID) and only came to the office one, two, or three days a week. I honestly think that this is amazing for someone who lives with his or her family. But I was a foreigner who had basically nothing to do alone at home and just wanted to leave the house as often as possible. So, I decided to go to the office five days per week in the beginning. My colleague Kanwal was only coming to the office once a week and as I was very busy reaching my target and I didn’t speak the national language Urdu I didn’t get into a lot of conversations with the other people so I would often spend my lunch alone – unless Kanwal was there. Later I got an intern (Bilal) and he would come to the office twice a week. And there was also Haider, the coffee boy, who would always greet me in the morning (I was mostly the first one to arrive at the office at 10 am) and bring me coffee. He didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Urdu but we always tried to talk and smile if we didn’t understand each other – smiles are the most powerful language on earth.

After one month I got to know another AIESEC participant - Michael was a Mexican-American and was working for another co-working space called “Popcorn Studio”. This place was five minutes away from our home (mine was ten minutes away from our home). The owner of Popcorn Studio, Amir (Michael’s boss), was so kind to all of the AIESEC participants. When he would invite Michael for dinner or tourism, he would always ask him to take all of us along with him. Two Pakistani AIESEC volunteers had also recently joined Popcorn Studio for an internship. So, I decided to spend only two days a week at my office (when Bilal and Kanwal were there) and the other three days (my home office days) at Popcorn Studio with Michael, his boss, and the AIESEC people. I would still work for my company during this time, but I wasn’t having lunch alone anymore. And I would also start doing small publicity works for Popcorn Studio to show my gratitude – it was the minimum after everything that they had done for me. It honestly felt like family.

Popcorn Studio Family

I lived in two houses during my time in Pakistan provided by the organization. The first one was a house in a nice neighborhood. The house was great but unfortunately, I felt very lonely living there alone. On top of that, I wasn’t comfortable with going out alone because then everyone in the neighborhood would know that a foreign woman was living alone in that exact house. That’s why after some days I got shifted to another house. This one was PERFECT! It was in the main location (where all the restaurants and shops were – this was very important to me because I like to live near big streets where I can just walk around without security worries), there was a security guard (also something I felt happy about) and especially other people were living there (so I was no longer alone). Two of them (Ibrahim from the North of Pakistan who later became my boyfriend and Michael, the Mexican American who moved in one week after me) became my family in Pakistan. This house reminded me a little bit of the houses I had already lived in in Peru during my volunteer service and in Germany during my university studies. There were 20 or 30 rooms and a common kitchen (which I never used). The only thing missing was a common space, like a living room, so we would always chill in Ibrahim’s room (who also had a cute cat Nargis and especially an Air Conditioner).

Pictures: 1 my neighbors and best friends from Pakistan and USA/Mexico; 2 the children of the cleaning people; 3 Nargis

Compared to my first program, where I had almost no contact with any AIESEC people (also because I was living with my boyfriend at that time and I already knew Mexico very well and spoke Spanish and never needed any help) my time in Pakistan was mainly AIESEC people and their friends. We were three Exchange Participants at that time (me from Germany, Michael from the USA, and Herman from Norway). I was hanging out a lot with Michael because we lived and part-time worked at the same place and could speak Spanish the entire day hahaha He also introduced me to his friends. There was also another girl from Turkey, Nurbanu, who had done AIESEC before in Lahore and was now back for a real job. Herman and Nurbanu joined our group later – I wish we could have had more time together.

The same thing applies to the AIESEC volunteers: both of the volunteers who took care of me (in Germany and Pakistan) were always available and often asked me how I was doing. My volunteer in Pakistan, Wasay, helped me with everything: from getting water, a sim card or breakfast, to showing me around the city, introducing me to his friends or just listening to my daily stories. 

AIESEC in Lahore and other foreigners from USA/Mexico, Norway and Turkey

During my free time, I was usually hanging out with my friends from Pakistan and other foreigners. As I was in Pakistan during the summers, there is not much that you can or want to do at 40°C or 45°C outside. Even visiting parks or the city center would be difficult before 5 or 6 pm and then it was already dark. So, we spent our days hanging around in my neighbor's air-conditioned room, driving around, or going to restaurants. I had planned to travel a lot but as I really liked the city and my friends I often preferred spending my weekend with them in Lahore than traveling. That’s why I only went on one trip to Nathia Galli. It was amazing! We went camping, then on a small trek and we also had a drum circle.

Mushkpuri Mountain and group picture with Sweettooth Pakistan

As I have always been interested in fashion and had previously worked as a model in Myanmar for Longyis (the traditional dresses in Myanmar). I tried to get into the business in Pakistan and was successful. As more shootings, I had, as more I was requested by photographers. I also got the chance to appear on TV twice – in different morning shows. It was such an honor for me. 

Pictures: 1&2 Morning Shows at Jaago Lahore and Discover Pakistan; 2-7 Pakistani fashion (Shalwar Kameez, Lehenga Choli and Frock) by @zubairmalikphotography, @shj_photography and @bilalrajput19

• Spending Ramadan in Pakistan and experiencing the Iftar (first food of the day at 6.30/6.45 pm) on many different occasions
• Spending the fast-breaking (Eid al-Fitr) in a Pakistani family: Eid after Ramadan is one of the biggest events in Muslim countries. Usually, it is around 3 days and people dress up and visit different family members and have food
• Shoots in traditional Pakistani clothes (Shalwar Kameez) several times
• Having my first Lingerie Shoot – yes in Pakistan: I was a little nervous about how all the Pakistani men would react by seeing a blond woman in underwear, but the videographer and photographer teams were super professional
• Two video shootings for a motorcycle brand and a cosmetic brand
• A shoot in a red and beautiful Lehenga (a traditional bridal dress) in a small village near the Indian border
• A shoot in a Hotel Pool (of course with more clothes than usual in pools because it was Pakistan)
• being on two Morning Shows and on Live TV for the first time
• my trip to Nathia Gali walking in the mountains
• listening to the Adhan (prayer call) during one of the shootings on the roof of the photographer’s house. There were so many mosques around and they all started separately – it sounded like a choir – it was the most beautiful Adhan I have ever heard so far 

Pictures: 1 Pakistani Breakfast during Ramadan; 2&3 Eid celebration with Mehendi; 4 Motorcycle Shoot; 5 Poolshoot by @zubaimalikphotography

My last week was very busy. I had a lot of shootings and wanted to meet as many people as possible to say goodbye. On my last weekend, I had a shooting scheduled in Old Lahore near the Mosque in traditional clothes on Saturday. Unfortunately, that day it had rained so much, that there were floods all over the city and we were stuck in traffic. I had to cancel the shooting and was very sad about it. But thank God we still made it to the mosque after 2.5 hours (instead of 30 minutes). It was almost 7 pm and the sun was already setting. It was the time of Adhan (the prayer call). It was so beautiful – the big mosque, the sunset, the Adhan. I am not part of any specific religion but always when I go to religious places, I can feel the ambiance, and the peace. So I just sat there in silence.

On Sunday - my last day - we had the 5th anniversary of Popcorn Studio. My emotions went crazy between sadness because I didn’t want to leave, thankfulness for all the happy moments I could experience and just stress that everything would go well with my flight. At night we went to the airport and said goodbye. I remember staying at the big window at the gate and looking into the night (I love cities by night) and listening to one of my favorite Punjabi music artists AP Dhillon. And all the flashbacks came back – from the pick-up at the airport, the first day of work, the introduction to new people, the trip, the shootings, the TV shows, the parties, the driving around the city, the dances, the smiles, and the tears.

Last day at Badshahi Mosque and at the airport

 I would like to thank:

• AIESEC in Lahore and AIESEC in Passau for hosting me and taking care of me - especially Wasay and Anna
• iTitans and Popcorn Studio for having me working for them and making sure I am having a good time - especially Amir, Sami, Kanwal and Bilal
• My family in Pakistan Ibrahim and Michael for all the time we spent together, the rooftop pictures and the everyday walks to the gas station to get water LOL
• My Pakistani friends and life saviors Auns and Saira for their endless efforts in making us have an amazing time from finding water at night to introducing us to their friends
• My foreign friends Herman and Nurbanu for the laughs and the conversations
• All photographers and videographers - Zubair, Bilal, Amaz, Zayn, Hussein for the amazing pictures and videos
• All shoot organizers – Tahoor, Gul and Amaiza for their organization and for making sure I felt comfortable at any time
• Lahore News and Discover Pakistan for having me on their morning shows
• all my other Pakistani friends

I remember a situation from a few years ago. A friend asked me after I had come back to Germany from a country (don’t remember which one) if “they had internet over there”. I was so shocked by this question and I didn’t know how to react. Some weeks before leaving Pakistan, I found this summer school in Lahore that teaches kids how to program software. And I had to think about this internet question again – so I decided to take a picture in case someone would ask me the "internet question" again. Then I could show the picture and answer “Well they teach 10-year-old kids how to program. Does this answer your question?” And I also took pictures of bookstores, 5-star hotels, big malls, fancy restaurants, etc. I don’t want to diminish that there is also a lot of social inequality (like in most countries by the way) and all of the about mentioned is not accessible to the entire population. I have only dealt with a very specific class of people but still, I want to highlight that Pakistan is a normal country like all other countries (with a few extra rules) and Pakistanis are normal people who just want to live a peaceful and happy life and are striving for a better future.

Infront of Minar-e-Pakistan and Lahore Summer School