The year is 2118, a century has passed since my youth. I have been confined in this capsule for 44 years. I can neither move nor feel pain, but I can think, visualize and analyze data. In 2047 I volunteered to be one of the few participants of “Project Outlive” founded by Elon Musk. He devised a project to keep the human brain working and while the body was preserved. Before old age could lead to his death, he too became a part of this project. The purpose was to store the past centuries data to help humanity in the future. I volunteered because I wanted to see the future and know how far science would take us and what would happen to humanity in the future. Many things have changed since the 21 century. There has been wonderful technological advancement. Burj Khalifa has been replaced by a skyscraper called Cloud 9 as the tallest structure in the world. Located in East Asia where Tokyo once stood this glass building floats in mid air and extends to 1066.8 meters (3500 ft). Fully functional flying cars have been introduced and a cure for cancer has been discovered since 2070. AI and robotics are seen in every corner of the world. Every glass surface has become digital/interactive. You could talk to your mirror and it would talk back. It can display data, record and send messages. Miscegenation has ended racism as all humans are multiracial.

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However, not everything turned out for the good, discrimination and conflict still plagues mankind. After the human colonization of Mars, the generation born in Mars is called “Martians”. Their lifestyle is very different from my generation. There is no concept of family, children are all raised in communes and at an early age start their careers. The Martians have less emotional attachment and are more career focused. They are like machines that work, eat, sleep and repeat. They believe themselves to be superior as they come from high capitalist class families because only they can afford the expense to live on Mars. Instead of industrialization, Crystallization has taken over that is the old metallic and glass building are only seen on earth while Crystal building made of a rare and expensive crystal discovered in the year 2080 on Mars are used by Martians to build skyscrapers, weapons, cars and etc which accounts to 49% of their annual GDP. They have the world’s lowest crime rate. Even their sense of fashion and their education is different from the people living in earth. They are known to having a strong dislike towards animals. Martian students have a predetermined field of career chosen out for them by their parents and from the very start these children build on their careers and only in certain exception will they change their prophesied fields. They are smart, intellectual, and brilliant in architecture but lack the physical strength.

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Earthlings on the other hand, pride themselves in the little nature they still have access to. Their diets, clothing, lifestyle vary a lot and they communicate in language, as opposed to the Marsian way of telecommunication. English is still the universal lingua franca. They are also devoid of all family ties, yet tend to choose their cohabitants at an early age. They live in Industrilised cities and have a mixture of Marsians, Earthlings and Ancients. Suicide rate among them is pretty high, you will know why later on. They are medium level advanced for example they are more advance then the Marsian in diversty of technology and medicine because of the environment they have access to.

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 However, there are still a few people who live life the old way. This third group is treated like inferior creatures for clinging on to history. They live outside of huge cities in small steampunk like cities. These “Ancient People” are the minority that believes in family life and in God rather than science and technology. Their source of power comes from the nature they have managed to preserve. The Ancients are the only ones with access to non artificial plants and life forms that were common to people in my day. War has been waged between these three groups; Martians, Earthlings, and the Ancients. These wars were political, social, and, power based. Oil is the main source of power that is why the old owners of black gold are still the elites in every society.

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What were the major shifts in social development that brought such changes? Well it all started when Third World War was on the doorstep and nuclear war frightened every nation that is when European Union declared once again that all Atomic Bombs are impractical and are a threat to the world and should be disabled from each and every country. However, Chaos followed this declaration. Russia, America, United Kingdom, Pakistan, and India were bitterly opposed to this declaration. However the rest of the non-nuclear weapon countries were fed up with the idea of having such destructive power in incapable hands and wanted an end to this. With the help of European Union and these non-nuclear weapon countries the nuclear powered countries had to give in because of the trade embargoes they established upon them and within a year they subdued their arsenal of nuclear weapons that were given to World Scientists to make a step forward for humanity as whole. The World Scientists Organization made these bombs inactive in the hopes it could be used in the future. This was an era of great importance for the World, as many nations overcame their hatred for each and took a step for the future of humanity and the planet.

The second reason for the social change was that the threat of Global warming and deficiency of natural resources in order to overcome this individuals, NGOs, and countries started funding scientific projects to help build a brighter future and to find the a cure for global warming, overpopulation, deficiency of natural resources, and incurable diseases. This is when Elon Musk, made colonization of Mars possible, thus successfully reducing the risk factor caused by over population, global warming, and burden on current resources. At the same time another organization found a cure to Cancer. This was a remarkable time in history.

However, this wasn’t the panacea we had hoped for. Soon our celebrations turned to sorrows. Critics argue that this was the “Dark century” as it caused more problems to humanities survival than worked for its betterment. Another epidemic started due the colonization of Mars which massacred even more humans than Black Death and Cancer. A decade passed until finally a cure was found but left half of humanity and Civilization alive. This argument is open to opinion but either way humanity was doomed and we took this path because we had no choice. History can’t be overwritten but can only be learned from. This left humanity in utter chaos and upheaval; most of the elderly were lost to the unknown epidemic and the youth as well as the middle aged people were left to lead the world. Somehow humans once more pulled through.

Now the era of Marsian, Ancients, and Earthlings has come but it still has similar issuess to the 21^th century. These issues include Class inequality and Class conflict between the three races as stated by the German philosopher and economist Karl Marx in early 19^th century. The Ancients were unhappy due to their poor living standards and low payment of the natural crops and vegetation they grew that Industrial Earthlings as well as Marsians used. They also wanted equal rights, equal education, equal technology, as well as ease of access to Mars, Which the Marsians were not ready to do. The industrial Earthlings also sided with the Ancients for equality in resources, easier access to mars, and technology.

Situation became even more tensed up as time went by and there was a total deadlock. A terrorist attack occurred at the Marsian station on earth which reaped the seeds of War between the races. There was a total boycott between these Nations and they started persecuting other races. The Ancients and Industrial Earthlings came to an agreement and took control of the Mars Station on earth thereby controlling the access to and from Earth to Mars. Marsians had to subdue to them because they would not survive with the food and resources from Earth. The three nations came to join hands and decided to create a World Union which safe guards the interest of all three nations and is comprised of all three nations member. 

The two major problems global warming and limited natural resources still haven’t been successfully dealt with. The other most pressing matter discovered by Nasa is that a meteor quarter the size of Earth is heading towards earth and will reach here in 30 years. The problem is that Mars has not been fully colonized nor can it be due to lack of resources and technological advancement so moving to Mars is not an option and the Marsian will not be able to survive for long without the Earthlings so both the futures of Marsians and Earthlings is intertwine. Among the scientist there are three views, the 1st group says to use atomic bombs to destroy the meteor before it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The problem with this it could backfire as radio activity will scatter and there is no knowing what would happen in space. The 2^nd group says to move as many people and resources to Mars but with this, sacrifices would have to be made and this idea faces problems for example lack of technological advancement and resources to keep them alive. The 3^rd view is to evacuate some of the Earthling’s to Mars and gather the rest on opposite side of the meteor and implement safety and protection measures against the collision of the meteor with Earth. This also carries uncertainty and conflict as people would create chaos over who goes to Mars and who has to stay and feel the impact of such a huge meteor. This was to be highly classified knowledge but someone hacked in made it open to the world and now the people are panicking. Instead of uniting humans have divided some have fallen prey to fear and taken their own lives, others have given up hope and are simply waiting for the arrival of the meteor, a few enjoy the little time they have left and finally there are those whose moral is high, they pray to God and try to think of a solution to this threat.  No one can judge which group is doing the right thing. The government is also divided and has their hands full from the “Suicidals” who are doing terrorist attacks on cities to spread the message that the End is near. Terrorist groups are behind these “Suicidal Movements” as they believe this will be the End of the World and the Day of Judgment is near as described in their scriptures. While the priests and true religious authorities are calming people down with the help of the government.

Extensive construction of Mars has begun to make way for as many Earthlings to leave earth and inhabit Mars. But the problem of the meteor is still not resolved. Plants and vegetation can grow on Mars but in very small quantity and range due to the low quality and quantity of Mars soil. The sail is not fertile enough and will not last long so humanity still needs the Earth.

Humans have yet to reach a conclusion. They have built and stationed machines and guns that will try to slow down the meteor when it comes closer. Scientist are  working on building a force field or protect the earth using Crystal, metal, and stone wall to act as a cushion for the impact of the meteor. But nothing right now is effective enough to work against the meteor. It is evident that humans will not get away without this unscathed. Whatever path they chose I will see and record it because that’s all what I can do.

Once again Humanity is in a dilemma, it all depends on what path they chose to go down upon. Future looks grim for humanity but only time will tell if we will survive or will fall like the Dinosaurs. Perhaps, the most appealing part of being a human is to have hope and unity. Unity and compassion has gotten us this far, I believe it will come to our need once again when we need it the most.  The Meteor of doom is slowly making its way to us. For the first time thirty years for humans seem so short even after the increase of life expectancy from 80 years to 105 years. You can never expect for things to go normal, we did in the 21th century. We said to ourselves global warming is not our problem nor is overpopulation, limited resources, pollution, etc. Look at what it brought us to.

This program started in 2018 which is when I first applied to it through Learn Smart Pakistan. Learn Smart Pakistan is an excellent place to polish your educational skills and to meet like-minded students.  The first time I applied, I was the only male candidate among the top 6 contestants. At the time only one student got the scholarship and unfortunately that wasn’t me. But I didn’t lose hope because of my resilient nature and I applied for the scholarship once more in 2019. In the meantime, I started learning Japanese online because of my interest in the Japanese culture. I hope that Japanese can open a new world for me and help me in my journey towards my career goal of becoming an educator.

This year the application was a bit different from last year. I’ll tell you guys how. The application portal opened earlier than I expected, so I only had a day to fill it out. The first application tested English proficiency and asked about the applicants’ personal details. Out of one thousand students, 508 students passed this round and went on to online test stage which was on the Learn smart website under the name “AFS Japan Scholarship”. The online test included certain weightage for assessments and essay. To be exact 30% for the 3 assessments (comprehension, mathematics, and intelligence quotient) and 70% for 2 essays this time. From 508 students only 30 students went on to interview stage. I was one of them!

These 30 students were invited to an online Skype interview. The interview lasted for about 20 minutes and was full of interesting questions. Out of these 30 students 10 were left for the final interview unlike last time which had 3 interviews, this time there were only 2 interviews. The final interview was going to be taken by the AFS India team, and it also included 3 observers from Pakistan. This interview was 10 minutes long. I don’t believe it would be fair to share the interview questions, but they were very interesting and enabled me to share my personal story with the team. Currently the AFS team is assessing the interviews and will soon announce the top 3 candidates who will receive the scholarship.

I believe  I have matured a lot since last year because of my year long participation in Kectil Developing Countries Youth Leadership Program and Sync City, a youth based NGO. This scholarship application process was an incredible learning opportunity which also gave me the chance to interact with talented students from all over Pakistan (who have also applied for the scholarship). Right now, I’m hoping for the best! I believe that I will learn and grow so much as an exchange student, and that this will truly be a life-changing opportunity for me. Please wish me luck, because if I do get to go on this exciting journey I will take you with me. You can expect blogs on life in Japan, inter-cultural communication and my personal stories. Thank you!

The Kakehashi Japan scholarship is a 6 month long exchange program which would be held in Japan. I was also a participant in it last year but this time it was my last try as I would not be in the age limit for next year so I wanted to give it my all. I fell in love with the idea of making my parents smile, and studying in my favorite country Japan.

I was proud to be in the top 10 students again this year. I had prepared for the final interview with everything I got. At that time when 4 people were looking at me and the atmosphere of tension was around me, in the first half I was nervous then I calmed myself and answered naturally. I knew all the answers but did not get the time to shine; I left some stones unturned in this interview. So I am writing to help you guys in your future interviews and to also help me release my pent up frustration.

First of all always be prepared for an interview never ever be self confident and go in without preparing. How can you prepare? Well look for relevant questions for your interview on the internet. The most basic questions are Introduce yourself, why should we chose you, and what would you get out of this opportunity. The best way to answer these is to focus on your achievements and use them in a way that would highlight, why you should be chosen for example in my case they wanted a person who is good at making friends, eager to learn, can become a bridge between nations, has a good academic career, and take in Japanese culture and show them Pakistan’s culture simultaneously. Also it is a pre-requisite for any interview to know about your achievements, strengths, and weaknesses. At least pick 3 strengths and weaknesses beforehand which will help you in your job or will not be a hindrance to it. Also learn 3 words/lines that describe your personality. The interviewer will definitely ask you some of these questions and you should have them prepared beforehand. End it with a thank you for taking out the time for this interview and remember a question relevant to the program your applying for because they might ask you if you have any question for them, this is a chance for you to show them how excited/dedicated you are for the program.

Some overall tips for interviews are to always keep smiling; this will reflect your pleasant nature. Also be natural and show your expressions, move your hands and shoulders a bit, do not become tensed up or nervous that gives a bad impression, remember you want to show them that you’re an extrovert type of person and you like challenges. Even if you think you did not do well on the interview just believe in yourself and pray for it because there is nothing more you can do. Learn from your failures and use them as a stepping stone. I learned a lot in this Kakehashi program and I am writing this to help my future self as well.

The year is 3018; a century has passed since my youth. I have been confined in this capsule for 44 years. I can neither move nor feel pain, but I can think, visualize and analyze data. In 2047 I volunteered to be one of the few participants of “Project Outlive” founded by Elon Musk. He devised a project to keep the human brain working, while the body was preserved. Before old age could lead to his death, he too became a part of this project. The purpose was to store the past centuries data to help humanity in the future. I volunteered because I wanted to see the future and know far how science would take us.

Many things have changed since the 21 century. There has been wonderful technological advancement. Burj Khalifa has been replaced by a skyscraper called Cloud 9 as the tallest structure in the world. Located in Tokyo this glass building floats in mid air and extends to 1066.8 meters (3500 ft). Fully functional flying cars have been introduced and a cure for cancer has been discovered since 2070. AI and robotics are seen in every corner of the world. Every glass surface has become digitalize/interactive. You could talk to your mirror and it would talk back. It can display data, record, and send messages.

Miscegenation has ended racism as all humans are multiracial. However, discrimination and conflict still plagues mankind. After the human colonization of Mars, the generation born in Mars is called “Martians”. Their lifestyle is very different from my generation. There is no concept of family, children are all raised in communes and at an early age start their careers. People have less emotional attachment to each other and are more career focused. They are like machines that work, eat, sleep and repeat.

 Earthlings on the other hand, pride themselves in the little nature they still have access to. Their diets are different and they communicate in language, as opposed to the Martian way of telecommunication. They are also devoid of all family ties, yet tend to choose their cohabitants at an early age.

 However, there are still a few people who live life the old way. This third group is treated like inferior creatures for clinging on to history. They live outside of huge cities in small steam punk like cities. These “Ancient People” are the minority that believes in family life and in God rather than science. Their source of power comes from the nature they have managed to preserve.

The Ancients are the only ones with access to plants and life forms that were common to people in my day.

 War has been waged between these three groups; Martians, Earthlings, and the Ancients. These wars were political, social, and, power based. Oil is the main source of power that is why the old owners of black gold are still the elites in every society. 

 The future remains uncertain and humanity still has a lot to work on.

My idea of a leader is person who cares more about other people’s welfare rather than his own. Who leads people to a humanitarian path, which shows them what it means to a human being. A leader does not discriminate over religion, gender, or race. A leader who has all these qualities is Abdul Sattar Edhi. Abdul Sattar Edhi was Pakistan’s most valued entrepreneur, humanitarian, and leader. He was a philanthropist and an ascetic who sacrificed his life for the welfare of the poor. After the partition of India, He started his mission by building a welfare trust known as the Edhi Trust. In 1951 Abdul Sattar Edhi founded the nonprofit Edhi foundation which provided 24 hour medical assistance to the poor and homeless. When the 1957 epidemic hit Karachi, to treat the growing number of patients he begged for donations on the street and asked medical students to volunteer their services.

A business man who saw Edhi’s mission as a true humanitarian mission bought him an ambulance and soon after that donations kept pouring which enabled his foundation to become large and well known around the world. With the help of these generous donations Edhi built orphanages, hospitals, rehab centers and woman’s shelters across Pakistan. The Foundation also provides services like ambulance, educational, graveyard, and missing person services. Abdul Sattar Edhi was a keen advocate of Woman’s right; his foundation also employed many female staff members and nurses. He also fought for national identification for the orphanages of Pakistan in a case. When he died he was registered as a guardian to more than 20,000 orphans. He was also nominated several times for Noble peace prize. His love for assisting the poor, ill, and destitute occurred due to his service to his paralyzed mother for about 10 years. One of the most important things I liked about him was that he never discriminated over his patients or among the needy. He has quoted “My religion is humanitarianism which is the basis of every religion in the world. And He also stated “People have become educated but have yet to become Human. I did not have any formal education. What use is education when we do not become human beings? My school is the welfare of humanity.”

As a leader, he was exemplary in the sense that he never gave up. He believed in his cause and so, now we believe in it too. Edhi had a philosophy that touches souls even today. This magnanimous man worked tirelessly for the welfare of the needy while he could have lived for himself but he chose not to. I admire his dedication and compassion to his work. Due to his love for humanity he is known as the Angel of Mercy. I strive to follow in his footpath and I hope the rest of the youth around the globe do so as well. There is a positive connection between effort and performance, but without intention of doing anything productive it’s just a distant dream.

I will tell you about the places where you can start your community work. But before that I will tell you guys a bit about my experiences at these places. While I was an intern at Akhuwat I had the chance to visit Fountain house situated in the 37 Lower Mall, Islampura, Lahore, Punjab. It is a Mental Health association and Khawajasara (transgender) Rehabilitation Centre which consists of both mental disorder citizen and transgender/gay people. These people have gone through a lot so I recommend that you learn prerequisite information about them and follow the rules stated by the staff members before your arrival. Transgender people are humans as well and they should be treated as such and I’ve seen a lot of people in Pakistan who know nothing about them and speak ill of them.

 The second place I visited was Punjab Insitute of Cardiology situated in Shadman. It is home to Terminally Ill children about the ages of 6 to 13. Personally I recommend all the newcomers to visit these children and bring them happiness. You will know how you take life for granted and how much you have, and what you should be grateful about. My inner humanity awoken at this place and I hope yours does as well.

Roshani Village is another welfare centre to behold. Roshni Village is a centre where people with and without special needs come together to live and to work. These special people build beautiful potteries and clay works which are delightful. It is located away from the bustling city life of Lahore, in Karbath Soling, off Bedian Road.  Plus is has a beautiful architectural building. We had a BBQ there and it was just amazing.  For social activist and students Roshani provides a platform to hold workshops, socialize while honing their skills with the special people at a bakery, an art, woodwork, and textile rooms. Not just cultural activities but it also provides sports activities.

SOS Children Village is an Orphanage dedicated to helping the orphans, and abused children of Pakistan, located in Children Hospital, 409, Main Ferozepur Road. It is a foreign organization which is selflessly aiding and fighting for Children’s rights all around the world. Another place where the youth can volunteer is Shaukat Khanum Hospital. You just have to go and fill out the form. They will reach out to you when they are hiring interns.

Lastly these are all the places where I had gone, interned, or had a workshop. You can find countless more on the web. You can also contact me if you want to be an intern at Sync City which does workshops and volunteerism at many different places. Sync City’s motto is “Striving for a city of synchronized harmony.” , meaning it is working on different goals such as women and transgender empowerment, end stereotypical thinking, promote education etc.

I am a humanitarian and social activist. I will tell you how I got inspired to do social work. It was December 2016; I was 15 years of age. My elder sister insisted that I do something productive this winter holiday so she forced me to apply to Akhuwat. Which I obviously did not want to do and I thought it would be a waste of my time. However that was untrue. The time came for my first day of internship and I was not ready for it at all. I was nervous, full of anxiety and cold sweat rain over me like it was monsoon. All of you have gone through this situation; try to remember your first day of school and how you felt. To top it off another stressful thought came to mind “the instructors know my sister so I have to behave well not to damage her reverent reputation”. Yeah it was tough at the start but you get use to it sooner or later.

What is Akhuwat? Akhuwat literal meaning “Brotherhood” is the world’s largest micro finance organization i.e. it provides small loans to underprivileged people so that they can start their own business. What type of internship was it? Well the main purpose of our internship was to get sponsors and collect funds to build a library for a poor Christian School. But we also had informational lectures and went to different community centres such as SOS Children’s Village, Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Fountain Village, and Roshni Village. I will tell you about the day my perspective of the world changed to make an effort to help my society and my environment. How I got motivated to do community work and social work was because of one faithful day at Akhuwat. We went to spend a day with terminally ill children at Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

 When I entered the hospital it had that smell of despair all over it and you can’t help but feel gloom. However, as I stepped into the room of these little angels who knew they did not have much time to live but lived their life to the fullest with no regrets. Their eyes sparkled seeing people had come to play with them. Soon their sorrows turned to joy and they accepted us with open arms and smiles. This is where I met Safdar; our friendship grew as we played Ludo, face painted, and colored my ugly drawing. We had a lot fun and laughter together and I was genuinely happy to see him smile. I thought to myself how hard it would be to smile knowing you have only days or months to live. I wanted to do more for the kids like them. And the reason why I’m telling you all this is because I want you to do welfare as well. It didn’t cost much to visit and make these children’s day. If you’re interested just call Punjab Institute of Cardiology request a date and time free of charge to spend with these angels. The only financial cost would be to buy candies, juices, and snacks for the children. Believe me you would feel a sense of gracious and satisfaction. We who are blessed with more than our unfortunate brothers and sister should look after them and treat them in a humane way that is what it means to be a human being. Also to all those thinking what’s in it for us, well what’s a greater prize than heaven. It would bring peace to your mind. In the materialistic sense it is recommended by almost all universities that students should do community work and volunteerism. It would look good in your resume and you might even get to make a career out of it. But it’s better to focus on welfare work for the sake of betterment of humanity and society as a whole. Environmental welfare also comes into this category.