Me, Myself and I

      My name is Minahil Rana, and I’m currently a second year student in Marketing and Media at Lahore School of Economics. I love travelling, hiking, reading and art; whether it is in sketches, watercolors or photography. I have spent most of my life in Canada mainly around the greater Toronto area. I came to Pakistan almost two years ago and I really like it here except for the blistering summers. I have a few notable achievements that I am proud of. Firstly, I got accepted into all the Universities of my choice after appearing in my high schools honor roll (similar to Deans List). I even attended one university for a whole year (the campus was beautiful!). Secondly, I did a summer internship with a Toronto based Fashion Designer in which I learnt a lot about the artisans in the Classical genre of music, and best of all, I helped design their gowns. Currently I am working in AIESEC in their Outgoing Exchange department. My most recent achievement is related to AIESEC, I was chosen as Vice President Communications of an exchange campaign for 6 different universities in Lahore.  It turned out to be the best and most successful campaign that this organization has had since its inception in LUMS Lahore. 

Alex, the African Grey

My cat: Spooky

I have a lot of pets, I absolutely love animals. At the moment I have 2 cats, a Guinea pig, an African Grey Parrot and various other Australian large and small birds. Animals give me a sense of calm and really like observing their behaviors. 

    With my current experience in Pakistan, I feel we lack community values, which is not surprising since we live in such a hierarchical, status conscious society. But I think our youth has the ability to overlook these differences and help children with disabilities, minorities and those whom suffer with poverty. In today’s Pakistan we have a hundred and one ways to help such individuals integrate into society, but we lack consciousness or motivation to do something about the prevailing issues. I have started to try and do my part as a Pakistani citizen, some weekends I go and help dyslexic children at Paidal (if anyone’s interested in helping, message me!). If everyone starts taking out 2-3 hours from their week and helps in some sort of social development initiative I believe our youth has the ability to do anything. It is then that we will strive and actually bring change to Pakistan. 

 “I feel like I am either on the cusp of something great, or standing on the edge of my abyss, discovering something brand new, or uncovering somebody Else's lost imagination.”
― Carroll Bryant