Friday, 15 June 2007

Netherlands




My first international President’s Meeting (IPM2006) held in Amsterdam and second time in Europe, boy was it cold – yeah snow cold!!! The 1st picture is of Jeanne, Ildi and me and the 2nd is the Dutch princess – we had to stand when she came in and I was not in the mood but when you’re in Rome you do what roman’s do, right!

Now when we talk about meeting of the brains we talk about IPM i.e. AIESEC was present then in 90 countries and 90 national presidents of AIESEC countries meet for 10 days to discuss the global direction of the organisation.

Sessions start at about 09h00 and end at about 10h00, then we have parties till odd hours of the morning but you got to be at morning plenary by 09h00 so my body got used to sleeping about 4 -5 hours maximum yet be at your sharpest because we always have company representatives coming to run sessions. That is where I met some of my greatest friends across the world – I miss you guys where ever you are!!

Now the interesting part came after the conference when we went to the red-light district, now if you don’t know this is the famous ‘hooker’s’ district – I heard that other Europeans come in for the weekends to this place , Ohh yes dagga is legal as well in Netherlands so you can imagine the collaboration on Friday nights! There you will find about anything sexually defined, prostitutes are on display - literally like clothes on a plastic model for a clothe shop, I was shocked out of my skull, post-cards had …well…drawings on them – not the kinda post-card you’d send home maybe friends! And the final shocker is that prostitutes PAY TAX now that was just …just …well awesome! I mean where else do they have such disciplines except in Europe.

Anyway everyone owns a bicycle in Netherlands, a mother can do grocery shopping – put it on the bike with two kids at the same time and still ride home…..trust me I kid you not.

I stayed with one of our old trainees Amelia from Australia, if you want the coolest, calm person to talk to then that’s her! She was a great host and I will never forget her hospitality. Now she’s back in Australia – hey Mills.

What do I do?


I just realized that I have been going on and on about my departure but some of you don’t even know what I am leaving!!

..well I work for an student run organisation called AIESEC, what we basically do is run an exchange program that enables students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in another country at the same time deliver national and international conferences to our membership that help them recognise their potential for leadership positions in great projects that we run or in organisations that we partner with. We provide the platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society in over a 100 countries/territories where we are present.

The picture on the side explains how we go about developing this potential, it’s quite a structured, detailed process that assist in discovering oneself. Let me explain it a bit:

Introduction to AIESEC – this is the recruitment at the begging of every year where there are stands during orientation and we make you aware on how you can have that international internship during and after your studies, how you can travel and meet new people over conferences and how you can develop skills practically in being responsible for a project.

Taking Responsibility – This is the part that is most exciting when you have just joined, everyone has a passion around a certain issue in life - it can be around energy, finance, entrepreneurship, HIV/AIDS, education or something not mentioned here and this is the stage where you come up with an idea of an activity that falls under any of those topics and making it have impact and yield positive results for your community and the people around it plus you and the people you were working with.

Have you ever started something small, you watch it grow and it becomes big, so big that when people see it or partake in it – it changes their lives? Well this is where it can all begins.

Leadership Role – When you have gained a strategic skill, can think sharply and make a decision that benefit others positively, and have the ability to lead others then this is where you assume that role within a project like being a project leader or president of the club/society/organisation or as we say in AIESEC the Local Committee President or Executive board member or joining the national committee.

Work Abroad – this is where you can go and do an internship overseas in either technical, management, educational & developmental studies or work in another country on the same project you were working on while you were here.

Head for the future – when you prepare to leave the organisation and have gained all the necessary skills to make impact out there, skills such as being an active learner, culturally sensitive person, entrepreneurial, socially responsible, etc..

Once you have passed through this talent development process with AIESEC then you will be a desired individual in the job market as you will have had a far more in-depth experience in solution oriented thinking than an average graduate.

The reason why I joined:

There is a need for solutions, new ideas, ways of doing things in the world of today and that is where us the youth come into play.

Our environment needs values driven leaders – people who can and want to make a difference! People equipped with the right set of knowledge, skills, attitude, and people with a broad knowledge of world issues and real meaning of diversity.

This is what AIESEC has been for me, a platform where young people can become and be driven leaders of tomorrow!

Remember that we are young so our learning experiences are coupled with fun, building a global network of friends who have the same passion as us.

Everyday at least 10 young people across the world fly to a new country to start a life changing experience, I lived in a house in Auckland park, Johannesburg, South Africa and of 10 people in the house there we only 2 South Africans - every evening at the dinner table – through those conversations my mind opened to the world and I started to think globally with the pursuit of acting locally.

A serious of events in our lives lead us into a process of inner transformation and as a result we follow a dream, when you cross that threshold, the most mysterious things encapsulates one’s being.

All of our experiences have formed an essential part of our developmental path, helping us to shape into what we are in the process of becoming and that is the essence of a learning organisation – development of not only new capacities but also fundamental shifts of mind, individually and collectively


This is AIESEC - a ride I have thoroughly enjoyed!!

Beautiful smiles in Stellenbosch, South Africa then decisions ….decisions!



In writing this note I was going through photos of my trip down to Stellenbosch (beautiful part of the country where the wealthy drink wine the whole dayJ ) for our Annual General Meeting 2005, the girls were on their way to the Gala dinner and the boys were just being boysl – check them out.

I keep on counting the days I have left towards finishing my term and a long AIESEC career, surprisingly I’m also getting calls from people I have not heard from in a long time – it’s like they know that I’m about to be back in the real world again where it’s a life of give and take and nothing else. That brings me to a dilemma of weather I should settle for a job here in SA (start a career path that will be beneficial for me financially and therefore I can assist my brothers as they are in University at the moment) or go on a traineeship (get an international experience and come back home with a global perspective therefore being more valuable in the market for a better job).

I argued with a friend of mine as he says that I should just settle for a job here in SA and just go on with life, my only problem is that I have lived my dream in AIESEC by travelling the world, working flexible hours with deadline and not office hours and dealing with impacting projects focusing on community and youth development, now should I just give that up with a permanent job or continue to live my dream and travel one more time – hoping that will change career path? Even with a job here in SA the question is should I settle for a ‘bliss paying job’ or ‘a job that brings me satisfaction’?


He went to say that I’m being stubborn and that I don’t have the luxury to have such high choice demands – but hey they say life is what you make of it – isn’t it?

I hope by end of this month I would have made up my mind

I then came across an interesting article in the mail & guardian about British teenagers not needing friends anymore … well I guess its hard not to in this ever advancing technological era where one can chat over mixit on their cell phones or a new more advanced product called yat, you’ll always find the person next to you clued to their phone for one reason or another and getting more and more anti-social.


I just hope though that we do not loose our human relations with these changes as I still value talking to someone and reading their facial expression about what I’m saying or hearing how their day went and perhaps having a blissful day because the smile they had when hearing their story brushed off on me. That for me is the beauty of human contact and that is something that technology will never be able to mimic as it is too valuable and unique to the human spicy only.