WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO AIESEC?

What brought you to AIESEC,

The largest students run organization,

What brought you to the platform,

That activates leadership in the youth

What brought you to the worldwide organization?

Are you an AIESECer by mouth alone

Do you know the meaning of AIESEC;

Do you comprehend ASK, YES,and NIS;

OC, LC, LCP, LCVP and project SWITCH;

Are you conversant with AIESEC acronyms?

Do you share AIESEC values;

Or you didn’t know they exist;

Has leadership been activated in you;

Do you demonstrate integrity;

So do you enjoy participation by taking part?

I wonder what brought you to this platform;

For you seldom attend the MSS;

And you have no AIESEC responsibility;

Did you attend the last conference and enjoyed yourself;

Are you going with me on an OGX mission?

When do you think of AIESEC;

Have you visited myaiesec.net this week;

When did you log on to AIESEC’s blog;

Aiesecegerton2.blogspot.com

Have you liked our facebook page?

Does AIESEC entertain you when you are down;

How many roll calls can you dance to;

Are you aware of the talents in AIESEC;

The poets, the comedians and the dancers;

Tell us, what brought you to AIESEC?

T.L  comm. and 

                                                                                                              I.M                             

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Even as you are completing your exams and closing the campus this week,I want to commission you even as Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples when he was about to leave them: I send you as sheep among wolves, Go ye into all the world and preach the good news,he who believes and is baptized will be saved....

Now in the same way I commission you- all AIESECers-I send you as ambassadors of AIESEC among citizens go ye into all the world and spread the AIESEC news to all persons regardless of their age, gender institution of higher learning, political affiliation,social,financial or health status etcetra.This because :
[i]  AIESEC do not discriminate on the basis of the above mentioned factors or any other that haven't been mentioned above.
[ii]As the Messiah puts it, freely did you receive And so freely give

It is common knowledge that a society without new borns will sooner or later die out as the older generation dies out.As such every AIESECcer have a moral obligation to give birth and to reproduce and fill AIESEC just as the LORD GOD  commanded Adam and Eve in the proverbial garden of Eden.

I don't wish to bore you with long stories my main purpose for writing here was to wish all AIESECers and their family, friends and enemies, and all people a safe journey back home,merry Christmas and a happy new year.



The kisumuboy: TL comm & IM.

MY EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE

It was an 8hour journey by road to Kampala Uganda from Nakuru Kenya; I arrived at the wee hours of a chilly Monday morning at the capital city of Uganda, and was directed to the waiting room of the bus company. Being my first time in a foreign country I had to wait until the exchange bureaus’ were opened so as to change the Kenyan currency (KSH) to Uganda currency (UGX). I rang the MC VP Exchange Fatuma who directed me to the taxi stage where I took a taxi (matatu in Kenya) to Banda stage where I was picked up by LCP AIESEC Kyambogo, Tom Kalysebula who took me to the LC house and there I was received warmly by a few Aiesecers who were at the house as others had retreated to their respective workstations. I was taken around the rooms and was quickly drawn to the walls to see charts and posters of their LC AIESEC programs for the semester, we had a lengthy chat about our different projects in our respective LCs and various issues relating to management systems in our countries by one guy called Mugabe Bright.

My workstation was at Kennedy Preparatory school at a place called Buziga in the outskirts of Kampala city. Here I met young kids from different nations i.e. Somali, southern Sudan Congo and Ugandans my task at these learning organization was basically teaching English, mathematics and sciences as well as to provide a unique platform for the children to interactively understand social and cultural diversity and also improve the pupils interactive skills and English speaking culture given the pupils were from different nationalities. During my exchange I was able to understand the difference in education systems between Uganda and Kenya and also learnt a little Luganda and Arabic language thanks to the small kids. I was particularly impressed and inspired by a 9 year old boy Muktaar Ibrahim a p2 pupil (class 2 in Kenya) he hardly knew any English word before arriving in Uganda in March 2011. He only knew his native Somali language and Arabic but in September 2011 after the first time I met him, the young boy was both fluent in written and spoken English, that showed me the power of a young developing mind that when nurtured it will grow to be the future leaders of AIESEC and the world  at large. During my stay I interacted and networked with AIESECers from many parts of the world and to mention but a few of the foreign interns I met :- Meshack Kayila from Tanzania, Andeas Mathes from Germany, Ahmed from Egypt, Akiko Yokuta from Japan Ruhi Mamuji from Canada and the Ugandans. Am glad to be a team member of a project to set up the Biashara Bus campaign project. The second phase is scheduled to kick off in April 2012 I’m looking forward to these great opportunity where by the objective is to impact vital knowledge and skills to youths through a series of business seminars in learning institutions around Uganda organized by Kabanda Collins project director Aiesec Kyambogo.

Finally, I cant forget the warm Kampala climate and a weekend at Port Bell Ferry Whaff a port in Lake Victoria, I also had a great time at the Lugogo international trade fair in Nakawa division where local and international participants showcased their products and services. Also the traditional food including Chapati, Cassava, Irish potato, Peanuts served with rice stew. The fun we had during Aiesec nights every Thursday night at Mateo’s where the best of East Africa and international songs were played. My utmost appreciation goes to my host AIESEC KYAMBOGO, staff and community of Kennedy school. I really enjoyed my exchange experience and am full of good memories and eagerly awaiting my next visit again…………….zuuuuuuuup.

    

  By DANIEL MAHUGU

MY FIRST UPDATE ON THE LC BLOG

I  never thought being an AIESECer would be this interesting, important and life changing. With the little time  I have been in AIESEC, now I can testify to you as it was testified to me that it is not only good but also worth while.

   If you still wonder which society or club to join while in campus, AIESEC is an excellent place to be. If you wonder why you should be in AIESEC? then come and join us in our Member Seminer Series[MSS] and attend conferences like the NIS and you'll understand why you should be in AIESEC.

By Charles Omondi,

TL Comm & IM

CAN THE REAL BLUE BLOODS PLEASE STAND UP!

A new semester is slowly unfolding. The first quarter of the 1112 EB term has come to an end already. We need to create the future and start walking towards it with each passing day…..

ACTIVITIES

This semester has a lot of activities coming up. It is our sincere hope that AIESECers in Egerton a.k.a the real blue bloods will utilize the opportunities that this activities will bring with them. In AIESEC it's partly what AIESEC presents to you and mostly what you do with it. In AIESEC its usually up to you….you either use the platform or not. It's the doing part that matters most.

NIS

The much awaited AIESEC Kenya Newees Induction Seminar(NIS) is around the corner. Reports coming in indicate that the recruitment efforts are bearing fruits and there are a lot of newees attending our meetings/MSS's. The NIS conference is meant to give our new members an opportunity to experience AIESEC Kenya. And what more, the conference will take place in Nakuru, so you can bet I will be so very much in the house.

PROJECTS

AIESEC EGERTON ASK project is still on going and we look forward to receive more interns just like we did last semester. (The three interns from Brazil and China were super awesome by the way…..10 bozas to that). Other projects in the making are Go Green and guess what? We shall be swITching on high school students with IT skills using the project known as SWITCH!(drum rolls to that). As a member, it's up to you to take part in this projects by making yourself available to be assigned a role and make an impact. Be part of this awesome experiences. Trust me, one day you will look back at the AIESEC experiences you will have taken part in and get fulfilled like the many Alumni's I've been honored to meet in the past.

And speaking of Alumni's…..

EVENTS

The Alumni management team is working on an AIESEC EGERTON Alumni dinner….this is also another opportunity for AIESECers to be part of honoring the past so that we can have a prosperous future. Like it's popularly said, :we can't afford to forget where we have came from".

This is just a small preview of the four months ahead of us….this quarter is going to rock like never before…. Isn't AIESEC the place to be?

Isn't AIESEC the place where Bill Clinton, Amos Wako etc are so proud to be part of?  YES IT IS! YES IT WILL BE! Will you be part of it? It's up to you……..

By

COMM & IM Crew 1112.

IC Kenya 2011 XP

20th August 2011 was the date and KICC was the venue. Virtually all countries that AIESEC is present had sent at least one representative to this congress. The International Congress(IC) is the biggest it can go as AIESEC. This is one event where all MCPs, LCPs and PAI not to mention AI is well represented. If one wants to see the full picture of AIESEC physically, the IC is the picture that one needs to have a glimpse at.

Looking to the left, to the right, to the top and to the bottom of KICC, one could see young people from 100 countries located in all continents of the world, all excited to be members of AIESEC. I must admit, I have always told people that AIESEC is big but experiencing the bigness of AIESEC was something else altogether. Unfortunately very few guys out of the 60 members of AIESEC Egerton were present.

Opening Ceremony

In the opening ceremony that was between 09:00-12:00, we listened to speeches from the Vice President of the Kenyan Government, the MCP AIESEC Kenya and the PAI….yeah you heard it right, the current PAI was in the house. It was nice to see her physically. I mean, as part of the EB, you see a lot of publications in myaiesec.net for AI but you can't really picture the real persons behind the publications. And the more interesting part was when the guy chairing the session said that the PAI has a security team deployed around him/her in such occasions. It might be a useless fact but it's good to know for the hell of it.

Youth Forums

The session that was just before the lunch break was known as 'Youth Forums'. This is where all the delegates engage in a forum about leadership, who inspires us as citizens of the world and we were joined by four invited guests from DHL and the Corporate world to give us their perspectives into the topics in discussion. My defining moment was when the chair shot a random question that anyone in the conference centre could answer….I shot up my hand from the second floor to answer. I gave my answer and the 'whole world' applauded my response. Take note of the fact that I used the words 'the whole world'. This is because anyone who made a contribution in that session had the attention of representatives from all over the world. You can imagine how Obama felt when he was addressing American citizens in his inauguration speech knowing that virtually the whole world was paying attention. But it was until I was in the bus on my way back to Nakuru from Nairobi that it occurred to me that I had addressed the whole world during my one day experience at the IC. Funny huh?

Global Village

In the afternoon session, it was time for the Global Village. The Global Village involves setting up stands to showcase the culture of the country you come from. For example, in the Kenyan stand we showcased Irio, Maasai artifacts and those in the desk had dressed the African way.

Next to the Kenyan stand was the AIESEC in UK stand while on our left was AIESEC in Turkey.(Hope that gives you an impression of the arrangement). I tasted chocolate all the way from you tell me….can't even remember whether it was from Ukraine or Portugal….I shook hands with AIESECers all the way from Greece and you could realize that you had a lot of things in common. The session made the world to feel truly like a global village.

Then we went back into the conference centre which is more than an auditorium…..this time to watch the Global Village presentations. We listened and watched rollcalls made by all the countries present. This involved countries like Russia singing their national anthem to us and you name it. You can watch videos in you tube by the way if you realy want to see part of what I'm talking about. That marked the end of the opening ceremony and the attention shifted to Multi Media University(MMU) where the plenary sessions were kicking off the following day.

FYI

Tonnes of photos are in FaceBook and YouTube and you should browse and have a look incase you joined AIESEC after the IC…

And by the way, we now have a new myaiesec.net which can be accessed using this link (http://www.test.myaiesec.net) I' ve logged in once and I think its super awesome. The new @.net will mean that we shall be able to access our @aiiesec.net email accounts directly just like you access your other @gmail.com email account.

We'll keep you posted as soon as we get a briefing from our LCP who as you very well know was in the IC from the beginning to the end(10 days)….we shall keep you posted…as for now keep the 'blue bloods' spirit high. We are the true blue blood aka real AIESECers …..

Comm & IM Crew,

          11/12.

Updates/Developments - E+L Event

A lot has taken place at our LC in the past few weeks. The E+L Event took place. Yes it did! And it was successful. On 13th, 14th and 15th July 2011, most of the Aiesecers in Egerton were at Kabarak University main campus in the Auditorium.  We gave the event an AIESEC touch and it turned out into a unique event.

Personally I networked with a lot of guys who have done a lot in the business world. I got an opportunity to invite a couple of keynote speakers who later sent emails to me saying how grateful they were for the opportunity. To say Kabarak the host LC was accommodative is an understatement. These guys were marvelous. Big up to the facilitators who made this event a success.

And there was also this guy who is a CEED in Kabarak all the way from Tanzania(Albany). This guy was/is fabulous. He took the task of being the MC and turned it into an entertaining session. He was every now and then leading guys in roll calls, and at the end of the day he coordinated the cleaning up of the venue. Obviously without someone who had the moves for the roll calls in his head, it would have been hard to keep the delegates entertained. His mastery of the roll call moves left me challenged and I promised myself that I'll atleast master the moves for one complete roll call. I mean, how can he know all the moves for virtually all the Aiesec roll calls and yet here we are claiming we are AIESECers and yet we can't lead the LC into even one roll call.

But come to think of it, in most AIESEC organized events, there tends to be that one person who takes the challenge at hand and turns it into an opportunity to bring the AIESEC touch in. During the 2011 Planning Conference, that person was Jimmy(AIESEC Uganda). During the NATCONF 2011, for me that person was Samora (UON). That's just an interesting feature I've noticed.

One thing that stood up in all the mentors advice is that we need to start saving early if we want to get into entrepreneurship without a huge burden of debt. And of course, it goes without saying; if you are an entrepreneur, there are no limits to your growth. But if you are employed, you are limited to the interests of the owner.

We'll make a follow up to this post soon but for now, I hope I've provided the much need report on the E+L Event2011 that just took place.

''I'm a cooperator''

Yesterday we were all at Egerton university, Kilimo complex where we had a powerful training on leadership from the perspective of cooperatives. The training was dubbed 'I'm a cooperator' and was a joint initiative by CIC Insurance and Edge Consult. This was a training with a difference. We learnt that one of the strongest route to financial sustainability is through joining the cooperative movement.

PLO Lumumba was present virtuously and gave a hot talk on getting rid of the jiggers of the mind. He was very disgusted by the fact that the young people are getting more and more infested by the jiggers of watching soap operas and Arsenal while their fellow colleagues in the Western countries are busy learning Nano technology. At this rate, we are not headed in the right direction.

Personally my point of highlight was when AIESEC EGERTON  got an opportunity to show the audience a short video. I mean leadership and AIESEC go hand in hand. And when talking about training university students about leadership, there is no  better platform to work on other than AIESEC. This is because AIESEC is ran in universities and one of our values as AIESEC is 'activating leadership'. As an employer, you would be very delighted to employ a person who has had previous experience in leadership through AIESEC. Such an employee won't need much of your organizations time and resources doing on the job training.

AIESEC Team Leader

Watching a team of young facilitators from Edge consult managing this project excellently from start to finish was also a nice experience. And their project manager was also young and the kind of coordination her team exuded was worthwhile. I know most people didn't take too much note of this fact but I did because this is the kind of leadership we desperately need in Africa. The kind of leadership that is excellent regardless of whether the leader is a youth or an elderly person. This is one of the situations where a youth team made the youth proud.

The other huge lesson learnt from the training was in the form of demystifying the whole idea of cooperatives. Like someone in the audience commented, the training made us see cooperatives as what they are, not what we have been made to perceive them to be by some few bad examples out there. These training was one of those trainings that ensures you leave as a more enlightened person if not different than the way you came.

-By S.K.

(VP Comm & IM)

LEADERSHIP VS RELATIONSHIPS

(Disclaimer: This post is based on the opinion of the author and should not be taken to necessarily mean the opinion or beliefs of AIESEC Egerton as a whole.)

Since I joined AIESEC in Egerton, I must say I've learnt a lot by doing a lot. But little did I know that this was just the tip of the iceberg. I have a couple of areas I needed to learn about. Obviously when you produce good stuff in an organization, you in one way or another trigger some attention towards your line of duty. Now, ifyou are in the introduction to AIESEC stage or better still, in the taking responsibility stage(TR), then this article is not meant exactly for you.

This post is meant for those in the Leadership role(LR). Yeah you had it right, those in the LR level. This is because when you are in that level in the AIESEC experience, what you do or say can either build or tarnish the image of AIESEC in your respective LC or MC. I don't mean to be harsh or naïve but as indicated in the title, leadership and relationships don't mix. Relationships in this context mean "an emotionally close friendship, especially one involving sexual relations".

In public offices, (at least I experienced this when I was in primary school) a married husband and wife are not allowed to work in the same school. Among the values of AIESEC is activating leadership and demonstrating integrity. How can a leader demonstrate integrity when he keeps getting into 'relationships' with members in his/her LC? Now I know some of us are wondering 'why is it an issue as long as you keep it well managed? My answer is simple, when you get into a relationship with someone, things cease to be business as usual. Your business becomes the business of the other.  And this leads into a conflict of interest. As a leader your interests should be first and foremost, to uphold the interests of the entity you are leading, which in our case happens to be AIESEC.

Now I know AIESEC is very involving and I also know no one is an island. Everyone of us needs someone to keep us going every once in a while. So my advice is simple, if you must get into relationships while in the LR stage, find someone in another LC or MC. That way, the risk of conflict of interest is minimized. Leadership is about guiding, influencing and leading people, and take note of the word people( not a person) but relationships are about one person being with another. Leaderships involves taking care of the interests of everyone while a relationship is about taking care of the interests of someone.

In conclusion, lets take stock of the many examples of good leaders who fell/got into scandals because of not acting right when it came to relationships. Some were even forced into resignation. You don't want to be forced to quit do you? I won't mention names due to the nature of this blog but I know we all have good examples of such leaders in our minds already. But again this post meant to act as a thought leader for those currently in the LR stage and those who will join this stage in the AIESEC cycle in the future. In one way or another, this topic will affect you and you need to know how to deal with this.

-By Comm. & IM team, 2011/2012

MY EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE.

I had a kinda short experience in Uganda for 6 weeks. I say it was short coz I cud have wished to stay there longer. I got to Uganda shortly before Christmas n immediately I got out of the bus I was met with the most unmatched hospitality. U must be thinking that the Aiesecers in Uganda are awesome but I haven’t got there yet. This was just a tailor who saw me get off the bus n since it was raining he rushed and carried my suitcase and welcomed me into his shop and gave me a seat. I was so shocked n I almost refused being used to conmen in Kenya.

When I first spoke he immediately knew I was Kenyan n he started telling me about Uganda. I even forgot to call the Aiesecers n I was picked an hour later and taken to the Ugandan MC house. I was received very warmly at the house by some of the MC members and by other interns who were there. The house was a hive of activity as everyone was preparing to leave for work. I was introduced to everyone and was amazed at the many Nationalities living in the same house and that I would interact with during my stay.

In the evening everyone was back and I got to chat with a couple of them. During weekends all the interns and other Aiesecers in Uganda would meet at the MC house and go out together. Thursdays was also Aiesec night at one of the clubs in Kampala and we would dance to Aiesec roll calls.

During the whole period of my stay I met people from all continents. There were people from Brazil, Botswana, Australia, Tanzania, China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, France, Taiwan, Netherlands and Egypt. This helped to expand my global mindset.

I worked at a community based organization with an intern from Japan. The organization dealt with HIV/AIDs patients as HIV is really prevalent in Uganda. I counseled and also visited patients at their homes for home based care giving. We were also engaged in income generating activities to help raise money to help the patients. We took care of people affected and infected by HIV/AIDs and sought bursaries and sponsors for orphaned kids from the country and abroad. The saddest part was when patients succumbed and I knew there was nothing we could do. We also rounded up youths in the community and educated them and they helped us in mobilizing community members during VCTs and other events that we organized. I ended up learning some Luganda and the people were sad to see me leave.

I now have many contacts from my exchange experience and this is part of one of my biggest goals in Aiesec and Life, to create a diverse network of contacts.

This has been so far the best six weeks of my life when I achieved much of what I yearn for in life in just a short time and I would do it over and over again.

BY CHRISTINE MWANGI
V.P. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION (2010/2011)
AIESEC EGERTON UNIVERSITY
KENYA

The master plan….

In university, we learn that planning is the core of all the management functions. But with my experience so far, I bet I've done a couple of plans and I know how the other side of planning looks like.

We all plan on how we are going to do this and that in the future. When we are planning, we forecast about how things will turn out. We do what is commonly referred to in economics as assuming all things are held constant. It's very rarely that all things end up being held constant. We spend a lot of time laying down 'master plans' only for them to be undermined by the immediate turn of events.

Plans in themselves play a key role in preparing you on what you are about to undertake. But be careful because what you are going to come across out there in the implementation stage tends to be unique in each case.

One of my friends used to tell me that 'we should plan for the best but expect the worst'. When you expect the worst, anything but the worst will be exciting to you. That's why you should not hesitate too much to get into the action stage. Too much analysis leads to analysis paralysis.

With regard to a plan getting faced by unexpected turn of events; a good example is the Kenyan government. Just a few years down the vision 2030 implementation, the 2007-2008 post election violence broke out and the gains made were reversed. What do you do when the unexpected happens? I guess that's when a plan B comes to the rescue. That's where risk management steps in.

You look at the plan from a pessimistic point of view and make provisions on how you'll approach these turn of events. Like it's said, that which has a likelihood of occurring will surely occur…..guess to be on the safe side, you need to prepare for the worst. This will prepare your mind on how to handle the unexpected turn of events and you won't be surprised when the worst happens.

This translates in a leader stepping up as the motivator in such situations. Since a leader is supposed to have a higher emotional  intelligence in times of trouble; being prepared subconsciously incase of any adverse turn of ev ent goes a long way in determining how you will react when the expected turn of events is not the one expected.

- LC VP Comm & IM
  By S K W

GUESS WHAT AIESECERS, AIESEC IS LIKE A TATTOO!!!

Come to think of tattoos, whoever wants a tattoo either wants it temporary or permanent. Whatever choice you make, this drawing will be with you everywhere you go and in everything you do, just like what the biblical Ruth told her mother-in-law Naomi. There’s this wise man that said ‘whatever you attach consistently to the words “I am “, you become.’ The more you brag about being an AIESECer, the more permanent it attaches itself on you. Hey, do you think you are worth the ‘tattoo’?

            The other day I sat and thought about leadership. AIESEC gives young leaders the platform to bring out their best. I also found out that AIESEC is everywhere even in places where people know nothing about it. Be it in churches, clubs, nations all traditions and cultures observed, there always has to be a leader who tries to take an initiative and accountability. In other words, all these people should join us since all of us are in the same ‘bandwagon’. What do you think?

TAKE A CHANCE

            “If you want to be successful, you must either have a chance or take one. Procrastination is a tool of the devil to hold us back and to make us miss God’s timing in our lives.”-John L. Mason.

Everyone has a chance to be successful but not everyone succeeds. Why should we sit and see our victory in projects and life slip away because of not taking chances? AIESEC Egerton rocks because we are not afraid of taking chances. WE ARE HOT TO GO! AMA VIPI?

- By L R. Atieno

The end of the beginning….

It has been one full semester of hard work in rejuvenating the aiesec experience in egerton university…so far so good although more efforts need to be made in the main campus… seems the aiesec fire has been spread to town campus but the source has been getting colder and colder. That not withstanding, with the new breed/crop of EB members are showing signs of nothing less that a breathtaking year for aiesec egerton. Given that four out of the total EB seven are currently acting in the capacity of the portfolios they have been elected to assume office to…by this I mean, their predecessors were either themselves or were nowhere to be seen. Come to think of this, it is when it's completely dark that the light is about to set in…

I always like to tell my fellow aiesecers when the going gets tough and they start to utter not so fair comments about the future; I usually tell  them, aiesec is a brand that is destined/designed to excel and it's just a question of who will be in the drivers seat when the excel process takes place. Another thing many people fail to understand/comprehend is that real "progress is a slow process…" (funny enough I head that phrase in one of 50cents songs). Unfortunately most of us youths' expect to join today and see results tomorrow. It just doesn't work like that. Even those who win the lotteries will tell you it's not so easy as it may seem.

I think the thing with aiesec that makes it to be destined to succeed is the fact that it is based on uniform organizational structure. The organization itself being institutions of higher learning; universities to be precise. It is in universities that you expect to find the crème de la crème of the society. Any organization based on a standard structure will succeed all day any time. Aiesecers has gone ahead and come up with it's own culture overtime. Another stronghold of aiesec is it's online platform-myaiesec.net. This platform ensures that the knowledge management takes place all day anytime as long as you have internet access and a machine. I say machine because nowadays we have phones which do what a computer does if not better. This online platform ensures/will ensure that each new generation of aiesecers have a faster learning curve and don't spend time re-inventing the same wheel that was invented by past aiesecers who went ahead to be alumni's.

Anyway, the objective of this write up is to syke up my fellow aiesecers and the potential members of aiesec out there. There are alot of awesome opportunities in aiesec and the faster you connect your strengths to the opportunities the faster your journey to success will be. Aluta continua or so it's said…lets continue the good works, lets impact the society like never before. The laws of the kingdom are simple, 'give and you shall receive….infact above, exceedingly and abundantly, shaken together and running over'- like my pastor likes to say……

- By SK Wanjiru

AIESEC AT A GLANCE.

WE  STIRVE  TO  NURTURE  SELF  DRIVE

W - We

E  - Egerton Local Chapter of AIESEC Kenya.

S  -  Start Small-our journey begins with a single step.

T     -Think Big-by setting realistic goals.

R    -Reach a little Further Everyday.

I     - Invest our time and resources wisely.

V    -Venture to identify and seize all the available opportunities.

E     -Excellence is always our pride.

T    -Trust in God

O  - Organize our Resources.

N  - We Never Give Up.

U  - Unlock our potential.

R   -Results-our results motivate us to greater  heights.

T   -Team Up-together we stand, divided we fall.

U  -Unlock our Potential-by exploring every advantageous niche available to us.

R  - Research-to always be well versed with the on goings.

E  - Expect to Succeed-we are always optimistic.                                          

S   - Sacrifice-by giving our very best to ensure the success of AIESEC.

E    -Enabling Environment-equipping the youth with relevant skills and attitudes to enable them survive in the ever competitive world.

L    -Learn from our mistakes-that which can’t kill us only makes us stronger!                      

F    -Follow Through-we work on our projects to their completion.

D    -Discipline-Promoting  discipline amongst the members.

R     -Re-fire-always take a break to re-energize (Roll calls)

I      -Insist and Improve-we view every setback as a stepping stone to greater heights.

V    -Visualize our Success.

E    -Evaluate our goals against  the same standards-to find out whether we are making progress or not.

                                                 

-          By   Oga  Kidera.

In short, our message is simple….”we endeavor to transform the society as a whole through turning the youth from ‘passengers’ to ‘drivers’ in this journey called life….”(->I bet this can make a nice motto for aiesec egerton…)

MY AIESEC EXPERIENCE!

“AIESEC! What is it all about?” this was the question I asked the first time I saw an AIESEC poster stuck on one of the notice boards in campus. Luckily, a friend who also happened to be an AIESECer told me the basics and suggested I attend their meetings I later learnt were referred to as MSSes. A week later I presented myself at the meeting and guess what, the experience was …mhh cool. Three weeks down the line, an announcement was made in the MSS that there will be an NIS (National Induction Service) conference, which is newees stuff, and was to be hosted in Nakuru. Oscar; the LCP, added that it was a nice thing since it would teach me more about AIESEC. With no second thoughts, I decided to attend. I arrived at Cool Rivers where the conference was to take place and to my surprise, the number of delegates present from all the inclusive universities in the country, I was the only one from my LC.                                   

Being a newee and the only delegate sent shivers to my nerves since I felt let down by LC members and was lonely. The people there were all cheerful and seemed to be enjoying themselves, something I thought was absurd at first. A single man I was, and a single man army I convinced myself I would be.                                                              

 Thinking that securing a distant place from ‘them’ would help, I quickly did that. From this isolated table I enjoyed seeing them enjoy and take on each other like friends. ‘Man! AIESEC is a family. It is not all about me and you, but rather us.’  Then I saw this bunch of ladies from UON coming towards my direction and my mind psyched me to be the bold person I have always pretended to be when I am with strangers.  On being asked why I was alone, I told them I was waiting for ‘my colleagues who were on their way.’ Jordan, whom I knew later recruited me in their LC and insisted that I should perform a roll-call with them and because a ‘no position’ could not present itself, I joined them. From that moment I felt the need to belong and involvement. To my surprise everything these guys did, I became part of them and hey…I was in a home away from home in their company. ‘…and the journey begins’ was the conference’s theme. The ‘journey’ began with a bang; from funny roll-calls to serious stuff. A brief AIESEC history was presented then came the other agendas that were to be talked about. Fiona, the president (2009/2011), happened to know everything about AIESEC and jeez…she made me think she was giving her life history. I felt awesomeJ and everyone seemed too from the applause she received after the speech. The team she came with wasn’t an exception either. It comprised of very talented youths who tended to define the tagline, ‘a leadership potential for young people to discover their talents.’ I enjoyed branding so much because it taught me on how a person can brand him/herself or any other thing. I came back loaded with everything except regrets. From the fellow AIESECers I learnt that no man is an island and therefore we all need each other to survive. Back to our LC I was to give a report on the NIS and I felt whoa since it gave this newee a chance to stand before members and do what I thought was the most difficult to do. That day I also learnt that AIESEC doesn’t harbor cowards. Talking of non-cowards I met a team in our LC that is super-awesomeJ. These guys go out of their ways to make this organization a success without complains and grumbling. BIG UPS YOU GUYS FOR THE SUPERB WORK. To all AIESECers in Egerton, let us light other people’s candles especially those with flameless ones. THUMBS UP AND remember to read Philippians 1:6. (Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus ChristJ)

-By Atieno R. Onyango

VIP Alert!

Hello,
Below are the online platforms that AIESEC EGERTON is currently engaging in. This is part of our communication strategy which is in-line with our efforts to create and keep our communication channels as open as possible. It's only through such channels that information can be disseminated to members easily and like it's said, information is power.
Now here we go:-

1. AIESEC Home. (myaiesec.net)
-You need to sign up to in this website and get approved as a member. Terms and conditions apply.
-Once you have signed in. Search for 'Egerton university' you will find all the documents we have uploaded.
-We will upload our databases to this website and set access rights to leaders only especially Comm. n IM portfolio.
2. Website
    http://www.aiesecegerton.org/ - This will be up and running sooner rather than later .          www.aiesec.org/egerton -unfortunately this is yet to be sorted out. (Should follow up on this)
3. Facebook
1. AIESEC EGERTON - User account.
2. AIESEC IN EGERTON - Group.
3. AIESEC EGERTON - Fan Page.
4. Twitter
  - aieseceger2(this is our user name) i.e. @aieseceger2
5. Blog - www.aiesecegerton2.blogspot.com
   -this is where we speak out our minds regarding progress, our opinions, exchange stories etc.
6. Yahoo groups.
  -alumni_aiesecegerton@yahoogroups.com
7. Picasa
-Contains our photos. i.e. aiesec egerton.
8. Slide share
 -From now onwards we should be adding links after uploading our slides to this site and then add links to  this slides on our websites.
9. You tube.
 - From now onward we need to add links to the videos we upload as aiesec egerton. (Check out YouTube groups?)
10. Other social media platforms we might engage in in the future will be added.
 
-By TL, Comm. & IM 2011/2012

More, more and even more progress/developments…..

On a personal level, this is blog marks my first quarter as an AIESECer…..yahooo!!!! As if to mark the coming to age of the first quarter, one of the awesome AIESECers we are honored to have in AIESEC EGERTON left a sweet comment on our blog. By the way the roll call idea went well and everyone was turned on by the dance moves. Our 'choreographer' Bella did a nice job. The list of team leaders for every portfolio is now full(NTC) and to say the last MSS was cool is an understatement. Now we can state boldly that we have something to report home with regards to the website we have been working on. Matter of fact, we will be involved a lot in it's design and since the web designer is an AIESECer, you can only expect a hot website up online in around a weeks. Feel free to note the date today(23-03-2011).

We have also confirmed the price of branding a t-shirt with the AIESEC logo. We realized it made some sense to ask members to come with plain t-shirts and 5o shillings and the we get the t-shirts branded as opposed to buying new t-shirts which have been branded with the  AIESEC logo. Most of the members argue that they have a lot of plain t-shirts at home and they would love to get them branded as opposed to buying new t-shirts. The option of new branded t-shirts has not been written of and maybe we might introduce a rule that all newees should buy a new AIESEC branded t-shirt before they are allowed to join AIESEC. Whether that will materialize is however for the EB to agree; and since I respect the pecking order, mine is to keep you all in the loop.

We have a super E+L project coming up on a national level. The idea is about entrepreneurship plus leadership. Youth who are between 19 and 24 years old(youth comprise of around 70% of Kenya's total population)will get an opportunity to participate in a mentorship walk alongside mentors who have done it and who are ready to share their experiences with these young people who have the potential to start brands which can make Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to go gaga!

While going through the documentations for the E+L project, it got me to wonder along the perspective of Entrepreneurs versus Leaders. It occurred to me that taking a leadership role is just the beginning of a long road/journey. To be a successful entrepreneur one not only needs to lead(being a leader) but you will have to be a manager, a sales person, an innovator and a lot more wrapped together with a ribbon on it. Like my friend Marvin who founded a social media company from scratch likes to say; "on the initial stages as an entrepreneur you have to eat, sleep and breath the enterprise you are starting up before the enterprise gets a life of it's own…."

Come to think of it, this is not bad at all because as soon as your enterprise breaks even and becomes sustainable you will get real and true freedom. This kind of freedom is the one very few people get to enjoy. The freedom that allows you to wake up at 4:00 in the morning not because you have to/are compelled to; but because want to.(Others like me prefer to sleep at 2.00 a.m and wake up at 9.00 a.m)

Another project which is in it's middle stages so to speak is the ASK project. Generally the ASK project is about HIV & AIDS sensitization and awareness to   high school students and other teenagers in the society as a whole who have a bright future before them. But this bright future is under threat of being cut short or being turned into another direction if the youngsters make a single wrong decision. Nowadays with the introduction of ARV's people nowadays can rest assured that testing positive is not a death sentence. However this has in my opinion contributed to less sensitization about the scourge which HIV is. There is therefore a reason to revamp the sensitization campaign in schools as this is where the future members of the society are.

Maybe to conclude this piece, let me share with you all out there who might be reading this article and wondering 'should I or should I not invest my time in AIESEC?' well I read a tweet from @aiesec_moi; this is their advice…."AIESEC if for everyone but not everyone is right for AIESEC…"

On the national platform the IC is still on, and as AIESECers, we can take part in the sessions which are open to everyone like the 'global village days'. We intend to come up with a comprehensive calendar with AIESEC Kenya and Africa events which take place every year. This in our view will be in line with enabling our members to prepare before hand and be able to attend the events. A short notice is what has been blamed in the past for failure to attend the conferences. After noting down the events scheduled to take place this year, we intend to upload it online probably in Google calendars so that those willing and serious members can be able to check out the events and plan well.

Good news for the newees, the TL OGX managed to hand over a list of most if not all AIESEC acronyms which we use in our MSS's and which appear hard to understand at first. We will publish it so that you all can have access to this list and get incorporated ASAP.

In conclusion, the above updates are not exhaustive. Other super endeavors' like the Gentle Feet Walk have not been mentioned and the Switch project that we are thinking of unfolding in our LC. So don't make the assumption that the above is all/everything that our LC is doing.

Let's hook up later. Thanking you for taking time to read through the piece all in the spirit of being of an AIESECer.

-By TL, Comm. & IM 2011/2012