Communications Team....IM

The AIESEC Egerton Communications team also known as the Information Management team is awesome!!! here is what the AIESEC Kenya MC VP Comm & IM 2011-2012 had to say....

Let's keep the momentum high in the Comm & IM team......

The 2011-2012 Executive Board Report

Here it is...

Open publication - Free publishing - More 11 12

Please have a look at the above link, there you will find what went down during the just concluded term.... It's awesome, trust me....

My AIESEC Exchange experience in Uganda

I joined AIESEC in June 2009 after meeting the president on a lunch lecture session about AIESEC during the orientation week in campus. I never took the organization seriously because I never imagined the kind of impact it would make in my life. My perception of the organization changed when the first guys went for their exchange, coming back as different individuals, with different perspectives and focus of life. The interaction with them made me think through the tunnel to see the light in taking the exchange program.

My internship experience in Uganda last year gave me a different focus of life, meeting with people from different walks of life, knowing how to accommodate them in my life was so challenging since I had never ever in one time lived with a friend from far even for a minute. 

Working in an NGO that’s establishing itself in the country was so challenging in that we had to do some introduction of the organization to people. My work as an intern involved going out to the field-community- carrying out a research on the levels of hygiene then coming to analyze it to help the organization develop services that would improve the living conditions of the community. Delivering career guidance and counseling to high school students with aim of empowering them to excel in life, visiting patients in hospitals gave me a reality of the Health Sector in Africa which needs to be worked on appropriately. The most challenging part was when going to the field in that we used to walk long distances and by the time we were done for the day @ noon, we had to wait for the shade since the areas were so unbearable with the sun scorching heavily on the inhabitants and us. Writing reports was the odd of the day, week and month.

It was called the “Pearl of Africa” rich in culture and tradition, sites, fashion and many more. We were shocked of the country’s culture the first time we realized that women had to kneel every time they were talking to men and they are to greet men not vice versa. Coming to food it was so shocking no Ugali for a whole three weeks which we had to ask for because of our Kenyan genes, crazy, crazy with the delicious delicacies of Ugandan brothers like rolex and Katiko…you can’t imagine all that experience being shot of words to express it out as we had to take some few lessons on how to prepare Katiko.

The internship brought out an experience in which I was able to appreciate my African roots-waking up early in the morning to fetch water from the river brought back my memories of the roles of men in society. It was so fascinating that under such circumstances you get to know people better and better. The river in the morning is so clean that you could think of the streams of river Jordan in heaven, but to your amazement you could kill yourself by noon if you saw the river.

I really appreciate what AIESEC has done in my life after that impactful experience that gets me guessing every time I see young people wasting their lives without prior knowledge of what they could do while impacting other people, as agents of positive change in society. The experience gave me a new lease to think differently to always ask why, speak out my mind, developed my personality, experienced a different culture, and showed me how to interact with different personalities, increase my network. If everyone could see where I was before AIESEC they could not believe the impact. That’s why I will always advocate AIESEC to every young person in the world.

If you think you have heard enough experience, think again because AIESEC is something you need to experience once more to get its experience.

The internship was in courtesy of:

Changed by AIESEC!

Just like most other guys, I was attracted by the good corporate and fun stories of AIESECers. AIESEC has different meaning to different people; others view it as an avenue to better one’s leadership and personal abilities and skills, others as a platform for opportunities in the corporate world, others a networking and diversifying platform in terms of culture and ideas……therefore AIESEC is what you make it, it depends on you as much as you depend on AIESEC.

To me AIESEC means a complete three sixty degrees change. In AIESEC one’s participation, commitment and passion counts. This has enabled me to strongly bring out my abilities, skills and talent, and get used to running my activities professionally enhancing the culture of punctuality and meeting deadlines.

I wanted to give more into AIESEC and benefit from its services as much as I offer my service. The only way I would do this successfully is by taking a leadership role. Early 2011 I took the responsibility of being the Team leader finance and administration (F & A). It wasn’t easy but I don’t regret, I learnt so much about finance at a professional level. LCVP F&A, 2011/2012, Kiprop Anthony, was my boss. Working with him was the best part; he carried out his role with integrity and demanded accountability.

AIESEC a student run organization, gives one a real taste of how an organization especially a multinational organization, really operates in the corporate world. In AIESEC one gets to acquire skills in IT, Business Management, Marketing and Branding, Communication and Public Speaking and Social relationship without necessarily attending a lecture like in campus; in AIESEC, it’s all practical and on job training/learning.

I had a chance to attend and participate in various events and conferences like NIS 2011, East African Pioneers Conference 2011, Planning conference 2011, E+L forum 2011, Business Summit 2011(INDIAFRICA) and various educative and fun team buildings. Life has always been different after every event having met different individuals with different perceptions about the  general life, the world and the business world…..SO WONDERFUL…….I always needed an incentive to make me step out of my comfort zone , thanks to AIESEC, a blessing from God, I have found the strength and direction.

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone but if you want to walk far, walk with others………..walk with AIESEC”

By Rosebella Oruko,

    Team Leader F&A,

                2011-2012.

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

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.

''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)