Impact edition2

1 MAY - AUGUST 2014

IMPACT : Generation 2015

AIESEC KENYA NATIONAL

LEADERS (14/15)

BENJAMIN KIHURIA

FROM NEWIE TO TEAM LEADER IN

ONE SWIFT MOTION.

PLUS

SOMETHING FOR THE NEWIES!

Of AIESEC JKUAT, today’s youth, tomorrow’s leaders.

MAY-AUGUST 2014

DO YOU KNOW THE INDIVIDUALS

DRIVING US TO 2015?

2 MAY - AUGUST 2014


Greetings AIESECers!!!

Curious ones as well, you are welcome to take a peek, only good can come of it, I as-

sure you. Now, looking at the contents of this issue, I saw ’GENERATION 2015’ as a

fitting theme. Must ring a bell for seasoned AIESECers, but I felt it relevant because

2015 is here, and as current AIESEC leaders start to prepare to hang up their caps and

hand over the button, the next guys are going to live Generation 2015...We feature sto-

ries of team leaders and team members and who knows, in the next edition, they may

be introduced as part of the new EB. We also have our 2 month old AIESEC Kenya Na-

tional leaders featured. Real short profiles they are, but they were once upon a time

where we are...which can only mean we can get there too.

Now, this is to be the last editor’s note I write so let me try make it good, in case one

or two people actually venture to read it. This journey is one that is began with fer-

vour. I remember plotting with some of my friends to run for EB which we did, and

made it. Then the job starts and you start to realise you just might have jumped off a

cliff and now you’re dropping like a stone. Then before you hit the ground, you bounce

back up and realise you are bungee jumping! It’s a mix of emotions, fear, adrenaline,

excitement...but the ride does not last forever. When the momentum is done, your

time is up. It is the ride of a lifetime and if you’re lucky you might get another one, but

even if you never do, once is enough. (Please attempt to draw some wisdom from

that.)

My ride is almost over, the momentum is comfortable enough for me to think straight

now and I scold myself for stressing when things were a bit more fast-paced. To those

that come after, I wish I could stress the importance of enjoying the experience from

beginning to end, especially when it gets fast-paced, but I fear this is something one

can only learn by jumping off a cliff. So...whose next?!! :-)

(Lights dim, curtains close, I start to get emotional...)

Keep AIESEC-in!

Kathleen Siminyu,

Vice President(14/15),

Communication and Information Management.

Editor’s Note

3 MAY - AUGUST 2014


INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

Members’ journies

8-12 Benjamin’s short , full and yet to be completed \

AIESEC story

Meet the AIESEC

KENYA LEADERS

(14/15)

4 President : Simon

5 Communication and Public Relations : Wincate

6 Incoming Professional Internships : Ronny

7 Business Development: Ruthie

14 Incoming Exchange: Lorna

15 Finance : Abner

16 Organisational Development: Wenani

17 Outgoing Exchange: Dennis

Newie’s Corner

13Most commonly used AIESEC acronyms

jkuat.aiesec.or.ke

AIESEC Jomo Kenyatta University of Agri-

culture & Technology

aiesec_jkuat

aiesec_jkuat

4 MAY - AUGUST 2014


National AIESEC KENYA PRESIDENT

FORMER NATIONAL VP

FINANCE

5 MAY - AUGUST 2014


National vp - communication and

public relations

FORMER AIESEC JKUAT VP

COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION

MANAGEMENT

6 MAY - AUGUST 2014


National vp - Professional

internship programmes

FORMER AIESEC JKUAT PRESIDENT

FORMER AIESEC JKUAT VP

PROJECTS

7 MAY - AUGUST 2014


National VP - BUSINESS

DEVELOPMENT

FORMER AIESEC UON VP PROJECTS

(2 consecutive years)

8 MAY - AUGUST 2014


How does one write a story yet finished? My

journey in AIESEC dates back to October 2013,

when I heard that there was to be a Super MSS

with AIESEC UoN. I had an evasive “friend” who

worked for AIESEC UoN, and I wanted to sur-

prise her. Well needless to say, I never met her.

But that first meeting opened my eyes and ears

to AIESEC, I wanted to know, what kind of or-

ganisation dances during its meetings?

From an early age, I have always taken a back

seat. Having older siblings really didn’t help as

they ensured that most decisions were made

didn’t involve me. I was constantly reminded of

the packing order. Well after joining AIESEC I

joined incoming GCDP under the transition

team from Suzzie to Bryan Bundi. After a couple

Less than a year

old in AIESEC,

iGCDP Team

Leader,

Benjamin Kihuria

tells us his AIESEC

Story thus far.

9 MAY - AUGUST 2014


of training sessions, I was thrown into the

deep end with my first task to put up ex-

change forms. After successfully putting up

two forms, which I was quite proud of,

there was the waiting game.

The first intern to apply was a Brazilian girl, I

was excited, so I quickly messaged Suzie as

to what to do next . Well…it never quite got

to an interview as she (the Brazilian) never

replied to my email. Not allowing anything

to put me down, I received a number of col-

ourful Chinese applications (some of which

were literally in Chinese), others tried their

best with Swahili phrases like ‘bidii

msichana’ (perhaps they were trying to say

‘hardworking girl’ ) and in the end I finally

matched three Chinese for January 2014.

I was assigned Kayaba School, one of the TN

(trainee nominee) takers we have partnered

with. While taking my interns to work on

their first day, I met with Joan, the headmis-

tress. Well how do I describe Kayaba

School? It’s a school right in the middle of

Mukuru Kayaba slum with very limited

amenities.

They had no food, no clean water yet the

kids were happy. Looking back I have no

idea how they survived as the last intern to

work there left in August 2013. I was a bud-

dy to Long Di who had a surprisingly good

command of English (so said the barber I

took her to). She was down to earth and

attended a couple of lectures with me dur-

ing her free time. It seems Kenyan men are

looking the East as I received quite a num-

10 MAY - AUGUST 2014


ber of compliments for having “scored” an

Asian. After 7 weeks she went back to her

country and so did quite a number of our

Chinese interns.

After a couple of weeks I made up my

mind to actually help Kayaba School. I sat

down with Joan to see what was needed

and after coming up with a checklist of at

least 6 crucial items I sought the help of

the forthcoming interns to change the di-

lapidated state of Kayaba School. First and

most important was the food situation. I

will forever be indebted to Silvia Galiotto

(Italy) who bought enough food for the

school to last 3 months and took the kids

to Giraffe Centre (one of the few trips

they have in their lifetime), Chutikarn Ma-

nayarnkit (Thailand) who sponsored 2

parents to join a sewing school, spon-

sored another to start a charcoal busi-

ness, painstakingly translated verbs from

Swahili to English just so that her kids

could understand her English classes,

bought stationery and sports equipment.

Angela Mojica (Colombia) who took the kids

to play and taught Science with a million ex-

periments.

Then tragedy struck. Petty thieves armed

with a gun robbed them twice in two weeks.

The first time in Lavington and the second

time inside the slum. At such times, when

you receive such news, your heart stops and

you feel a myriad of emotions from fear, to

hate to pity. Well you have to strategize and

move on if the plan to help the school is to

be fulfilled. With the help of Joan, we put up

a watchman and informed the chief to im-

prove the security situation. They say that

those who live by the sword, die by it. As I

It seems Kenyan men are

looking the East as I received

quite a number of compliments

for having “scored” an Asian.



write this all of the above perpetrators

either are dead or arrested.

The first trip that I organized for the in-

terns was a Maasai Mara trip which took

off at 8am on Saturday 5th July 2014. The

two vans arrived and took all 11 of us to

the Mara without a hitch. After an even-

ing game drive, we returned back to camp

which was a pretty nice place, the driver

of the first van took his car to be checked.

Back at camp we had food prepared by

our chef and after a couple of drinks, and

a game of charades the atmosphere was

friendlier. By 10pm the lights are switched

off as it runs from a generator. For some

of us Dylan (Scotland) Sydney (USA) and

Dawn (Malta) that couldn’t sleep that ear-

ly we went to watch the stars on a clear

night sky. We had background music from

someone who had a bit too much whis-

key. A couple of shooting stars and hours

later, we retired ready for the next day.

Day 2 was much more eventful, from

reaching the Mara River to witness part of

the migration, to getting a puncture near

a large male lion and the persistent prob-

lem of our van overheating. The Mara is

spectacular with a large variety of game

and picturesque scenery. On the way

back, five of us Alex(USA) Rachel(Hong

Kong) Andreas (Brazil) Dawn (Malta)

stayed behind with the faulty van, enjoy-

ing some rare moments, eventually

spending a night in Narok town as our van

could only go so far without heating up.

My second and most difficult trip yet to

plan was the one to Zanzibar, Tanzania. It

had very many stops and changeovers.

After a 15hr bus ride from Nairobi to Dar

we slept over in Dar and got the 9 am fer-

ry to Zanzibar, which is quite different

from the Likoni ferry in Mombasa, this is

more of a speed vessel. Zanzibar is magi-

cal, from the 4* resort we stayed in to the

tours of the stonetown and spicefarms to

snorkelling and swimming with the dol-

phins in the ocean, white sand beaches,

we were amazed. Sadly our time ran out

and after an 8hr bus ride to Mombasa we

had a 6hr layover and took the 10pm bus

to Nairobi without any hitches. I can’t re-

ally describe Zanzibar as it’s those places

you see on postcards and magical is the

only word I can describe it.

Back to Nairobi and Kayaba School

through Elpida (Greece) got spoons, a

2300lt water tank and stationery. Andreas

(Brazil) paid a hefty outstanding toilet bal-

ance, furnished the school with educa-

Zanzibar is magical, from the 4*

resort we stayed in to the tours

of the stonetown and spicefarms

to snorkelling and swimming

with the dolphins in the ocean,

white sand beaches, we were

amazed.



tional material and Joao (Portugal) pur-

chased a classroom and furnished it. All

these were part of a masterplan I had come

up with which I hope to fully achieve with

the help of Eliska (Czech Republic) and Ce-

cilia (China) and all other interns that will

join me later on.

I cannot fail to mention Clemens (Germany)

Arnaud (the madly funny French guy who

deserves a separate article to fully describe

him) and Alicja (Poland) who we are work-

ing with at Frank School. The same can be

said for Priscilla (Mexico) a diligent and bril-

liant intern, who served as the project

head, she had immense influence to make

it a success, Emily (USA) Joe (the true defi-

nition of a US patriot) and Yen (Singapore)

who I can’t thank enough.

Through AIESECs Team Leader phase have

grown my leadership skills, critical thinking

capacity, knowing how to make crucial de-

cisions through leading a two teams to-

wards two separate goal of achieving pur-

pose-driven education (Kayaba school) and

a health-aware society (Project Healthy

and Happy phase 1). I came to understand

how people think differently even though

pursuing one goal. I realised how diversity

leads to a more purposeful and fuller pro-

ject. Interacting with people is much easier

for me and taking charge has become sec-

ond nature. I cannot express my gratitude

to both Suzzie and Bryan for the oppor-

tunity and the support they have accorded

me.

There is so much I haven’t written, but

since this is only but the beginning, I will

save the rest for a future article.

Benjamin Kihuria,

Team Leader iGCDP

AIESEC JKUAT

BSc. Biomechanical and Process Engineer-

ing



For newie’s...

Everything in AIESEC is an acronym, even the name, including all selected and elected positions, conferences, GNs

(growth networks), etc. This is a list of the most common acronyms that are used within AIESEC, including the rough

translation of AIESEC into English. Hope it eases the initiation into AIESEC life for newies!

@: Some may consider this an “AT” sign. It’s not. It’s an “AIESEC” sign.

AI: AIESEC International. Located in Rotterdam. Provides a network

support system for AIESEC on an international level.

AIESEC: (pronounced “eye‐sek”) AIESEC was a French acronym:

Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences

Economiques et Commerciales, or International Association of

Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences. However,

since AIESEC is no longer limited to these opportunities, the

acronym has faded and we now just use AIESEC as a word.

BD: Business Development

CEED: Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development. If you want to get

involved in joining or running a local AIESEC community

internationally, CEEDS provide the way to do it. This is an

equally great way to experience a culture abroad and build

leadership and professional skills, and gain a different perspective

on running an AIESEC community.

Comm and IM: Communication and Information Management

CC: Congress Committee

CCP: Congress Committee President

CCVP: Congress Committee Vice President

EB: The Executive Board. The executive board consists of the VPs, the

LCP and the LCP elect (when applicable)

EP: Exchange Participant. Someone going on a traineeship

ER: External Relations

ICX: Incoming exchange.

LC: The AIESEC Local Community.

LCP: The Local Committee President; oversees the Local Community in

order to make sure everything’s running smoothly

MC: Member Committee (national staff); they are paid AIESEC staff.

Each MC Oversees AIESEC on their national level, provides

support for Local Communities within their MC country, maintains

relationships with other countries, manages national finances, and

builds national partnerships…

MCP: Member Committee President.

OC: Organizing Committee; the committee that takes care of the logistical

aspect of conferences.

OCP: Organizing Committee President; the head of an OC.

OCVP: Organising Committee Vice President

OGX: Outgoing exchange.

PAI: President of AIESEC International.

TN: A Traineeship/internship.

TM: Talent Management

Trainee: International EPs that are on a traineeship in our LC.



National VP - INCOMING EXCHANGE

FORMER AIESEC UON VP INCOMING EXCHANGE




National vp - finance

FORMER AIESEC UON VP

PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAMMES




National VP - organisational

development

FORMER AIESEC UON PRESIDENT

( 2 consecutive years)



National vp - OUTGOING EXCHANGE

FORMER AIESEC DAYSTAR PRESIDENT

FORMER AIESED DAYSTAR VP

OUTGOING EXCHANGE

Impact edition2

Documents

Transcript of Impact edition2