Past 6 weeks have been filled with work, as we had 2 of our biggest conferences EVER in AIESEC Pakistan history!
Over 200 university students from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi participated in the 5 day conference, themed 'Beyond the Limits’ from 3rd to 7th November. This conference celebrated 5 years of AIESEC in Pakistan and was the largest conference in AIESEC in Pakistan’s history! During the conference delegates were trained on soft skills such as communication and leadership, as well as practical training on sales, branding, finance, and HR. Participants also took part in exchange simulations challenging their worldview through interactive sessions about environment and empowerment. After 2 weeks of hard work and 2 day intensive pre-meeting, it was delightful to see the energetic and motivated new AIESEC recruits, dance AIESEC role calls with them, and enjoy the amazing conference atmosphere! It was tiring though, as had to work a lot during the conference, and only slept 10 hours in 5 days! I couldn’t even rest after the conference, but almost straight from the airport had to go to a UN press conference on flood relief, and network with companies and NGOs and represent AIESEC. That week before Eid holidays I was crazy busy with many company meetings and preparations for our biggest ever public event, Youth 2 Business Forum, which I was co-organising with our local chapter. We were lucky to have most of the preparations done before Eid, and thus was able to relax half of the 5 day holidays…and started my holidays with visiting a beauty salon and getting a haircut, and manicure and pedicure first time in my life! Amazing!
Eid holidays were certainly interesting! The first day of the Eid-ul-Azha, we spent at one of AIESEC members house enjoying lovely food, getting mehndi (henna) done on our hands, playing Taboo game and going for an interesting trip around the city seeing blood, intestines, cow heads, and bomb blast sites…as during Eid Muslims sacrifice animals, and we witnessed a sacrifice of a goat (bakra).
Eid with interns
The second day had lunch with our Board chair in this amazing house…the houses here are like castles, like the houses you dreamt of when you were child! The elite lives here like kings, and many times I wish I could live like that too, as all my friends here have such life style, and the latest fashion clothes, Cucci bags etc, whereas I wear cheap clothes bought from bazaars! The women here especially dress very fancy, and always have their make up and hair done, and I always go to meetings with flustered hair and no make up after the winded riksha rides!
In any case my Eid holidays were pretty short, as had to work for AIESEC global legislation, as there is no Eid in AIESEC HQ in Rotterdamn…unfortunately our internet wasn’t working for a week, and hardy no cafes were open, but somehow managed to go online to connect with other AIESEC presidents around the world…and successfully led the legislation for over 90 people from different countries…interesting affair indeed! Though my internet connection, headphones and computer weren’t working, but somehow managed to pull off this virtual affair using multiple technologies like Skype, gtalk and Adobe…incredibly for me who doesn’t really know how to use any technical devices!
Mubarak beach with Rotary friends
Over the Eid went to Mubarak Village with some friends, and really enjoyed swimming in the moon light with plankton shimmering in our hands, and enjoying the bonfire and talking about Politics…what a retreat for me! For relaxation have been watching also zillions of movies, as have been too tired to do anything else than watch no-brainer movies like Night at the Museum, Rebound etc and eating too many peanut butter which I’m slightly allergic to…oh, well!
Last week was just crazy busy juggling Youth 2 Business Forum (Y2B) preparations, global legislation and finishing off the graphics for our annual report…and ended up working for 17hours straight one day, as had to finish off everything that day…thanks to Pepsi, RedBull and Pizza Hut somehow survived through that day! Was supposed to work half day the next days, but surely ended up working full days, as some speakers were cancelling at the last minute. But in the end the annual report turned out really well, and Youth 2 Business Forum on 27th November was a great success with over 100 students from Karachi and interior Sindh, over 25 companies and over 6 media appearances… Prominent speakers such as Amin Hashwani, Sardar Rahim and Nusrat Ali spoke on issues concerning the youth of today in relation to their active involvement in the affairs of the corporate world in the future. The subjects of Labour Mobility, CSR and Entrepreneurship were discussed at great length with enthusiastic involvement from the participants through highlighted speeches, workshops e.g. by Google and Unilever, and panel discussion hosted by renowned journalist Saima Mohsin…it was a honour to host such a great event, where the youth and businesses really came together to discuss the societal issues in Pakistan and finding solutions together! Such events really make a difference in peoples’ lives, and get them thinking, and I could see the spark and interest in peoples’ eyes when they talked about how they want to change their own society and how the corporates were willing to give their helping hand…it was truly beautiful, was I am happy to have been one of the main organisers and host for this event, and introducing the concept in Pakistan! The Y2B Forum was followed by partners’ dinner at Marriott, where partners and AIESECers talked about the importance of AIESEC, and in Pakistan it is really needed for educating the leaders for tomorrow (actual reality here), and bringing about societal change through projects, and improving Pakistan’s image through the foreign trainees!
Y2B Team
After such hectic 6 weeks, I had two days off, and was simply watching movies, doing laundry and other mundane house things, and just felt empty, because all my urgent deadlines were successfully fulfilled, but still have many pending work stuff to do…and still was getting texts, calls and emails which somehow had to answer even on my day off! Could only have day off without phone and internet…and therefore thinking of going away for Xmas…and now listening to Xmas carols, and dreaming of white Xmas in wintery Karachi (still 25 degrees), and paradoxically feeling cold at night although the temperature is the same as Finnish summer!! Good times!
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