Monday, August 20, 2007
Shisha in Istanbul - reservations worldwide
Salam!!
The day started with joining the WENA GN in their Morning Plenary. Every country presented its suggestion for a new WENA Role Call/shout.
Skipped the Good Case Practice and said good morning to the MENA countries that are working on several issues related to their realities. After lunch AIESEC University starts with topics around the “I am an AIESECer” campaign. And then the day will close with a session for extension countries (= delegates from the target countries) how to present on the IC.
Yesterday evening Kathrin and I joined some MENA delegates for a shisha in a bar near the campus. Besides a very good melon-banana taste I had talks with the MENA GN ER manager Monaem from Tunisia. He is very excited about our extension efforts (like everyone as usual) and even understands why AIESEC should expand to Palestine and Israel now and at the same time.
I had a long talk/discussion with Dafar from the Tunisian MC who is very skeptical about Palestine in general. He supports the country but does not see the relevance of going their now since there are so many countries left AIESEC is not present yet. Therefore in his opinion AIESEC should expand to countries like Syria, Libya, Yemen, or Saudi-Arabia first before tackling Palestine (and Israel). The Israel issue is still a big one. Member countries will face huge disadvantages and may even be closed down – no new conclusions but relevant for our research. To avoid this we need the support of the MENA MCs. Their task has to be to communicate what we are trying to do so we can get valid answers to the questions if and how AIESEC in Palestine and Israel would influence the network. Therefore we will have many meetings with the MENA countries.
More infos coming soon – hope Berlin is alright. :)
PS: You can find the Yeditepe University in Google Earth (40°58'19.32"N, 29° 9'13.44"O) or just look for it. :)
