LEAP - AIESEC Research Initiative to Palestine 2006-2008

We bow out...

2008-03-15T12:49:00.004+01:00

Dear interested people!

We bow out. The LEAP-Team of AIESEC in Berlin will not continue its extension efforts to Palestine.

Our team gathered in Berlin, anciously waiting for the decision of the IPM last Tuesday night. At around 12:30am we heard from our OCP Kevin that the global plenary did not vote in favor of Germany's motion to raise the status of the Research Group AIESEC Palestine to Expanding Country.

We would like to thank every one of you who supported us. We are grateful, for buying our t-shirts, donating money or simply raising awareness of the extension initiatives and the Middle East conflict.

Most likely, the extensions to Israel and Palestine will continue very slowly, but we will never forget the unique team experience here in Berlin, the wonderful summer of 2007 with Anas and Rawan in Berlin and our motivated Palestinians.

For the moment, we could not keep our promise to bring an exchange opportunity to the Middle East and give the students there the experience most of us have made. Hopefully there will be other possibilities for the students to develop, maybe there will be possibilities for them that AIESEC couldn't even offer in the first place.

In the end it took courage to ask for a definate decision, yes or no, that's what we asked for. We expected as much courage from the international AIESEC community as AIESEC Germany has given us over the past two years. It seems AIESEC wasn't ready to take a brave stand, as they have taken in South Africa, China, or Afghanistan . A true look at the enriching aspects that Israel and Palestine would have brought to the community was discouraged.
It is so disappointing: AIESEC made the most political decision it could.

Thank you once again, we bow out.
The LEAP-Team!

PS: It is over when it's over - we currently evaluate alternative opportunities to make student and intern exchange with Palestine happen. So stay tuned for further information... ;)

Result

2008-03-04T16:51:00.003+01:00

Our motion for limited Expansion Activities was not carried. Only 13 out of 55 member countries supported our project.
If you have any questions please contact the German MC - Hajo and Nuno did an excellent job! - or us directly.

We have a motion text

2008-02-26T11:34:00.002+01:00

After collecting the concerns of the MENAs again we came to a text of the motion for the decision that will take place in the afternoon.
I am more positive now than I was the last days - I have the feeling that the Global Plenary will legislate further action, including working on-site.
I will inform you about the result this evening.
Cross your fingers... :)

Legislation approaches

2008-02-25T11:10:00.002+01:00

It becomes more and more serious - the Global Legislation approaches.
Yesterday Hajo and Nuno had worked on the wording for the motion. Until tomorrow the delegates have the chance to make amendments, so the motion and the mandate can still be changed.
If we are allowed to continue with the initiative we will likely not be allowed to have an official homepage. Therefore, this blog will be closed soon as well... However, I am positive that we will continue and Markus and Christin will be able to travel to Ramallah. It was clear before the IPM that we will have to make some reservations and compromise on some things as other countries and members will have to compromise.
Hear more about it Tuesday evening - the vote on our motion will be before dinner, thus around 6pm (German time). I'll keep you updated.

2 days to go...

2008-02-24T11:20:00.003+01:00

As soon as I had arrived yesterday I was thrown into the usual discussions and felt as there had been no time gap since the International Congress (IC) in Turkey last August.
Hajo and Nuno, our current and elected MCP, are doing a great job; I feel like they know much better what the situation is like. Especially Nuno surprises me with his knowledge about the process and deep understanding of the MENA concerns.
Therefore, we think about a process that will allow us to officially expand while at the same time we regard the registration process in the Gulf member countries. Other options - that can be combined - are not to call the regions with its country names but to use different names, e.g. instead of Israel it could be Galilee and West Bank instead of Palestine.

We will see - I hope everything will work out fine. And more important, I would like to get a definite decision on the further process.

Oh, yesterday evening the first Official Dinner took place, celebrating the 60th anniversary. Therefore, Nuno, Hajo and I dressed up. :)

Same procedure as last year... Kevin at the IPM

2008-02-23T12:17:00.004+01:00

Almost exactly one year ago I arrived at Egypt for AIESEC's IPM (International Presidents Meeting) 2007. Currently, I am sitting in Vienna and waiting for my connection flight to Skopje from where I am going to travel to Ohrid to the IPM 2008.

As well as last year my mission is - again - to persuade the current MCPs (Member Committee Presidents) to vote for further AIESEC activities in Palestine, more precisely for the motion that Palestine will become Official Extension. Having the status of an Official Extension we will finally be able to start with the Exchange Program and send the first Palestinian interns abroad to get to know to other cultures and broaden their horizons.

On Tuesday afternoon the Global Legislation will begin. As last year's legislation took around 10 hours, I expect it will again take more time than estimated. However, if the same proportion of the MCPs' votes will support Palestine (and the linked project of building up AIESEC in Israel), it does not matter if this decision will be taken at 6pm or 6am on the 27th.

I will keep you updated about my mission and hopefully awesome journey to Macedonia. Cross your fingers - and read about a hopefully successful decision on Tuesday.

Map of Palestine

2007-12-19T14:29:00.000+01:00

Hey!

I am back in Berlin after an exciting time and a beautiful trip to Jordan.
I finally found a map that I like:

Ever had a company meeting in a car?

2007-12-04T09:16:00.000+01:00

Well, I did, yesterday. While I was working on the feasibility study in one of the computer pools at Birzeit University, I got a call. For the first time I had forgotten a company meeting and it was an important one with the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

Thanks to the Palestinian flexibility the contact accepted to wait 20 more minutes (he had called me 10 min after the time of the meeting) until I could get to him by taxi. He was already waiting in his car and we went to his office close to the wall and Jerusalem. Coming closer to Qalandya there was a big traffic jam. First we thought it might be an accident. But no, the checkpoints around Ramallah had been closed. (One of the stories I heard about that was that there had been a shooting at the checkpoint the day before and a kid got injured or killed, so the security alert went up.)

So we waited a bit in the car and talked about AIESEC, our extension project, how we could cooperate and then went on to more private talks. Finally he took me back to Ramallah via the Qalandya camp. That looks much different than Ramallah and more like the Palestine we are used to watch in TV. Small, not very beautiful houses and huts standing very close to each other, no trees, small roads, some without tar and kids playing.

After he had brought me to Al Manara he tried to find a way to his office. Sometimes there are smaller, longer roads to get to your destination. I heard that the checkpoints were opened again in the evening.

University Update

2007-12-04T09:07:00.000+01:00

After the fights the unversity remained closed for two days. The student leaders of Fateh and PFLP, together with another student, are dismissed from University for a certain time. Furthermore, most student members of PFLP got arrested (Fateh is the ruling party). And to really demonstrate, that the conflict is solved, two tables in the cafeteria, that were known to "belong" to the PFLP, were removed from the cafeteria. Well, if that is not some masterpiece of conflict solution...

The university indeed was famous in former times! Due to security concerns and travel restrictions less foreign students and, more important and damaging, less foreign professors find their way to Birzeit. Which has led to a slow decrease in the university's fame.

Back from Hebron

2007-11-25T18:36:00.000+01:00

Hey!

I just returned from a trip to Hebron, where Abraham is buried. Partly due to his grave it is the second holiest site for Muslims and Jews after Jerusalem. That is the "reason" why there are several settlements IN and around the city.

Some of you migh have heard or read about the trouble in the old city, where 20000 Palestinians and 500 settlers live. The Israely army protects the settlers and sometimes even the Palestinians against the settlers.
Since 1997 a team of internatinal observers (http://www.tiph.org/, invited by Israel and Palestine) is present to monitor the situation and violations of human rights. Some streets in the old city have a fence above them to protect the pedestrians from garbage and stones being thrown at them by the settlers occupying some of the houses. And that although Hebron seems to belong to one of the A zones in the Westbank, which are supposed to be completely under Palestinian authority. Due to the special situation there an agreement exists that puts the city under Israeli jurisdiction. (This sounds so confusing that I am not sure if I understood it correctly)

Freedom of movement: After two security controls I visited the mosque, then went back, passed through two other controls and went to the synagogue. Both are in the same building, but unreachable for the other religion. It is so silly that I have more freedom of movement than the local people here.

On the way back we were in a large traffic jam for half an hour. Coming closer to the big checkpoint to Jerusalem, Qalandya, we heard that the checkpoint is closed. The checkpoints to Israel were closed from 11 am on. This is done in case of warnings of an attack, suicide bombing.
So I was dropped and more or less followed others who were on the way to Ramallah, passing under a fence down a slope and into a street, where already some taxis were waiting to take us to the Palestinian side of Qalandya. There we took another taxi to Ramallah. Kind of a normal day in Palestine...

Honor and tribal law

2007-11-24T19:37:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to the movie theatre with some friends. We saw a documentary about honor killings in Palestine.
A pregnant woman was stabbed several times by her brother. She survived. He is very ashamed of what he did, he was under extreme pressure, as some friends and other told him to act as a man and to reinstate the family honor.
In the village of Taybeh (where the very tasty beer with the same name is produced) a pregnant woman was forced by her own family to take an agricultural pesticide, she died and with her the fetus (8th month). Six flats of the suspected father and of his family were burnt. Although DNA proved his innocence, he was kept at a police station for six months, as the police could not guarantee his safety.
With a hidden camera the tribal court was filmed. Representatives from both sides spoke to settle the matter.
Another tribal judge was shown, talking about the punishment of violation/rape: Pushing a woman to the ground will cost 100000 Jordanian Dinar, taking off her veil another 100000 JD, taking off her shoes another 100000 JD and so on.
Women were interviewed who got beaten up by their husbands, stabbed or beaten with an iron rod.
A girl told about watching a woman being beaten to death by her husband on the street.
And an old woman said that women should not fail their family by being unfaithful and that the family has to protect its honor.

Someone told me that the tribal law became stronger during the civil war among Palestinians (Hamas and Fateh), as the Police was not able/willing to enforce the civil law.

University struggle continues

2007-11-20T17:01:00.000+01:00

Yesterday a Fateh student member got attacked at home by the PFLP with knives and hot coal, he is treated in hospital.
Today, Fateh stroke back. A huge mass of its members, supposedly 500 to 1000 people, stormed the cafeteria and beat up known PFLP members or people wearing a red Kefiyeh. They also went into classes and started to destroy furniture. Seven people got injured. The university administration shut down the campus, it will most likely stay closed tomorrow.
It is a minority, but a loud one...

And do not worry, I was not there. Instead Rawan and I had three very good meetings with the Bank of Palestine, the Banks Assocation and PITA!

Maps of Westbank

2007-11-20T16:33:00.001+01:00

The first map is from the BBC, the second from Peace Now. The link provides a newer map, but I cannot upload pdf-Files here.
http://www.btselem.org/Download/Settlements_Map_Eng.pdf

Birzeit University

2007-11-19T14:49:00.001+01:00

A private university, where all students get stipends for about 90 % of the tuition. Therefore, competition is high and the university is said to be famous for its quality within the region and supposed to be the second best after the Arab-American University in Jenin (thanks, Kevin!), not accounting for Israeli universities... One company and also some students say, that its fame is based on good old times. Now, most students do not seem to be that motivated or eager to learn. Even some teachers are just happy to have a good job and are not that serious about passing on knowledge.

The campus is nice with individual buildings for each faculty and streets with plants and some trees.
What I miss are places to sit down and to work together. The cafeteria is too noisy, lecture halls mostly in use, silent study rooms rare and used for that purpose, and the university closes at 5pm, most people leave at 4. Studying seems to take place mostly at home.
There is a sports court close to the engineering building and often some guys are playing football or basketball.

The campus is informally divided: Areas for the different parties or people ideologically close to them, for hip/rich people, for alternative ones. All have their favorite places to sit, chat and meet and present themselves. Birzeit to a certain extend is the liberal haven of Westbank. Everybody has a certain freedom, couples can meet and you see people with and without hijab (scarf, mantle). On the other hand, gossip seems to be even more famous here than in Berlin and you can listen to the wildest rumors about everybody and everything. Especially about politics, Israel and the holocaust.

At the entrance to the campus guards sometimes ask students for their university IDs. It is common that other people visit their friends or look for a suitable wife.

So far the university with the noisiest cafeteria ever! The architects for sure have looked at all materials and structures that can reduce noise and consequently removed all of them. At least it has a non smoking area, where only half of the people at the tables are smoking. Very nice are the blue shining lamps to catch flies and other insects, probably extremely useful during the summer.

AIESEC Work: The Students

2007-11-19T14:44:00.000+01:00

In front of the Engineering Building is the typical hangout for most students and therefore the usual meeting point for me to work and chat with the students.
Officially, twelve students are on the AIESEC list here. Some more still get the emails and will perhaps join in March again, when they are more able to combine AIESEC and university life. Most active are the students from the Business faculty. Partly, because they are active anyway, working with the Right to Education campaign of the university or elsewhere; partly, because their subjects are less demanding than those of the engineers.

The main challenges with the team are time constraints: The university is only open until 5pm. During the winter most female members of the team have to be home at five, as it is getting dark then. Furthermore, each semester the students have first, second and third exams, which basically means that there is always somebody who has an exam coming up! Well, they are preparing one or two days in advance for these exams, so it does not seem to be that demanding. But still, it affects the time for meetings and workshops and it is more or less impossible to have everybody present.

So far we had workshops about Project management, Marketing/Selling AIESEC, Time- and Self management and Team- and Conflict management. I did not want to repeat an introduction to AIESEC, as most of the team have had this once or twice. But during the workshops I have to include time for more basic information about AIESEC.
Officially, the workshops are from 9am to 4 or 5pm. In reality we start between 9.30 and 10 o’clock. Sometimes one or two people appear at 11. It is also common that some leave earlier, because they have to work. And generally I plan each session with more time than in Germany.

The students really enjoy interactive work and creativity tasks like expressing things through painting or acting. Teambuilding exercises to wake everybody up or to serve there name are also welcome and a development in the team is noticeable! Not only during the workshop, but also during the coffee breaks, when more personal issues are discussed and more talks and laughters come up in general. Still, we are heavily in the Storming Phase, where personal relations are developed, team- and communication structures and procedures are established and modified and a lot of things are discussed and disagreed on.

In between the lectures I meet with some members of the team to prepare and make phone calls to companies, to talk about the team, to discuss the agenda for the week or the next meeting, talk about AIESEC in general and my experience, about project ideas and to have lunch.

Campus Fight Club Update

2007-11-19T14:43:00.000+01:00

From what I heard, the PFLP people said during their rally, that the leader of the Fateh student is a donkey/ass. Hearing that, the Fateh students got angry and the fight started.
Yesterday, while we were finishing our workshop about team- and conflict management, the university teachers had a meeting at the Center for Continuous Education to discuss the situation.

I was told that there have been worse fights in the past years. Bigger and more violent: Shootings on the campus, one time a pregnant student lost her baby due to fights. Even today you can see some students carrying guns under the shirt, although officially weapons are not allowed on campus.

Ramallah

2007-11-17T13:46:00.000+01:00

The city, where you can smoke in a shared taxi without even asking, where people keep their houses clean and throw away trash while walking through the city, wher you can find guys-only shisha bars or a nightclub, where you can see donkey carts and a mercedes in the same street, where on a clear day you can see Tel Aviv but not go there with a local ID, where everybody has one or more watertanks on their roofs in case of water shortage or cut supplies by the Israelis (sometimes they shoot holes into the tanks), where Condi Rize seems to have her second home, where you can eat wonderful sweets like Knafe and Baklava, where you can meet loads of internationals working for even more NGOs.

A glimpse into the political microcosm at Birzeit University

2007-11-17T13:27:00.000+01:00

Merhaba!

While talking to Amira and Jumana outside the engineering building, a fight between the student groups of the PFLP (Poular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, left wing, wearing the red Jordanian kefiyeh) and the Fateh (Arafat, ruling party in the Westbank, wearing the black-and-white kefiyeh) broke out. The PFLP was helding a rally. They said "bad things about the Fateh which were not true and which made the Fateh students very angry".
Because of that you could see students having there belts wrapped around a hand to use it for the fight and some people even took planks into the crowd. Even the Dean of Student Affairs could not pacify the guys at once. After about 20 minutes the visual violence stopped, but discussions are still going on...

Visiting Jenin

2007-11-16T21:22:00.000+01:00

Last sunday we went to Jenin. We, that is Markus, Sebastian and Simon from Germany with David from the US and I.
After having delicious tea and cookies at the house of Bassam and his wife, he gave us a great tour through the refugee camp and the city. The military is active in the refugee camp nearly every night. We could see it in the news during the second intifada, when the military demolished some of the houses there, sometimes with the inhabitants inside.
We visited a partner of the Hans-Seidel-Foundation (Bassam is its director in Palestine), a hospital for disabled children in the refugee camp. It was impressive to see where and how they work. A lot of children are injured and/or traumatised through the fighting.
The sculpture of the horse is made of parts from an ambulance. It was shot at during the second intifada while trying to rescue injured people. It caught fire, but nobody was allowed to help.
The second partner of the foundation is a NGO that does workshops with children about conflict solutions, how to deal with agressions and about creativity. Furthermore they organise summer camps for the kids.
We then had a walk through the old and the new city, interrupted by coffee breaks at two shops of Bassams family and friends, very nice and Sebastian was close to becoming engaged!
Jenin is a much more conservative place than Ramallah. Bars that serve beer would be destroyed the same day.
I also added some photos of the IT training center built by the Hans-Seidel-Foundation, it was partly destroyed by a rocket in 2005.

Independence Day

2007-11-15T12:35:00.000+01:00

The running gag of the day: Celebrating the Palestinian Independence Day.
With water and electricity provided by Israel (no fountains may be digged without Israeli permission), checkpoints and Jews-only roads inside Westbank, no border autonomy, many illegal settlements occupying Palestinian land inside Westbank (which according to Peace Now grew around 8% last year allone), this "country" is all but independent. And the people nows it, of course, it is felt every day. Therefore, it is less a day of celebration, but more a day of motivation to go on with the struggle and to stay, although the situation does not seem to improve. And leave allone any kind of resistance against the Big Brother, the political fractions here are very good in weakening each other, as could be seen three days ago with the killings in Gaza.

AIESEC Work: Building the network

2007-11-14T12:16:00.000+01:00

What about the real goal of the trip: Concluding the feasibility study and working with the team here?
Well, my work consists of meetings with the students, giving workshop, calling companies and NGOs and then preparing and meeting them (only one call was unsuccessful), preparing and sending proposals, communicating with the team in Berlin, thinking about and discussing project ideas and working on the team dynamics.

AIESEC Palestine is likely to happen, the companies like us very much and there are some very motivated students (among some less motivated ones). The external variable, politics, is the one I am concerned about. Will the political situation allow us to have a sustainable and fruitful project?

A normal day with AIESEC begins with either going to the university to meet the students and to call companies with them or to dress up and to go to a company visit.
Company meetings normaly last around 40 minutes, we meet the General Managers or the Head of the PR department. Mostly there is hardly any smalltalk at the beginning, but more straight to the point: Who are you, what can we do for you? We then introduce AIESEC and the extension project and explain what AIESEC does in general: International student exchange and personal development for our members, as well as skill trainings. It often takes a while to explain the idea of internships in a foreign country and internship in general, as it is a new idea to most companies. They love the concept of skill trainings and practical experience directly, as they see a lack of this in their new recruits.
Normally, we then talk a bit about the company and what they do to discover other opportunities for cooperation or we introduce the latter directly. In between, the secretary comes in and aks if we would like to drink something, tea or arabic coffee.

I sometimes connect the concept of traineeships with my personal experience in Cameroon. Furthemore it is quite a strong argument for cultural exchange if I tell them about the reactions of my family and friends before coming to Palestine and their and my perception of the occupation now.

As we are not yet an official extension, the meetings end with the common will to work together. But we do not define traineeship positions, everybody is urgently looking forward to March, when we hopefully will finally be able to start with the exchange programme. So, the follow up of the meetings consists of feedback among the participants, documentation and sending a proposal to the company so that they get some written information about AIESEC.

Olive Harvest

2007-11-14T12:03:00.000+01:00

Once a year around October it is time for the olive harvest. The quantity and quality of the harvest is said to alternate every year from poor to good. Many families have their own trees, sometimes more for cultural reasons, sometimes as a secondary business.
Interrupted by many breaks to drink tea and coffee, the method of harvesting remains unchanged for millenia: Blankets are spread under the trees and people start to pick the olives manually from the twigs. The kids climb up the tree and ladders are used to reach the furthest branches. When no more olives are visible, the sheets are used as bags for the olives and carried to the place for sorting: Either eating or oil production. Most farmers do not have an own press, but sell their olives to a local producer.
From my own experience I can tell you that it is fun for one day, although quite dusty and tiresome because of the sun. It is also a kind of family reunion, as everybody comes home to the village to help! Farmers also use to go to the universities to ask for volunteers. Some students who do not have to help their families volunteer as they get credit hours from the university.
And of course, politics also interferes: Some trees are very close to settlements and then there are often fights and even shootings, as the settlers try to disturb the harvest.

Bethlehem

2007-10-18T15:11:00.001+02:00

The first real team acitivity: A trip to Bethlehem!

With nine people we had a real fun ride to our destination, with loud dubka music, the guys singing and clapping, as well as the girls, and a broadly grinning driver who was visibly enjoying the energy of his customers. We made a small stop at the campus of Al Quds University, where I also got an impression of the Wall. A second stop was at a point where you can see the Dome of the Rock and everybody took pictures, as the Palestinians under 45 years are not allowed to go to this third holiest place for muslims.

In Bethlehem we were joined by two more members of the team who live there.

We went to the Church of Nativity, where we could see the place were Jesus was born and were he slept. A guide also showed us a krypt where one can see the supposed remains of the children Herodes had killed after receiving the prophecy of a new born king.

After visiting a mosque and a short walk through the old city everybody was tired from the hot day and we went to a nice restaurant, were we stayed for over three ours to enjoy the very good food and to wait for the service to take us home. As the girls were late to arrive home, they had the good excuse that we had to wait at a checkpoint...

Hiking Trip

2007-10-18T15:11:00.000+02:00

Five hours of hiking through the mountains around Ramallah was a great activity last sunday. With a group of Palestinians and Foreigners we started at 5.30 am and took a service to get to our starting point. When we started walking, we could watch the sun rising.

The harshness of the land with hardly any trees and not much green in general has a certain beauty! Furthermore, I was very happy to get some exercise. Although that was stopped quickly for a long breakfast, everybody had brought something to share with the others. While we were eating among olive trees, the farmer was harvesting. Then we went on and were challenged by a step and long descent. The views were marvelous!

As I am in Palestine, politics can never be evaded. The trip was awesome and there was some kind of peacefulness, being away from the city and its noises. But instead of reaching the starting point in ten minutes via the direct road, we had to pass by some villages, because the main road is open to Jewish only and secured by several checkpoints. During the hike, we could see two settlements and the new extension of one. These settlements or not only illeagel in international law, the land they use is never even bought. Furthermore, our second break on some beautiful rocks was acompanied by the soft humming of war planes invisible to us in the sky.

I was amazed, that although the land looks rather dry, most of the hills show terraces, built by farmers. Some are not farmed, but probably have been used for centuries or even millenia by the peoples in the holy land and the variuos rulers of the region.

Ramallah Nights

2007-10-08T15:11:00.000+02:00

During Ramadan, you start the evening with the fotor/breakfast with your family or friends. That is the best time of the day, if you want to have a walk in really empty streets or to withdraw money from the ATM without standing in a line.
After eating a huge amount and chatting a lot with your guys, people start filling up the street, the shops open again (after the owners have eaten, too) and men go to their favorite coffee bar to meet with other friends, smoke argela/shisha and play cards. Often, the TV is running with a very famous sirian telenovela about palestinian live fifty years ago. The guys watch it and get quite excited when there are Bud Spencer-style fights.
Guys? What about the girls? Well, traditionally they stay at home. Some meet in places like icecream bars, where both sexes are accepted. And, of course, there are the places for international palestinians and the expatriate community of consultants and volunteers. You can find drinks from many places, establish a lot of private and business contacts and sometimes there are life concerts. Or you are surprised to find the place full of french people watching a rugby match againt New Zealand!
That night we could hear some shots in the streets. People started phoning other people to get information. Supposedly, people from a refugee camp in Ramallah shot at the palestinian police. That led to three israeli jeeps patroling through nightly Ramallah. It also led us to stay a bit longer in the bar and take a taxi home instead of walking.
Tonight (monday) is the holiest night during Ramadan, it is the Al-Kadar night/destiny/night, when the prophet Mohammad received parts of the Quran for the first time (correct me, if am wrong here). So, many people try to get to Jerusalem to pray in the Al Aksa mosque, imagine the long lines at the checkpoint... Normally, only arab men older than 45 years and of course isreali Arabs are allowed to enter Jerusalem.

Salam from Ramallah

Ramadan

2007-10-04T19:04:00.000+02:00

It is this bang of a cannon that really starts the day. It is the signal for sunset (around 5.35 pm), the muezin starts calling and people are finally allowed to start fotor, the breakfast, as it is the first meal of the day during Ramadan. During the day: No food, no drinks, no zigarette, no sex. Nothing is allowed to touch the lips.
So around 4 pm everybody gets hectic to prepare for the great occasion of the evening breakfast, doing the last shopping, rushing home to start eating on time. Those who missed the sohor, the night meal at 3 or 4 am are especially eager to reach home...
Yesterday, after the first team meeting with the students of Birzeit university we went to a public fotor at the university, sponsored by the mobile phone company Jawwal. Just imagine around 1 to 2000 very hungry students pressing to get into the cafeteria! There was an extra entrance for females, to prevend any trouble. Everybody grabbed an aloy package (or two if possible) and fought for a seat. Then the excited waiting for the signal to start. Around 25 min later the first zigarettes are lit and after pressing in, people now were pressing out of the cafeteria. Because Jawwal also had a kind of tombola and the main item was a laptop! So most of the team spent some time outside, listening to the questions to win something, chatting and talking some funny pictures (which I will ad later).
So, thats it for the moment from the researcher for AIESEC in Palestine. It is my 6th day here in Ramallah.
Salam, Fabian

Coming to an end

2007-08-28T13:17:00.001+02:00

I am sorry for not posting any news about what is going on here in Istanbul. The last days were less interesting than before.
We had sessions about AIESEC history.
It was organized like a talk show. Alumni sitting in the front, talking about their time in AIESEC. Later the former PAIs Dey and Pedro as well as AI Director Arthur told about their experience. It was nice to see this and definitely better than last year when 10 former PAIs were called on the phone from inside the plenary. But the sessions were long and people became tired.
The Learning Network Day yesterday was disappointing. The level of the sessions held by companies' and NGOs' representatives were relatively low, compared to the expectations I had. Thus I skipped the afternoon part and had a long talk about extending to the Middle East with a former AIESECer now working for Microsoft. I still have to assemble my thoughts about this talk...
Today started the last part of the conference which is about Go (Ready - Stead - Go). The different GNs presented themselves to each other so the countries might know better where to focus on. In my opinion that is more a topic for the beginning of the conference when people don't know each other yet.
Now it continues with the partner workshops. The partners organize workshops about topics or case studies they would like us to work on. We will see how it will be like. in the evening legislation will take place - this night we will know if the Iran initiative with Jonas from Cologne can continue their efforts. And then tomorrow the Official Dinner will be organized near a Bospurus bridge - and I will leave.
See you soon in Berlin :)

AIESEC University

2007-08-25T16:11:00.000+02:00

Today started very relaxed since we had a sleep-in. After the DHL presentation in the Morning Plenary the functional tracks started where the MCPs met with each other and all VPs with their colleagues as well. Kathrin and I had a free morning and sat down with Lara (MCP Germany last year) to chat about general stuff.
After lunch several sessions around the Global Focus Areas started. Before the IC I had signed in for tracks about Finance for Non-finance (#1), Finance Management Generating Revenue (#2) and Effective induction & Taking Responsibility (#3). Honestly I quit during the 2nd session since it was not at all interesting. Instead of this I decided to update this blog. Now the third round just started but I will relax and just sit here...
This evening legislation fair #2 will take place. The legislation itself will be on Tuesday, therefore the MCPs have the chance to inform themselves about the motions to be passed. Kathrin and I will probably be there as well and present an update about the current state of the Research Groups. I already look forward to continue with our work after the IC, e.g. of course the next steps until the IPM in Macedonia in February 2008 and planning the next year as hopefully being MC...

DLD - WHAT??

2007-08-25T15:37:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was DLD (Developing Leaders Day) that was very exciting - at least for me. What was this about?
At every IC Cadbury Schweppes and ABN AMRO - big global AIESEC partners - organize a whole day about leadership skills. Most of the time this means that especially their own facilitators learn a lot through these kind of days since they have to prepare everything and don't know exactly what to expect from the AIESEC delegates. Thus the content is well known for at least the German delegates, e.g. the Belvin test or the simulation about landing on the moon. Our group (group 10;)) had very good facis, Alexey from Russia (calm, but experienced in leading teams) and Adrian from Canada (very energetic) who had been MCP canada for two years and is now active in the Africa & Middle East resort of Cadbury Schweppes so he got my business card; maybe he has some contacts he can share with us...
Even though I had heard about the content of "forming-storming-norming-performing" before it was very interesting since I didn't know that many of these simulations; or maybe it was because of the coffee I had.
One of the simulations was about constructing a statue or column for the Zin. Our group of around 36 was split into 6 smaller groups and each member of the groups got different cards we were not allowed to show to the others. All cards contained information about the Zin. The task was to find out the name of the day this statue was completed. We were very fast and were first in finding out the right answer. At the end we received a sheet with all the information and how to get to the right answer. Surprisingly "our" Zin was completed after 2 days, but the sheet said after 6 days. So obviously the information was passed incorrectly since the Zin had a width of about 50m while we had thought it was 15m. And then there must have been a second fault in collecting the information - at the end we told our facis the right name but were absolutely wrong in the way to get there. But we had a good time, had been finished 5-6 minutes earlier then the second group and were very thrilled.
After a nice day with a very energetic group the DLD was followed by a speech of a Cadbury Schweppes manager responsible for the Central East Europe region. The day closed with the Turkish Night. Around the party area several booths and tables informed us about Turkey and served free food; Turkish dances gave us an impression of Turkish culture. (Frankly, the Egyptian Night at the IPM and the Polish Night last IC were much better.)
This was yesterday, a very energetic day.

First day of IC

2007-08-23T08:59:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the conference finally started with the first sessions. The day was focussed at “Achievement”. After watching the Electrolux presentation we started with a nice game that we shall definitely use for the introduction of the next generation of AIESECers. Talking about what achievement meant for us personally the delegates discussed what we would like to achieve and how we see our role in AIESEC.

The agenda continued with talks about how we see our own generation (generation Y) compared to former generations like that after the war and “baby boomers”. Gabitza then gave us a long plenary session about the AIESEC way, so about vision, values, the impact we will have and other elements like English as the sole official language. The proactive part was about comparing different organizations and which would be needed most. Cadbury Schweppes closed the plenary before we went out to dinner. Rob, the WENA GN director, presented us in a very basic way how to measure AIESEC’s success; the soccer team of Manchester United functioned as an example.

Since it was the first day it was easy to follow – mainly because it was very basic and easy. J

The interesting part took place in the evening. Hajo, Nadine, Kathrin, Jonas (who visits the conference), Neda and I had a meeting with the MENA MCPs and Tamer (GN director). It was the best meeting since last year that we had with the MENA countries about the extensions Germany would like to start.

Jonas and Neda talked about the current state in Iran; they will apply for Official Extension during this IC. A lot of questions followed their introduction. Kathrin was next in giving an update about the Ofek team and their journey they had at the end of July. I closed with an update about Palestine. The questions that were asked were mainly about which other students’ organization exist, how visa and NGO regulations look like as well as the economic situation. Especially the last one is very important since MENA is afraid that if we once will become official and full member we might have to close down in the future because of lack of support from the economy. Another important issue is the media approach. Being afraid the extension could somehow be misunderstood we are asked not to publish anything, even not as part of general information about our LC.

After that long day I went directly to bed. J

More information about the conference I will give you later; right now I am sitting in the morning plenary and try to wake up. So sorry for a more boring report of yesterday…

All the best from Istanbul

IC is officially opened

2007-08-21T23:37:00.000+02:00

The IC 2007 in Istanbul is officially opened! - now step by step...
This morning started very early at 8:30h with Opening Plenary. Every country presented its role call in front of the all delegates - that took quite a while... The German role call (yes, I am part of the German delegation) was interrupted after ca. 40sec. and not like the others after 1min. Whatever, it was a nice but looong morning plenary, as expected.
Right after the plenary we were taken to the Global Village venue. It took place in the Feshane Convention Center. Much smaller than last year it was not that much of an atmosphere of a global village, but it was nice to see all the countries presenting themselves. And we had additional guests from Germany as well. Not only the You Can-delegates joined us but Tielko and Miri from Berlin visited the German table, too (we shared a table with France...).
The Global Village lasted until the early evening so we traveled directly to the venue of the Official Opening, near the Fenerbace soccer stadium. Good and average speeches were held by a young representative of HP, the mayor of Istanbul, the speaker of the BoA, and of course by Gabitza (PAI), the CCP and the MCP Turkey. In-between was a show of Fire of Anatolia, a dancing group that was dancing very fast and was nice to watch.
Since the whole day we only got the food from the global village and small, soft and dry subs without any water I am quite exhausted now (okay, it's late as well...)
Tomorrow the IC starts with the sessions - I will tell you more about it when it is over since I don't have any clue what the sessions in detail will be about. Good night :)

PS: Neda (middle) arrived today. She will represent Iran during the IC since Iran will apply for Official Extension!

HP Café

2007-08-20T16:38:00.000+02:00

Right before lunch all delegates were invited to visit the HP Café. HP provides the conference with an own internet café - so the people who did not bring a laptop can go there for their connection to the world...
The afternoon was quite nice since the MENA pre-meeting was not about figures and numbers and measurements of the countries but something very basically. Aras and Bettsy from AI presented the XP circle again and explained in a very detailed way how important every step is in terms of a proper induction and talent management (be careful, buzz words...).
Kathrin and I will attend the Extension group after dinner since they will get a session about how to present themselves as extension on the IC. This can be interesting for us as well. So I still have one hour to rest.

I uploaded some pictures you can find in flickr.

Shisha in Istanbul - reservations worldwide

2007-08-20T10:03:00.000+02:00

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. :)

IC 2007 - Kevin arrived & premeeting started

2007-08-19T17:00:00.000+02:00

Hey Palestine (and everybody)

yesterday evening I arrived in Istanbul. After a nice flight with Turkish Airlines (booked of course through www.shop-and-donate.de :)) I arrived at the Atatürk airport and got into chats with AIESECers who were waiting for being picked up and to be brought to the IC venue.

I arrived at the venue, actually the Yeditepe University (www.yeditepe.edu.tr), and met with the German delegation. It was a very warm evening, not only in terms of weather but in terms of seeing people I knew from former conferences.

After a warm and very humid night the premeeting started for me as well today. I said hello to our friends from MENA and took part in a WENA game. Kathrin and I went through our general plans we have for the Research Groups. So now I am attending the current state of the MENA countries concerning exchange numbers with the several programs Bridging the Gap and Asiana.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the premeetings, and then on Tuesday the International Congress itself will start. So far it is nice being here at the largest AIESEC conference again. :)

Klaus über die letzten Tage in Ramallah

2007-04-18T17:52:00.000+02:00

Die Reise ist seit ein paar Tagen zu Ende, alle vier sind wieder wohlbehalten in Deutschland angekommen. Hier nochmal ein Beitrag über die letzten Tage der Reise von Klaus.

Die vergangenen drei Tage sind wie im Fluge vergangen. Unsere Mission in den palästinensischen Gebieten geht heute am 6.4 zu Ende. Hätten wir uns nicht Notizen vom Erlebten gemacht, dann hätten wir das ein oder andere sicherlich schon wieder vergessen. Was ist alles passiert.

Am Dienstag hat sich das Team wieder mal aufgeteilt. Nicol und Klaus waren bei der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, um auf dem ersten Gespräch aufbauend konkretere Kooperationsmöglichkeiten nach dem Kennenlernen zu besprechen. Das Gespräch verlief gut und die KAS kann sich vorstellen in Zukunft für Ihre NGO-Partner qualifizierte Praktikanten über uns ins Land zu holen, um Ihre Projekte mit externem Know-how zu bereichern. Des Weiteren können wir Förderungsanträge stellen, wobei noch offen ist, ob diese dann auch erfolgreich sind. Die KAS arbeitet seit Jahren mit festen Partnern zusammen und alle zwei bis drei Jahre können Neue dazu kommen. Vielleicht schaffen wir es. Tobias und Kevin hatten derweil die Palestine Insurance und Egypt Arab Land Bank aufgesucht.

Im weiteren Verlauf des Dienstages stand ein Treffen mit dem Referenten für Kulturangelegenheiten, Herr Alexander Eberl, in der deutschen Vertretung auf dem Programm. Er hat sich ausführlich für uns Zeit genommen, um über den Stand des Projektes detailliert informiert zu werden. Dabei gab er uns wertvolle Informationen, u.a. ging es um die Erlangung eines offiziellen NGO-Status und stellte sich zukünftig als „Türöffner“ zur Verfügung. Er ist gespannt, wie wir mit unseren Aktivitäten vorankommen.

Der Dienstag lief dann gechillt aus. Es standen nur noch interne Teamaktivitäten auf dem Programm. Essen gehen in einem gediegenen Restaurant, dass vornehmlich von Diplomaten frequentiert wird, erschien uns als richtiger Ort, um Kevin zu verabschieden, der am Mittwoch nach Deutschland heimkehrte. Danach kehrten wir ins Hotel zurück, um Klaus’ Wasserpfeife aus Jenin anzurauchen, bevor wir auf Einladung des Hotelbuchhalters zum Championsleaguespiel Bayern gegen AC Milan ins Ali Baba Café fuhren. Das haben wir uns natürlich nicht entgehen lassen. Die Mehrheit der Anwesenden waren Barca-Fans; da die aber nicht spielten, wurde Milan unterstützt. Unsere Rivalität lief aber ganz freundschaftlich ab, und es war nur zu schön, dass die Bayern in der 91Min noch den Ausgleich schossen. So gab es keinen Gewinner und Verlierer an diesem Abend. Nicol hatte im Übrigen einen besonderen Auftritt im Café, sie war als einzige Frau dort und wird damit wohl auch in Zukunft zu den wenigen weiblichen Ausnahmen in den Cafés gehört haben. ;-)

Der Mittwoch stand wieder im Zeichen vieler Gespräche und der Abreise von unserem Kevin. Leider musste er uns aufgrund terminlicher Verpflichtung in der Heimat verlassen. Wir hatten eine großartige und lustige Zeit zusammen und hatten gut zusammengearbeitet. Kaum war Kevin am Morgen abgereist, ging es auch schon wieder los, allerdings nicht mit dem Feiern J. Kurzes Kennenlernen und Projektupdate bei der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Danach ging es für Nicol und Tobias zur Bank HSBC, mit der AIESEC ja bereits international kooperiert, und für Klaus zur Bank of Jordan. Dann ging es über Umwege zu Paltel, der palästinensischen Telekom, und zur Pedex, der Palestine Educational Exhibition. HSBC wirkte an einer Unterstützung interessiert, und auch bei der Bank of Jordan sowie der Paltel könnte einiges im Busch sein. Beide Firmen engagieren sich in den Sektoren Corporate Social Responsibility. Ausserdem ist Paltel überraschend stark im Ausland präsent und bedient Nischenmärkte, wie Algerien, Kenya und einige andere Staaten, in denen auch AIESEC teilweise präsent ist.

Auf der Pedex trafen wir eine alte Bekannte, die Vertreterin des DAAD Dr. Helga Baumgarten, mit der wir uns austauschten. Ansonsten haben wir uns angeregt mit weiteren Ausstellern wie Universitäten und Bildungsinstituten unterhalten, die sehr neugierig waren. Der Messen-Manager kam auf uns sogar persönlich zu und lud uns bereits für das kommende Jahr ein. Der Tag war ziemlich anstrengend und wir waren froh als wir wieder im Hotel waren. Kaum hatten wir uns in der Hotellobby breit gemacht und uns etwas ausruht, klingelte noch mal das Telefon und ein führender Manager von Ernst & Young wollte uns nochmals treffen. Tobias und Klaus sind dann noch mal los. Es war ein sehr herausforderndes Gespräch, da er unheimlich fokussiert und fordernd auftrat. Das Gespräch verlief ganz anders als die anderen und wir mussten sehr flexibel reagieren, aber wir haben das ganz gut gemeistert. Die Politik sparte er nicht aus und musste dazu seine Meinung gegenüber Kanzlerin Merkel kundtun. Dabei meinte er, dass er Schröder gemocht habe, da er sich ablehnender gegenüber den Amerikanern aufgeführt hätte (Irak, …). Bzgl. Merkel fragte er tatsächlich, ob sie Jüdin sei, da sie sehr Israel und Amerika freundlich agiere. Daher habe er kein gutes Bild von ihr.

Im Übrigen haben wir während der Reise mehrmals diese Äußerungen von Palästinensern, wenn auch nicht immer in dieser Schärfe, gehört. Das war eine ziemliche Überraschung. Nichtsdestotrotz ist das Bild Deutschlands allgemein in der Region sehr gut und wir wurden immer und überall willkommen geheißen. Besonders auffällig war, dass nahezu ausschließlich Fahrzeuge von deutschen Herstellern in den Autonomiegebieten unterwegs sind, anders als in Israel.

Der Donnerstag war unser letzter inhaltlicher Tag in Ramallah. Nach guten Gesprächen mit der Palestinian Federation of Industries (PFI) und Dr. Munir Quazzaz von der Universität Birzeit haben wir noch mal einen letzten Workshop mit den Studenten durchgeführt und uns dabei von ihnen fürs Erste verabschiedet. Wir haben Grundlagen im Firmenkontakt vermittelt und einige Rollenspiele durchgeführt, um möglichst praxisnah mit den Studenten zu arbeiten. Letztere haben ihnen viel Spaß gemacht und waren teilweise eine komplett neue Erfahrung für sie. Zum Abschluss sind wir mit den Studenten dann noch mal gemeinsam Essen gegangen. Leider konnten Tobias und Klaus nicht beim Bier zuschlagen, da hatten nämlich zwei Studentinnen etwas gegen – kein Alkohol in ihrer Anwesenheit. Das ist längst nicht überall so, die meisten Muslime, die wir getroffen haben, stört es nicht. Wir konnten aber auch ohne ;-).

Wir sind in guter Hoffnung, dass wir nun mit der Basis an Studenten in die Zukunft starten können und weitere dazu kommen. Die Studenten sind sehr motiviert und können es kaum erwarten durchzustarten.

Der Freitag ist nun der Tag der Abreise. Wir verabschieden uns von unserer „neuen Familie“, dem hilfsbereiten Hotelpersonal und seinem Häuptling „Waf-Waf“, dem Hotelmanager. Wir fahren nach Jerusalem, um die letzten Tage hier in Palästina und Israel ein wenig als Touristen abzuspannen. Diesmal verlassen wir am Checkpoint den Bus und gehen zu Fuß durch die Kontrollen. Es ist sehr nervenaufreibend, da sich lange Schlangen bilden und alles andere als eine zügige Abfertigung erfolgt, wir warten lange. Es ist kaum vorstellbar, wie manche Leute das tagtäglich ertragen müssen. Immer wieder werden Leute abgewiesen, teilweise ohne jegliche Argumente. Wir haben es dann irgendwann geschafft und kommen im Jerusalem an. Die Stadt ist wahnsinnig überfüllt von Ostertouristen, was teilweise in den engen Gassen der Stadt zu kleineren Tumulten führt, die von der allgegenwärtigen Polizei und dem Militär auseinander getrieben werden. Wir suchen das Weite und machen einen Tagesausflug ins palästinensische Bethlehem, einem hübschen Flecken Erde. Es ist allerdings Freitag (muslimischer Feiertag) und daher wenig los, die meisten Geschäfte sind geschlossen. Wir treffen auf Laila (eine der interessierten Studenten), die uns zu sich nach Hause einlädt. Der Besuch ist einer der Höhepunkte der Reise. Wir lernen Ihre Familie kennen und reden diesmal nicht nur über Palästina, den Konflikt und Deutschland, sondern auch intensiv über die Religion. Wir sind beeindruckt, welch intensive Kenntnisse Lailas Vater vom Christentum hat. Er hat sich in der Vergangenheit intensiv mit der Bibel auseinandergesetzt. Welcher Christ kann das schon über den Koran behaupten? Es ist eine gläubisch muslimische Familie – das sagen sie über sich – jedoch trägt Laila kein Kopftuch, ihr jüngerer Bruder hat sich umbenannt von Ahmad zu Adam, hört Trance Musik und der Vater sagt, jeder soll auf seine Weise an Gott glauben, egal ob Islam, Christentum, …, nur wichtig ist, dass der Mensch an Gott glaubt. Wir hatten eine großartige Zeit in den palästinensischen Gebieten und haben uns immer wohl gefühlt.

"LEAP" to Jenin

2007-04-03T18:32:00.000+02:00

Montag stand ganz im Zeichen unseres Besuchs in Jenin. Organisiert von Dr. Bassam Disi von der Hans-Seidel-Stiftung, die ihren Sitz in Jenin hat und den Klaus und Kevin am Mittwoch zuvor in Ramallah getroffen hatten, nahmen wir alle vier am Montagmorgen um 9:00h ein bestelltes Taxi in den Norden der Westbank.
Die Fahrt durch drei Checkpoints verlief soweit ereignislos. Bassam und seine Frau Manal, die beide jahrelang in Deutschland gewohnt, studiert und gelehrt hatten, empfingen uns in ihrem Haus in Jenin, das zugleich der Sitz der Stiftung in Palaestina ist (es existiert noch ein Buero in Ost-Jerusalem). Auf dem Programm stand neben dem persoenlichen Kennen-lernen der Stiftung und der Familie Disi sowie der einer Maedchenschule in Jenin und des Fluechtlingslagers v.a. der Besuch der Arab-American-Universitaet. Der Praesident der Universitaet, Dr. Adli, war von unserem Vortrag sehr angetan, das zukuenftige palaestinensische Komitee wird hier nicht auf taube Ohren stossen, wenn Erweiterungsabsichten innerhalb des Landes beabsichtigt sind.
Das Ende des Tages kroente ein kurzer Besuch im Fluechtlingslager. Gluecklicherweise ist die Situation fuer die Menschen nicht vergleichbar mit Townships in Suedafrika; nach einer israelischen Offensive vor einigen Jahren wurden viele Haeuser dank Hilfe aus Saudi-Arabien neu errichtet, so dass zumindest die Hauptstrasse der restlichen Stadt sehr aehnlich sieht. Doch Bassam verstand es sehr gut - v.a. anhand persoenlicher Erlebnisse -, uns eindringlich nicht nur die humanitaere Situation der Menschen, sondern auch die fast taeglich statt findenden Erniedrigungen durch Aktionen israelischer Soldaten zu schildern.
Die Rueckfahrt durch insgesamt fuenf Checkpoints - wahrscheinlich haben uns die dort diensthabenden Soldaten allesamt fuer verrueckt erklaert, nicht nur anhand unseres doch etwas ueberdrehten Verhaltens :), sondern auch weil sie einen ganz anderen Blickwinkel (den des Besatzers) einnehmen - verlief ebenfalls erfolgreich, nur einmal mussten wir aussteigen und in einer Reihe warten, bis die Soldaten ein Einsehen hatten und uns weiterfahren liessen. Gegen 23h erreichten wir unser Hotel.

Der Trip nach Jenin war sehr eindrucksvoll. Die Situation in Jenin ist sehr unterschiedlich zu der in Ramallah. Auch die Arbeit der Hans-Seidel-Stiftung (HSS), e-learning und e-governernment, also Ausbildung der Gesellschaft, ist mit unseren Zielen vereinbar. In welchem Ausmass sich die zukuenftige Kooperation zwischen AIESEC und HSS abspielen wird, wird sich beim naechsten Besuch zeigen. Zumindest werden wir nun die beiden in Deutschland lebenden Soehne von Bassam und Manal, Ahmad und Anas, zu AIESEC holen. :)

Workshop at Center of Continous Education

2007-04-03T18:19:00.000+02:00

Am Sonntag haben wir endlich unseren Workshop mit gut 15 Studenten absolvieren koennen. Von morgens 10h bis abends gegen 18:40h vermittelten Nicol und Klaus den Teilnehmern - alles sehr motivierte und teilweise sehr erfahrene Birzeit-Studenten - in einem Big Picture die Grundlagen von AIESEC.
Nach einem netten Get-to-know folgte ein mit Inhalt vollgepacktes Seminar ueber unsere Organisation. Lokale, nationale und internationale Strukturen sowie die Aufgaben der Teams rundeten den Tag ab. Zum Ende hin nahmen die Next Steps einen groesseren Teil ein als erwartet. Die Zukunft des Projekts war fuer die Studenten von grossem Interesse, betrifft es sie ja direkt. So erklaerte Kevin kurz die angestrebten Ziele und naechsten Schritte.
Um die neuen Mitglieder nicht wie beim letzten Mal im Juni 2006 in der Luft haengen zu lassen, hatte sich das Team eine Reihe von Aufgaben ausgedacht, die sich an den Aufgaben der Teams orientierten und nun an die Studenten verteilt wurden; bereits hier hatten die Newies Mitspracherecht und jeder waehlte zuvor seinen Aufgabenbereich aus. Dadurch erhoffen wir uns ein laengerfristiges Engagement in AIESEC; nebenbei bereiten die palaestinensischen AIESECer durch die Aufgaben den hoffentlich bald beginnenden CEED vor.

Waehrend Nicol und Klaus den Workshop leiteten, waren Tobias und Kevin auf Firmenbesuch bei Jawwal und konnten von dort sehr aussichtsreiche Infos mitbringen. Jawwal, groesster Mobildienstleister in Palaestina, zeigte grosses Interesse sowohl fuer unser Exchange-Programm wie auch fuer unsere verschiedenen Produkte (CSC, @XP, Workshops,...) - hier erwarten wir zukuenftig eine enge Kooperation.

Der Sonntag war somit sehr erfolgreich - Donnerstag treffen wir die Studenten wieder fuer einen zweiten inhaltlichen Workshop.

Palestine - starts to rock!!

2007-03-31T14:24:00.000+02:00

Nach einigen anspruchsvollen Gespraechen mit der Uni und politischen Stiftungen haben Klaus und Kevin etwas fuer ihren Holistic View getan und die Altstadt von Jerusalem besucht. In den kleinen Gaesschen und Treppen hat sich Kevin als guter Fuehrer fuer Klaus erwiesen.

Seit Freitagmorgen sind wir nun komplett; nach einigen Herausforderungen in Jerusalem sind auch die beiden letzten Teammitglieder, Nicol und Tobias, in Ramallah abgekommen. Einige Israelis scheinen von Ramallah noch nie etwas gehoert zu haben... - hier waere etwas Aufklaerung notwendig. :)
Gegen Mittag konnte sich das Team mit einem Vertreter der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Ramallah treffen (mittlerweile kennt man uns in "unserem" Eiscafe - Ruqab, nur zu empfehlen). Neben den verschiedenen angeboten sowohl von AIESEC als auch der FES konnten wir erste Ideen einer zukuenftigen Kooperation austauschen.
Der Nachmittag stand ganz im Zeichen der Workshop-Vorbereitung. Morgen werden Nicol und Klaus fuer etwa ein Dutzend Studenten der Birzeit University eine IMAS durchfuehren. Etwa eine handvoll Studenten sollen hinterher ausgewaehlt werden und das Basisteam palaestinensischer AIESECer bilden.

Einen sehr netten Abschluss des Tages bildete die Einladung bei Chalid und seiner Familie. Kevin hatte zu Beginn seines Aufenthalts die Moeglichkeit gehabt, Hotelkosten zu sparen, und war bei einem palaestinensischen Bekannten untergekommen, dessen Soehne (10 & 12 Jahre) ihn und sein Team umgehend fuer diesen Freitag eingeladen hatten. Neben dem obligatorischen Tee und Kaffee gab es eine palaestinensische Spezialitaet - Kunaffa - zu essen, die sich kein Besucher Palaestinas entgehen lassen sollte. ;)

Heute Morgen hat sich das Team aufgeteilt. Nicol und Tobias nahmen die Workshopraeume in Augenschein, waehrend Klaus und Kevin einen Termin beim Praesidenten der Palestinian Federation of Industry (PFI, vgl. mit dem BDI), Bassem Khoury, wahrnahmen., der Kontakt war ueber die Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung zustande gekommen. Das Ergebnis klingt vielversprechend, da der Verband verstaerkt mit jungen Fuehrungskraeften aus Palaestina zusammen arbeiten moechte, um den Aufbau des Landes mitzugestalten. Kommenden Donnerstag ist ein Treffen mit mehreren Vertretern der PFI geplant, auf dem die weitere Kooperation besprochen wird.
Nun steht heut Nachmittag noch ein Treffen mit einem Vertreter der Arab Bank an, der uns hier im Retno Hotel aufsucht. Mal sehen, ob dies ebenfalls ein potentieller Partner von AIESEC in Palaestina werden kann...

Welche Ergebnisse der morgige Workshop bringt und wie unsere Reise nach Jenin am Montag verlaeuft, erfahrt ihr hier in Kuerze. Bereits jetzt laesst sich sagen, dass wir hier offene Tueren einrennen und unsere Reise einen grossen Erfolg darstellt. :)

Erste Gespraeche

2007-03-28T14:27:00.000+02:00

Hallo Leute,

gestern ist Klaus angekommen, er wird den Workshop leiten.
Zusammen mit Laura vom PR-Office haben wir die grundsaetzlichen Fragen (Daten, Teilnehmer, Umfang) weitgehend geklaert, nun brauchen wir nur noch einen Pool von Studenten, die Engagement zeigen. Ein Workhop mit bis zu 15 Studenten soll - aehnlich einer IMAS, eines Big Pictures - AIESEC vorstellen und erarbeiten lassen. Mit etwa 5 Studenten werden danach vielleicht noch eine Schulung durchfuehren, Fundraising oder Telefonschulung.
Zurzeit finden an der Birzeit Universitaet die Wahlen zum Student Council statt, die ganze Atmosphaere ist entsprechend aufgeheizt. Denn beim letzten Mal hat die Hamas-Fraktion gewonnen, diesmal will die Fatah die Mehrheit zurueckgewinnen. Trotz der Rivalitaten ist die Lage nicht dramatisch, die Unileitung hat das Ziel ausgegeben, freundschaftlich miteinander umzugehen und Palaestina zu foerdern, nicht die eigenen persoenlichen Ziele.
Wir hatten heute morgen ein sehr gutes Gespraech mit dem Dean of students' affairs, Dr. Munir Qazzaz - die Uni ist sehr begeistert von unserem Plan und unterstuetzt uns dabei. Wie die konkrete Kooperation aussieht, wird noch geklaert werden; in den naechsten Tagen werden wir mit ihm und dem Praesidenten, Dr. Nabeel Kassis, noch weitere Gespraeche fuehren.

Im Anschluss an den Univormittag trafen Klaus und ich uns mit Dr. Bassam Disi von der Hans-Seidel-Stiftung. Naechste Woche werden wir Gespraeche in Jenin weiterfuehren und im Umfeld der Arab-American-University moegliche Kooperationen besprechen.

Es laeuft gut an. Am Freitag verstaerken Nicol und Tobias unser Team.
Ueber frohe Wuensche freuen wir uns immer.

Und nicht vergessen, schaut auch mal wieder bei www.shopanddonate.de vorbei; die Unternehmen zahlen fuer jeden Einkauf Provisionen ans Projekt. Ein Beispiel: Wenn ueber die Seite bei der comdirekt-Bank ein Bankkonto eroeffnet wird, erhaltet ihr zusaetzlich eine Bahncard25 und das Projekt eine Provision von 40 Euro, egal was mit dem Konto geschieht. Fuer euch entstehen keine Kosten, ihr muesst nur die Unterlagen ausdrucken und bei der Post bestaetigen lassen. Wenn das nur ein paar wenige Leute machen, koennen wir so ohne viel Aufwand ein gewisses finanzielles Polster aufbauen. Also, los mit "shoppen und donaten".

Salam aus Palestine

Ramallah

2007-03-26T20:30:00.000+02:00

Ich bin jetzt in Ramallah und habe gerade Anas und Luma getroffen. :)
Ich hatte von Abdulla, mit dem Lars und ich uns mal in Berlin getroffen hatten und der sich um die Extension nach Saudi-Arabien bemueht, den Kontakt zu einem Arzt in Kfar Kassim bekommen, Arif; er ist Palaestinser mit israelischem Pass und war 12 Jahre in Deutschland, sein Bruder, Zahnarzt, ebenso. Deren anderer Bruder, Abed, ist Geschaeftsmann in der Westbank, daher sollte ich mich mal an die wenden - und habe damit nen Gluecksgriff getan. Arif hat mich sehr freundlich bei sich aufgenommen, mich rumgefahren, es gab was zu essen, dann sind heute morgen seine Eltern in die Tuerkei gereist, d.h. gestern Abend noch mal tschuess gesagt - und immer mit Tee und sitzen und labern, auf arabisch... :) War dann spaet im Bett. Konnte ueberraschend bei Arif uebernachten, brauchte also nicht mehr nach Tel Aviv zu Nicols Ex-Freund fahren.
Heut morgen hat mich dann Abed um 7:30h abgeholt, wir sind ueber nen Checkpoint im Nord-Westen von Ramallah in die Westbank gefahren und haben uns seinen Steinbruch angesehen. Er hat zwei, die beide ihm gehoeren und er macht damit richtig gut Geld. Mit den Steinen haben sich die Brueder alle schicke Haeuser in dem Dorf gebaut.
Beim Steinbruch habe ich seinen Manager, Chalid, getroffen; dessen Sohn (oder Cousin, Onkel?), Bassam, ist seit 17 Jahren in Deutschland, spricht sehr gut Deutsch und arbeitet fuer die Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung - wir treffen uns Mittwoch morgen in Ramallah, denn er findet AIESEC ganz toll und will da gerne was machen :) Mal sehen, diese Stiftung hatten wir mal angeschrieben und ich glaube keine Antwort erhalten...Von dort hat mich Chalid dann nach Ramallah gebracht bzw. mich rumgefahren. Wir haben uns ein Haus fuer $10 Mio. von nem reichen Palaestinenser, der in Saudi-Arabien arbeitet und wohnt und nur drei Wochen im Jahr in seinem Haus ist, angesehen. Von dort ging es nach Ramallah, wo wir seinen Schwiegervater und den Leiter einer kleinen Firma getroffen haben. Die beiden gruenden gerade in Bethlehem eine private Uni, und sein Schwiegervater ist zudem Mitglied im Legislative Council. Mal sehen was noch nachkommt...
Dann hat mich Chalid auch noch zum Essen eingeladen - und heut Abend kann ich bei ihm und seiner Familie uebernachten, unweit von der Niederlassung von Jawwal. :)

Morgen steht einiges auf dem Programm; neben der Uni morgen frueh ist nachmittags der Besuch bei Coca-Cola angesagt, zu dem mich Anas und Luma begleiten werden, zudem kommt Klaus morgen hier an: und wir brauchen noch eine Uebernachtungsmoeglichkeit, was wir nach Coca-Cola in Angriff nehmen, die beiden haben da ein nettes Hotel ausgesucht, mal sehen.

Bis bald - freu mich gerade sehr ueber den heutigen Tag, bin aber ziemlich muede... :)

Legislation - approval of extensions & initiatives

2007-02-26T03:58:00.000+01:00

Motion that Germany is officially allowed to explore the xpansion in Israel and Palestine, voted in block.
Result: 50 pro, 4 against, 4 abstentions - more than 2/3-majority!!! :)

Over here it is 5:45am now and still going on with some more extension initiatives. One is initiative to Iran that was approved as well with 56 pro, 0 against and 2 abstention votes!!

Morning Plenary comes soon. :)

Legislation - IPM 2009

2007-02-26T03:20:00.000+01:00

Slowly we're coming to an end. :)

A decision that is interesting because Germany as well handed in a bid on hosting is about IPM 2009.
Countries willing to host IPM 2009 were Malaysia, Tunisia, Colombia, Lithuania, Italy and Germany of course. The Bidding Subcommittee revised the plans and gave an advice thus voting for Italy.
After some discussions and questions to the Subcommittee the GP decided to be Italy to host IPM 2009. Congratulations! It's not that far away and beautiful as well.

The upcoming decisions will be about extensions... aahh...

Legislation - still going on

2007-02-26T00:03:00.000+01:00

These people are crazy. We're still on page 5, in the middle of a short break after discussing for almost one hour about a new fund that will cost the countries a lot of money, e.g. Germany 12T more than now...
If we go on that "fast" we will still sit here when breakfast will be served...
Thus take a little rest, you guys out there, and await the votings on the extensions (might be treated around 4 or 5 o'clock...). :)

Global Legislation - results II

2007-02-25T22:03:00.000+01:00

After some motions about finance stuff that was not related to our project the GP is now discussing about a Global Expansion Fund. Content is e.g. that expanding countries who are willing, have the people but not the money can apply for support once per expansion initiative. Since we have a lack of money this fund will help executing our plans and we do not depend that much on corporate support from Berlin. Good for us. :)

The decision by the Global Plenary about this point is 58 for , 0 against - it was legislated!! :)
(You will find full explanations in the updated compendium after the IPM.)
(We are now at page 5 of 21...)

Global Legislation - results

2007-02-25T20:05:00.000+01:00

We are in the Global Legislation now. It started at 20:15h (19:15h in Germany), but was supposed to start at 19:30h... We had a 5 minute break now already - it will be a long long evening...
The first decision taken is that Taco Bosman became Internal Auditor.
The extension decisions will be at the very end - so you have to stay awake :)

Keep you informed. Check out MSN and ICQ. :)

Global Legislation this night

2007-02-25T09:03:00.000+01:00

This evening Global Legislation will take place. It will start at 19:30h. As I have just seen the motion of Germany to become officially allowed to start expanding to Middle East countries will voted at the very end, besides a lot of extension motions.
Thus be prepared to receive news from the legislation soonest around 22h/23h. Tension rises. :)

For now you will find some pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58628859@N00/

Talks with MENA

2007-02-24T21:40:00.000+01:00

After the announcement of the new directors - 6 out of around 20 - the atmosphere at the Official Dinner was quite emotional, therefore we postponed the meeting with the MENA countries in order to get to know to their perspective on the extensions to this evening.

We met today right between dinner and Legislation Talks where we offered the delegates to ask us in a more structured environment about the extension initiatives. In the run-up to this meeting we had been provided with some questions from MENA they would like to discuss, as well as we handed in some questions we had to them. In short the questions were about how we will cooperate with MENA, what our approaches are to build up AIESEC in Palestine and Israel as well as what is the general time line and if MENA will be the proposed GN the countries will be part of; media presence and how to communicate the difficulties with these countries for parts of the AIESEC network were also points we talked about.
It was a very good meeting, many questions were raised and the atmosphere was frank and open. E.g. Iran will get the support of most of the MENA countries.

In the Legislation Talks that just came to an end I really felt relaxed and smiled the whole time
like I didn't do for days. I guess the Legislation tomorrow will go well - at least we will have a good time. I will tell you right after the Legislation what decision was taken - so be onlien and stay tuned!
CU, good night - Africa/MENA-party this evening/night.

Friday, 23/02, ING-Awards - Germany won!!

2007-02-24T20:54:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (23rd) evening Official Dinner took place. It was our - the extension's - first day at the conference. many people approached us to know more about why, why now, what problems - or challenges :) - may occur, what MENA says to that etc.
Thus for the dinner everybody dressed up formally. And ING led us through a nice evening with a frank speech about our future as "Global Leaders" and four awards for great work.

And a big surprise - at least for the German delegation - happened. The ING award "First Choice for Activating Leadership" was given to Germany!!!
Even Lara, our MCP, was surprised since she didn't know that the MC team had applied for this award. Therefore on stage she was almost crying when she was handed over the award.

The other event that was executed was the announcement of the new AI directors. Tamer who led the MENA GN (=Growth Network) last year only as MENA coordinator was selected as well - good for us I would say. :)

Palestine arrives at IPM

2007-02-23T14:35:00.000+01:00

Jonas and I had waited at Cairo airport yesterday until Kathrin arrived at 19:05h as well. We took a taxi to Ain Sokhna where we were along around 21:30h.
A lot of familiar faces I knew from last year's IC (International Conference) in Poland welcomed us throughout the whole evening. Especially the MENA delegates who I had been with at the IC were very happy to meet us three. Therefore we had a lot of talks to country representatives who wanted to now how the extensions were going, what our plans are and why everything is so complicated. In-between we had a short coordination meeting with Lara and Hajo, our MCPs current resp. elect. At around 3 o'clock in the morning I was dismissed to go to bed after Kathrin, Jonas and I had discussed some questions the MENA countries had accorded us. In return we wrote down our questions we have to them.

Today started like yesterday had finished. After Morning Plenary I had the chance to rest while everybody else was attending some kind of company workshops - I was totally tired. But since around lunch we are having conversations with several people again.
this evening will be Official Dinner, so we will get dressed. ;) And then afterwards we will have THE big meeting with the MENA MCPs, Lara, Hajo, Tamer as proposed MENA director, and us as extension leaders. Depending on this discussion we will present the motion of extending to Israel and Palestine in tomorrow's Legislation Talks; this is kind of Matrix talks where all motions present themselves to persuade the delegates to support their applications.

I will try to take some pictures later on - be patient, it is quite nice over here. :)

Just arrived in Egypt - IPM starts for me now

2007-02-22T14:51:00.000+01:00

This blog is reanimated!! The next days I will tell you about my adventurous stay in Egypt at this year's International President's Meeting.

I had a good flight with Swiss Airlines from Berlin via Zurich to Cairo. I have just arrived and already met Jonas, leader of the AIESEC extension to Iran-initiative, at the airport. We will now wait for Kathrin (Israel-extension initiative). She will arrive this evening.

Pass by this blog the next days - at least Sunday we will know how this project may continue...

AIESEC Alumni Spreefahrt Review

2006-09-11T10:17:00.000+02:00

We had a quiet good presentation in front of about 60 AIESECers, Trainees and Alumnis on the boat during the AIESEC Alumni Spreefahrt.
We had some great talks about the project afterwards and hopefully we can use the new contacts we gained and drive the project further.

Christopher

Tentative conclusion

2006-09-03T14:50:00.000+02:00

There is only one event that will ake at this year's IC - the Closing Plenary.Thus it might be the time for a short conclusion.

We had a goal for this IC - to present the extension project at the international level of AIESEC. I guess we achieved this goal. Many people especially the MCPs of the new MENA GN (yes, their is a MENA GN now, it is no MENA initiative any more) know about the extension and do support it. Everyone I was talking to asked what we are planning for the future, what will happen with Israel, if there will be no MC. I can hardly imagine a better promotion for the project. :)

But at the same time the position of AI is still uncleared. Several questions occur: Do they want to have Israel in the network, and when? What does it mean for the Palestine extension? What can Anas and Luma do on-site and how do we keep them interested?

I met a lot of people over here who can help and support us in the challenge we have to face. Therefore we can lift the project on a more professional level.

Hope to continue with a great team in Berlin as well as in Ramallah!

Last days

2006-09-03T12:17:00.000+02:00

The last two days have been kind of a roller coaster. AIESEC University was lower than expected. At least the case studies we had to work on had been interesting and challenging.
At the evening of Sept. 1nd Brodie, former president of AIESEC (PAI), had held a very nice speech about the last year. But i did not listen, sorry...had to work on the application for the Economic Forum this week.

The evening was horrible! The agenda scheduled "Blind dates" and hardly anybody had a clue what this might mean.
The CC had matched similar countries. They should meet in quiet rooms and see how the meetings continued. Germany met with Ukraine - and it was another amazing experience at this year's IC...
It was a really stupid session loosing time when we could have done something really productive. But this one was redundant...

At the same time Global Legislation took place. A new and important rule was legislated: Before an expansion is allowed to start the whole initiative has to be accepted by the majority of the MCPs. That means we have to pass this process as well since Palestine is no extension country yet.

Yesterday evening the Formal Dinner officially closed the IC. With a nice show of piano-jokes, modern dances and the UBS awards for best performing countries it was a pretentious evening. But since expectations on this night had been higher it was all in all not an outstanding event...

Right now we are in the last session called Pimp my Plan. Going through the country plans again we shall consolidate our plans...

Pictures of our Palestinians in Warsaw :)

2006-09-01T14:03:00.000+02:00

Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98106590@N00/?saved=1

Ghorfa

2006-09-01T13:36:00.000+02:00

I do not know what the session this morning was about. But I guess it was okay... Something about Evolution of Exchange...

I did not follow because during breakfast I received a call. A call from Ghorfa. Have a look to the page: www.ghorfa.net

From September 6th to 8th the German-Arab-Economic-Forum will be hosted in Berlin. Our member of the Board of Advisors (BoA) of the LC at University of Technical Science in Berlin, Mr. Dirk Siemann from BankGesellschaftBerlin, had contacts to people involved in the organisation of this forum. At the last BoA-meeting in June he offered us to try if we could take part in one of the workshops and present the extension project.

This morning I was called and told I can present the project at the 3rd day of the forum (Sept. 8th)!

This forum will be attended by companies' leaders and high responsibles of Arab administrations as well as by German high performers. If we would not get any support out of this conference of people who might be interested in this project it would be very hard to find financial support throughout the economy.

Biut so far I am very glad and happy and enthusiastic about the project and the opportunity to present it to one of our main target groups - leading Arab representatives.

Good luck

DLD - Developing Leaders Day

2006-08-31T18:24:00.000+02:00

Oh shit, Kevin attended the DLD. Now he is able to really lead the LEAP-team!

Yes, you are right. Now I am a leader!!

The whole day was organised by the facis of ABN AMRO and Cadbury Schweppes. They got the chance to let their facis train AIESECers at an international conference. They have done this for the last three years now. This year's motto was "Leading from within".

So, what have we done?
The morning started with a veeery short breakfast and a quick opening plenary. Since we had met our facis yesterday evening already we just met with our groups and went to the workshop rooms. Introduction, Get-to-know and a kind of a personality test followed. The test was similar to the Bevin-test; in fact we had to answer questions about our reactions on certain situations. It resulted in 5 types of personalities: "please person", "hurry up", "be strong", "be perfect" and "try hard". Guess what kind of person I am... :)

At lunch I had lost my energy already...

In the afternoon we worked on a comprehensive case study named The Saint George Triangle. It was fun and challenging at the sam moment. But we had not that much time therefore it was kind of stressful. it was quite hard not to fall asleep - not because of the facis, they were great. But the last days have been so long and I realy need some sleep...

Right now the closing speech of this day has ended. This evening we are attending the Polish Night - see what his will be...

Have a nice evening, see you next week.

AIESEC University live!

2006-08-30T17:20:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was about issue-based experiences. What does this mean, what did we do?
In the morning I attended a workshop about bridging the gap between the "west" and the Arab world. We talked about the start of a kind of a PboX on the international level. There are a lot of perceptions on both sides that AIESEC intends to face and to dismantle. Therefore countries initiate special traineeships that will be part of this program. Since we will try to receive financial support of the EU it seems to be a very interesting program, especially because of the LEAP-project.

in the afternoon we joined several partner workshops that were led by facis of the partners. I attended Inbev. One of their products is Beck's. :)
It was an encouraging WS where after the introduction we worked on 2 "case studies". We had to reflect on decisions a CEO would make and present them to the plenum. Was a nice one...

Today the AIESEC University started. Actually we attend workshops facilitated by directors of AI. That does not mean that the quality is higher than the workshops on regional conferences in Germany. But the variety of "courses" is wider.
We have three days of AIESEC Uni consisting of two parts. The first part - 1,5 hours - is theoretical, the second - 1,5h - works on case studies.
Right now we have finished the first part of the first day. At 18h the practise part starts.

This morning we had a session about AIESEC becoming truly global. At the end the delegates had the chance to go to the expansion initiatives and get to know to what's going on. I missed half of it. But when I approached I recognised that Anas was talking and explaining the real life situation in Palestine.There is kind of potential for something... ;)

So far I feel okay over here. It is like a conference but longer. Since i am here in Warsaw for 11 days already I am looking forward to the end of the IC. I will see that I get a train ticket for september 4th.

LEAP at the AIESEC Alumni Spreefahrt 2006 in Berlin this weekend

2006-08-30T12:43:00.000+02:00

Lars and Christopher will present the LEAP Project at the AIESEC Alumni Spreefahrt and all participants will learn more about how the project is developing right now. The AIESEC Alumni Spreefahrt is happening on Saturday, 2nd of September 2006. More Infos you get from the Homepage: http://www.aiesec-berlin.de/spreefahrt

Cheers,

Christopher

LEAP in Warsaw

2006-08-30T10:59:00.000+02:00

The LEAP Team was in Warsaw to have a Pre-Pre-Meeting with the delegation from Palestine (Kevin, Anas and Luma). Here some pictures:

Kevin the tour guide

Luma, Anas and Arne: finally found the right bus

Anas

Arne

Arne the direction man:

To see all pictures, check out our Flickr Account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98106590@N00/sets/72157594259488846/

@ Palestine Gear -- be patient

2006-08-28T15:54:00.000+02:00

How horrible to see so many sad faces of people on the IC who wanted to buy our beautiful Palestine-Shirts (created togehther with Anas and Luma) and we were not able to get them done on time ...

Unfortunately our great plan to order at a Polish company (actually to ensure fast delivery) failed miserably, as the company told us a few hours before delivery deadline that they had technical problems and could not make the shirts. UAAAAAAHHH! And there was no capacity to find an alternative in Warsaw to get at least a few shirts done... believe me, in an odyssee throughout Warsaw I tried really hard.

Sooooooo, anyway, we get the shirts done in Germany now... and the cool news is, that they gonna look EVEN HOTTER!

We managed to get much better quality shirts and especially neat ones for the girls. We have to ask a little more for the price now, but the improvement in style is sure worth it, right? ;-)

Details on looks and how to buy your future most favorite AIESEC T-Shirt are coming up next week...

Learning Network (LN)-day

2006-08-28T15:19:00.000+02:00

Just in short:
Today it is LN-day. We have workshops and discussions about CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), HIV/AIDS, Education, Energy and Finance.

The day started with a speech of former polish Prime Minister Lech Walesa. He was followed by someone from PriceWaterhouseCoopers who had very long but good speech. Unfortunately, since yesterday had been the SSGN-Party that seemed to have been pretty good many people got tired. But then the work-part of the LN-started.

I chose the Education-workshop. So far we had dialogues about the situation of the education systems in different countries. Before lunch we had been divided into several groups. Trainers of some companies are leading the groups. Mine is about ING and UNICEF. We discussed what ING can do that more of their partners get involved into social projects for heping children being educated.
It is interesting to see what opportunities we have to help people. It will go on in a couple of minutes but I don't know what comes next.

For two or three days since this heavy rain in the morning I got a cold. 'Therefore and because of the general overwhelming input of the sessions I get here as well as because of the discussions about Palestine it is jading just to be here. I really need some sleep - or better a lot of sleep...

My best regards and hugs

Kevin

Tired & cold

2006-08-27T20:33:00.000+02:00

Yes, I am tired. And I have a cold.
Two days ago it was a heavy rain when I had to go to breakfast. Arrived there with wet hair and clothes. Now I got a light cold. That pulls me down, even more than I am already... and still 7 days to go.

Well, today we got lectures about the @Scorecard 2010. Actually, it was okay. But the only topic that matters for me is the Palestine extension. I talked to many people about that becoming depressed by doing so. But we will see, we have a good team in Berlin.

WE rock the house!!

AIESEC - a freedom centered organisation?

2006-08-27T12:01:00.000+02:00

I am sorry, but the following comment will be written in German.

Gestern hatten wir den ganzen Tag über eine sehr interessante Session über die Frage, ob AIESEC eine freedom centered organisation sei. Wir haben verschiedene Fragen zu Charakteristika einer auf Freiheit konzentrierten Organisation erörtert und ob AIESEC diese aufweist. In den letzten Tagen des ICs sollten möglichst viele Delegates eine Umfrage ausfüllen und AIESEC nach den diskutierten Charakteristika bewerten.

Die Ergebnisse wurden während der Session vorgestellt. Auf der Skala von 1 bis 6 rangiert AIESEC im Schnitt etwa bei 4,3-4,4, was einem guten Schnitt entspricht. Um diese Werte zu erhöhen, bedarf es aber noch einiger Arbeit in den LCs, u.a. kann AIESEC noch transparenter werden, mehr Dialoge über relevante Themen durchführen und insgesamt seine demokratische Strukturen verbessern. Im Anschluss fanden Gruppendiskussionen über die Machbarkeit statt, wie diese Ziele erreicht werden könnten.

Ein Charakteristikum einer freedom centered organisation ist beispielsweise, dass die Mitarbeiter in ihren Entscheidungen frei sind, zu arbeiten wann sie wollen, solange der Output gut ist.

Heute morgen wurden viele Delegates, die die gestrige AP-GN-Party zu ausgelassen gefeiert hatten oder aus anderen Gründen nicht rechtzeitig beim Opening Plenary erschienen, für über eine Stunde nicht zum Plenary zugelassen, sondern mussten vor der Tür - die von engagierten Türstehern kontrolliert wird - warten. Diese Entscheidung lag nicht beim CC, wie mir jmd. aus dem CC gesagt hatte, sondern war ein Punishment von AI.

Diese Aktion ist ziemlicher Kindergarten gewesen. Wir sind alle erwachsene Menschen. Leider hat es niemanden im Plenum interessiert, was vor der Tür abging.

Wir sind alle als Delegates der AIESEC-Länder hier und daher in gewisser Weise verpflichtet, das eigene Land gut zu vertreten. Aber was ist besser - engagierte Delegates, die dem Plenary folgen oder Delegates, die vor lauter Müdigkeit nicht mehr folgen können? Wenn jeden Abend Partys angeboten werden, die möglichst von vielen Delegates besucht werden sollen, damit sie auch Spaß machen, kann man nicht erwarten, dass ALLE immer überpünktlich anwesend sind.

Wichtiger ist, dass wir engagiert dabei sind und eine gute Arbeit machen. Leute auszuschließen, weil sie nicht ganz pünktlich sind, trägt nicht zur Qualität bei. Diese Einsicht muss aus uns selbst kommen.

Wenn AIESEC wirklich eine freedom centered organisation werden möchte, sollte AI anfangen, die Prinzipien umzusetzen. Das Interesse und die Motivation ist da. Veränderungen inder Welt erreicht man nicht, indem man morgens pünktlich beim Frühstück erscheint.

2006-08-26T12:26:00.000+02:00

Good morning!

Day 1 has started this morning. After opening plenary Deutsche Post/DHL had a presentation about how great they are. Every delegate got a yellow DHL-bag with the usual brochures - not very spectacular and I have to carry another bag... Later on Alcatel will present itself - maybe we will get cell phones...? Would be something... :)

Right now we have ashort break. The IC-sessions started with discussions but freedom and if AIESEC fulfils the criteria needed to be scored as one. AIESEC - a freedom-centered organisation? - We will find out this day...

As far as I know the German group visiting from Berlin, they stayed on-campus next to the You Can!-rooms, is on their way to explore Warsaw's Old City. Yesterday they could take part in the CEE-GN-party ('Central and East Europe Growth Network') - they fooled the bouncers in taking the badges of the people already entered the party area... ;) I hope they enjoyed it!

Well, going back tp the session.
CU

Kevin

IC 2006 has started!!

2006-08-25T22:37:00.000+02:00

Hey AIESEC!
Yesterday evening the IC 2006 officially opened with the Opening Ceremony. We watched a lot of traditional polish dances, had some short speeches of Dey, PAI, and corporate partners of the IC 2006.
It was a nice opening. The dances were more or less similar therefore I had have a relaxing time. the whole ceremony took about 3 hours...
This morning we had again a long ceremony, the Opening Plenary. But this time we could watch the Role Calls of every AIESEC member countries + the extensions currently running. Since Palestine is not yet officially approved as extension country we were not called. Nevertheless we had quite a good time that went on in the afternoon with the Global Village. All countries could present themselves in the center of Warsaw thus everybody could attend the village.
Even Palestine got an own tent - since a couple of countries are not present at this year's IC some tents were free to take for presenting us. We organised a table, but our stuff was missing. Every coutry had to bring their stuff used to present and give away in the village to the check-in desk at the IC-site. Unfortunately the CC could not make it to deliver our bags on time. Therefore we got it just at the moment the village was closed and were on our way back to the venue... Very annoying since our intention is to present Palestine. We missed this opportunity...
Right now we are listening - or better not listening ;) - to former PAIs talking to us via phone. It is a session about te last 10 years of AIESEC. They are telling us their thought and plans they had thus we can understand how the idea of AIESEC 2010 has been developed. It is a very nice and amazing thing to listen to them and I really respect their work. But it takes a lot of time and I am very tired after this hard day... :)
later on we will meet with around 20 AIESECers from Berlin visiting the IC for this weekend. Hope we can have a bif party overhere.

Please visit http://live.ic2006.pl There you can find all information about the IC including pictures and movies.

See you

Kevin

IC Experience - MENA GN

2006-08-24T15:11:00.000+02:00

It is the last day of the pre-meetings -and we got an internet-café on-site now! Thus here is a short report how the last days have been for the LEAP-Team.

It is planned to establish a MENA GN since there is no one at the time being. We took part in the sessions about MENA role, @-Uni in MENA and the whole @-culture. At nights at least Luma and Anas have been partying till dawn. :)

The other MENA countries deeply appreciate he idea of @ in Palestine. Therefore we will receive their support as soon as MENA will be an established GN. That will happen during the Global Legislation at the end of the IC.

So far it is a big thing maybe having @ been extended to Palestine. A lot of people are interested in the issue, above all of course the MENA countries. But there is still a decision missing what AI thinks about the whole thing. To have the chance to become an @ country Palestine needs to be approved by AI at the IPM. So far it is not clear what AI intends to do, and we will not get this information while being in Warsaw.

Therefore and since it is the first time for me being at the IC it is quite a time being here and uncomparable to regional conference in Germany; it is like a big NKK. A lot of people are taking part in the IC and are attending the sessions.
Tomorrow will be the Global Village a huge group from Berlin will visit as well. To place our project - the extension to Palestine! - it will be great if everybody shows his/her support for the project and wears a Palestine-shirt.

Really looking forward to meet you guys tomorrow!

Best regards & big hugs from Warsaw

Kevin

PS: Have a look to the MCs blog as well: http://www.icdelegation.blogspot.com/ Since they have the capacity to write a lot of thing and share their IC-experience it is worthy to go through the posts.

Palestine T-Shirts

2006-08-21T13:58:00.000+02:00

Hey AIESEC!

The final preparation is done. Christopher and Arne prepared us well for the conference. Tomorrow it will start with the MENA (Middle East North Africa)-premeeting. And on Thursday the IC 2006 starts!

To assure everyone will recognise the Palestinian delegation we have ordered AIESEC-Palestine-shirts. Since a lot of AIESECers from Berlin will visit the IC at the weekend and the Global Village on Friday hopefully wearing the Palestine-shirts we will have the chance to make a huge impression at this year's IC!

See you at IC!

Kevin

Welcome to the LEAP - AIESEC Extension Palestine Blog

2006-08-20T18:38:00.000+02:00

Hi and welcome to the Blog for the AIESEC Extension to Palestine.

Here you wil find all the news and updates, that happen to the Team and a status on how the Project is developing.
Stay tuned to hear from the Palestine Delegation on IC 2006 in Warsaw!

Cheers,

Christopher