LC MEETING FOR JUNE 16TH

“To die a young legend or live a long life unfulfilled?”.

 The artiste Jermaine Cole never ceases to amaze me with his deep lyrical prowess but this particular line has got my head turning today…i”ll leave you guys to ponder on that while I go through the minutes of the last LC meeting…

First things first big ups to every AIESECer that made the last LC meeting *DRUMROLLS* *SNAPROLLS*. We are getting there ladies and gentlemen!. And to the submarines, the ones who support SDG 14, its high time you moved on to goal 15 and join the train!.

Meeting began at 3pm, Hassan Nurudeen, our very own LCP took us through the plenary session (did I just hear someone say whats plenary session??)….sigh!. “What is your name?, Functional area?, tell us what you did for AIESEC”….yeah yeah you remember now, good.

So next we had our first session for the day and Ugo Modum, immediate past LCP was around to take us through and he termed the session….

CLARITY OF WHY

A lot of us do not know why we are in AIESEC. Some of us do not even understand what AIESEC is all about, neither do they know our values, our goals and in general our ‘WHY’.

So he started off with a little ice breaker and we did shake your body!( very sure thats not the name though but well..)

Then he continued by defining AIESEC as a global, independent, not for profit youth-led organization striving to achieve peace and fulfillment of humankinds potential by activating leadership qualities in youths through learning from practical experiences in challenging environments. Take a look at the last two words, AIESEC is not a bed of rosses. We as AIESECers are to excel even in the most challenging of situations, I mean isn’t that why we strive for excellence??. He continued by giving a brief history  of AIESEC starting from world war 2 (if you were not at the meeting sorry im no story teller) and he also gave us the full but former meaning of the acronym AIESEC. He also explained the concept of AIESEC which is to promote peace as well as developing mankinds potential. How? By putting trust in youths as the key to unlocking a better world for the future. This would be done by activating leadership in youths thereby making them better people and  consequently better citizens of the world. So how does AIESEC want to practically do all these? What differentiates AIESEC from the other youth-run leadership organizations?.

 This led us to our next session  handled by ‘Mama VP’ herself, Eniola Akinoso. And it was time to talk about…

EXCHANGE

So in case you didn’t know, know now EXCHANGE is an integral part of AIESEC that should be carried on the head by every AIESECer. Sell exchange, go on exchange, get people to go on exchange, facilitate exchange, in summary live and breath exchange.

 But how can we do that when we don’t even understand the whole gist?!

So Eniola took time to explain the whole process to us, practicalised it to us by selling exchange to another AIESECer at the meeting (Osaro). I couldn’t help but notice the ease with which she could convince you to buy the whole exchange thing because she herself had gone on one. And she kept on using her personal  experiences to her advantage. Where am I going? I believe you cant really sell what you cant relate or connect to. Even if you were born with that sales gift, it can only take you so far. You want to be able to sell exchange like eniola? Be like eniola and go on exchange today!. 

Then came Hassan again and your guess is as good as mine, he was here to rant!!!.

 And to be honest, we need it. AIESEC Lagos isn’t working at the moment. Gone are the days of people like Rachael, Achibong, when AIESEC Lagos was still AIESEC Lagos but all we have now are ‘Whatsapp fingers’ AIESECers. AIESECers that wont attend LC or FA meetings, that wont participate in activities, that wont come for events, that wont pay dues, I can go on and on. Seriously guys, how long will this continue? Even my Microsoft word is tired of seeing AIESEC rants every week. In a few years this generation of AIESECers in Lagos will leave for a new one. When our story is told how will they tell it? What legacy would we leave behind?  Like a friend of mine would always ask me: “When all the dust is set and all is said and done, how will posterity remember us?”. Guys how will posterity remember this generation of AIESEC Lagos?

In our quest to change the world what impression would we leave behind? Trust me they either feel you or not only after you are gone.

So again I ask……

“To die a young legend or live a long life unfulfilled?”.

Yours truly,

Mila.