Genesis- A HIV AIDS Awareness Project!

My AIESEC journey has been pretty short! I was recruited only in March 2012, but the amount of knowledge I had gathered in such a short time is something I will "literally" remember all my life! The past couple of months have been the best times of my life. The amount of learning, the amount of corporate exposure and bonding I had got was unimaginable. HIV AIDS is an issue that is effecting the whole wide world and through this project, I attempted to Engage with issues of global importance.

Genesis is a HIV AIDS Awareness Initiative by AIESEC in Hyderabad, where we get a team of 30 international interns to Hyderabad and conduct workshops in schools all around Hyderabad. Being the Organizing Committee Vice President for the project, I knew what was coming. The amount of responsibility I had to take was huge. I literally got to learn every single of the Learning Outcomes that the IB had provided for CAS. Being the Vice President for the project I "planned and initiated" many strategies and activites with my team members, to help build the coordination in the team, and come up with plans on how to go about setting appointments and approaching corporate companies. I had a team of 10 organizing committee members under me, and as mentioned before, a pool of 30 international interns, and thus I learned the very important learning objective of "Working collaboratively." We also had to consider the ethical implications of talking about such a delicate topic as it might hurt some people's feelings. Therefore, we had to be very careful about the content we put in presentations

Going to the corporate world to get sponsors for the project, doing formal appointments with Marketing Directors and Human Resources directors with companies world famous multi-nationals like Bayer Crop Science, Tata, etc. was a huge learning experience. This was something very new for me, and it was indeed "undertaking a challenge for me." A journey, I had never imagined myself to take. 

Meeting principals of schools all around Hyderabad, to convince them to undertake our workshops in their respective schools, the importance of the awareness of HIV AIDS, was another daunting task. I experienced failures and success. I along with my colleagues got kicked out of many companies, without even getting to meet the receptionist. We never got a chance to even present our project to a lot of companies and schools. They did not have time for us. They felt no need for HIV AIDS awareness whereas millions of people in India are dying due to the same. But we could do nothing about it. On the contrary, the Organizing Committee of the project tasted huge amounts of success. We conducted more than 30 workshops in schools, and around 5 workshops in companies. We grabbed a lot of media attention. We impacted more than 15,000 people within a span of 2 months.
As it was a large scale project, I had to show immense amounts of "commitment and perseverance," as we as a team, faced some hardships due to the magnitude of the project. I had to be extremely dedicated in making everything work with the international interns as it was a new experience for me.
  

Just a few glimpses of workshops conducted in schools =)

This project has truly been one of the most amazing experience of my life, and even though it took up so much of my time, it was all worth it. I got to meet international students from over 10 countries. The interns that came to deliver the project! During the course of this project, I realized that I "increased my awareness of strengths and growth." I never really knew that I had in me, to present myself so formally when needed, as I had never done a task of such gravity before. I developed many "new skills," such as working in a team of people from different backgrounds, which helped me acquire adaptability. I learned about the hardships that come with being a leader, and I learned how important it is to communicate effectively. These are just a few new skills that I added to my tool-set!

I met new people, I made everlasting friends, I grew! 

OakMUN- MUNning to glory =)

Oakridge International School hosted a Model United Nations conference- OakMUN in November 2011.
It was a 2 day conference, where delegates from schools all around India had participated. I was representing my school- Indus International School, Hyderabad. Through this experience, I learned about by strength in public-speaking, and this certainly was an increase in awareness of my strengths. This was my first ever MUN, and the first time I was engaging in debating on world issues, hence it was a new challenge for me.

It was my first ever MUN and I was very excited. I couldn't wait for the conference to start. I was in the Disarmament and International Security committee (DISEC), and these 2 days were extremely challenging. The quality of the delegations was very high and I had to bring myself up to an intellectual level, like never before! I had to put my points through to the committee, where every single thing I say would be questioned by other delegates. I had to be extremely careful, and it was actually a little scary as it being my first every MUN experience. It was a fine experience, speaking and putting my point of view across to 40 other delegates and the Chair.

While making the final resolutions, there were many ideas and opinions that were being thrown, and I learned the importance of working collaboratively with others. The focus of this committee was the curbing of terrorism, and it is indeed an issue of vast importance globally. By participating in discussions, and putting forth my point of views, I engaged in an issue of global importance. In order to do well at a MUN Conference, doing the necessary homework is very important. Its all based on hard facts and statistics and without proof, there is no point in putting forth an opinion. Hence I had to do intensive research and be really dedicated and show perseverance, as researching took quite a lot of time and effort. Through this process, I learned a new life-skill, about how important it is do be good at effective research and research that was to the point.

I hadn't spoken for the first 40 minutes of the conference and I was getting very frustrated. I was scared, I underestimated myself by thinking that I would never be able to come up with good  points, competitive points after listening to the other delegates and understanding their points. I was getting very anxious and as mentioned above, extremely frustrated. We then had a motion pass for unmoderated caucus, and a fried of mine, who was a part of the Chair, a very experienced MUNer came and asked me why wasn't I speaking. I told him I was scared and he said to me, "don't worry, its your first experience and its completely alright if your points aren't as strong. Its more important to speak rather than worrying about your points being good or not." That did give me a confidence boost, and I spoke as soon as the unmoderated caucus ended, and surprisingly, I did very well. Most of the delegates agreed with the points I had made, and that feeling was out of this world. My confidence levels were high like never before.

I spoke quite often in the coming 2 days of the conference, and I had also won the award for Honorable Delegate in the conference. I was so proud of myself. Winning an award on my first ever MUN was an incredible feeling, wherein, before coming for OakMUN, so many people had told me, its impossible to do well on your first MUN. I had proved them wrong, and I felt good about it :)

Trekking into rejuvenation!

It was that time of the year again! Trekking time :D
Along with 3 of my friends and the ex- IGCSE coordinator- Mr.Srinivasan at school, I went on a trek to the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is a vast mountain range covering a very large geographic area. We trekked to one  such peak known as Tadiyennamol, in the town of Coorg, Karnataka. It was the highest peak in Coorg!
We took a train on the 27th of October 2011, in the evening and reached Bangalore the next morning where Mr. Srini came to pick us up at the station. Seeing him after such a long time was truly heartwarming! Varun, Shashank, Sid and I were so happy to see him. We planned and initiated many activities such as ways to prevent littering while trekking. We built containers through waste wood and cardboard boxes in many places which could be used as dustbins. Because one of my friends was on the less-athletic side, and it was hard for him to keep on trekking, I had to consider the ethical implications of making fun of a person. I had to be very careful, and encouraging at all times.

Even though I'd been for treks in the Himalayas before, this was a completely different experience. The geographical features were completely different. It was much hotter in the Western Ghats when compared to the Himalayas, which made the trek even harder. The fact that it was only for 3 days, gave me thoughts that I'd breeze through the trek because I've trekked in the Himalayas before, but I had no clue what was awaiting at Tadiyennamol. 2 days of intense trekking, steep walks up the hill in hot weather and heavy bags of food, tents and luggage. Oh boy! Wasn't it hard! We trekked all day long, and in the evening, we finally reached our campsite. We pitched our tents, which was extremely fun, because it was the first time I was doing it. We never had to pitch tents in the Himalayas because we always had a group of guides and workers who did these jobs for us. As soon as we pitched the tents, we had another massive challenge ahead of us! Probably the hardest part of the trek! Cooking our own food! None of us except Mr. Srini had cooked before. We knew absolutely nothing about cooking. It was such a hard job. I had to collaborate with my friends really well because if anything went wrong, the food would get destroyed! We all listened to every instruction given my Mr. Srini very carefully and in the end, it was all good. I learned a new skill through this process- Cooking! :D

I discovered a lot of strengths and weaknesses within me. I discovered that I had a strong will power and focus as I managed to finish the trek successfully, keeping in mind the fact that, I was on the heavier side! I also discovered that I worked well within a team, I took orders very well from my friends and Mr. Srini, keeping aside all differences and ego.
I realized that I had to work on my stamina levels and physical strength if I were to finish harder treks in the coming future. That was a weakness I had discovered.

A

Mr. Srini, being a fantastic teacher and a very knowledgeable person, gave us huge amounts of knowledge about the Western Ghats, its geographical features, the Shola forests, and the flora and fauna of that particular place!

I discovered the bond I shared with these 3 friends. It was special =)

It was an absolutely mind blowing experience! A beautiful trek! A few days which I am going to cherish for many years to come :)