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