I am highlighting the acronyms below here because I will reference them a lot
MC- Member Committee (This refers to the team leading AIESEC in a particular country, e.g., AIESEC in Uganda)
MCVP- Member Committee Vice President
MCP- Member Committee President
TM&OD- Talent Management and Organizational Development
LCVP- Local Chapter Vice President (Local Chapters refers to AIESEC within different universities, e.g., University of Nairobi, Kyambogo University, etc.)
I just found this blog title seated in my drafts from April 2023(Last blog I'm writing a year late. I have learned my lesson), and I'm continuing this now one year after my experience with AIESEC in Uganda and one year since I started my internship (Or Global talent in AIESEC terms) which I got through my MC experience. I will mostly talk about my AIESEC MC experience, and at the end will also touch on the global talent programs that AIESEC has for those that may be interested in that.
Lucky for all of us, I journal like a lunatic, so I went through the two journals I used in the span of my MC experience which overlapped with my final semester in school so get a glass of wine or a warm cup of tea (you will need it; whichever you pick. Though I'm heavily leaning on you getting a glass of wine for this😂) and let's take a trip down memory lane.
First, let me say that I came across this application by chance. When I look back at how it all happened, I just can't help but be in awe but also be like, "God I know your ways are not our own, but did you have to make it so dramatic abeg!😂".
Enough of the suspense, I applied for this role after attending Score conference on a whim post failing my interview at Microsoft and just needing some sort of excitement in my life (Or any feeling at all at that point because I'd almost gotten numb). Anyone who has read my previous article on "Lessons from a passed interview", this is not a new story.
I always knew I wanted an international MC experience. My first target was Malawi- honestly don't ask me why because to date I can't explain it. Even when I was LCVP and our then MCVP asked me to apply for MC in Kenya I declined (I mean also because I wanted to pursue engineering extra-curricular activities- hello Society of Engineering students!). After the conference, my friend (I'm totally misusing this word in this case), Baluku reached out and told me about the MC applications for Uganda and that they were open, and I should check it out. I remember just nodding and wondering when he would stop talking so I can tell him that I won't be applying. Call it juju or what you will but a week later I was back home and perusing the application as I brainstormed on my final year project and finalized on my internship.
Due to the many things I had going on, I settled on applying for MCVP TM&OD(Talent Management & Organizational Development) because it had the fewest questions and would take me the least time to apply. I'm sorry interviewers, when I said my passion for young people and developing talent was the main reason for applying for MCVP TM&OD, I may have been partly lying😅.
The application process took almost a month and in June 2022, Sarah Schaller and I were elected as MCVPs for AIESEC in Uganda. Sarah for outgoing exchanges and projects and myself for TM&OD. The next months the rest of our team was elected and on August 1st, 2022, our term officially began. I traveled to Uganda a week later as I was just completing my final year first semester exams then. I arrived at about 1pm in Kampala and by 2pm I was seated at my corner doing planning. Anyone who has been in the MC knows planning and replanning is no joke.
Having bored you with the details of how I ended up being MCVP TM&OD for AIESEC in Uganda, let me bore you even further with the lessons I learned, and some memories and moments I cherish from my one year in this experience:
I found my strength in connecting with people.
Anyone who has met me knows I'm not the most outspoken person there is. Stepping into this role I remember thinking that I was wrong for it because most MCVPs TM&OD tend to be quite outspoken and out there and that can't be further from who I am. When my MCP Eve told me once during our one on ones that I would need to be in members' faces more, I remember being torn on how I would begin my resignation email, "Dear Eve", or a salutation depending on the time of day?
No, I didn't go into the experience an introvert and come out an extrovert. I did however break free from putting myself in a box. I don't talk much, but that also gives me the advantage of listening. And I listened to what the members had to say when we met during conferences, when they came to the house and when we asked about their experience during the member engagement survey. I took on the role, scared and incompetent-feeling and all, and made a beautiful experience (at least according to me. I'll need anyone who was a member of AIESEC in Uganda to sing praises in the comments, so we know how it was for them😂)
Lean on your team.
Being in a new country, even one that's just next to yours is not always easy. But having people around you that get it, did not just make it tolerable but honestly quite fun. We were all broke students straight out of school (and in Sarah's case taking a gap year) so when I tell you we hustled, we really did. During this experience I truly got to understand something my mom kept telling me and trying to teach me about; sharing even the little you have. Catching up outside or in the boys' dungeon (I'm really not exaggerating. It was a garage turned into a bedroom), sharing a tiny bottle of Torerro or sometimes just as we had lunch or dinner was amazing.
Uganda police and testing our patience
When we were robbed at 4am on that fateful Wednesday morning, I remember thinking that I was done. I was going back home. Even when we went to the Uganda police knowing full well, we wouldn't catch the thief (when they asked us to pay for them to fuel the police car to come to the house and investigate is when I threw in my last ounce of hope honestly). My mom had not been the biggest supporter of me doing volunteer work after completing my electrical engineering degree. When the robbery happened, I half expected her to tell me to come home. I was in awe when she sent over a package with her old phone and laptop for me to use as I wrapped up my MC experience. Learning how to share took on a new meaning in the house because we now had two fully functioning laptops and two barely functioning ones to be used among six people. Our bond as a team grew so much stronger because only we could relate to what we were going through.
Think outside the box
The national conferences in Uganda are priced at 70,000UGX. This is supposed to feed and host for four days and three nights. Do the math- that's very little money. I will take this time to thank Proffesor Balunywa for offering to host us at his home in Garuga for these days so we could host our conference. Even after being hosted and getting accomodation free, we still had other bills to pay. Post this conference and our planning, we (MC Delta- oh, did I not mention our MC was called MC Delta. My bad😂) realized how good I was, and I now also became house manager. Trust me it's less lucrative than it sounds. It just means that when the house ran out of toothpaste, my team members would wake me up instead of taking a new tube from where I always put the toothpaste. For those who have read my blog from my trip to South Africa with Sarah, we found our strengths in our MC team bonding to the west of Uganda. I managed the finances and got us safely back home. Sarah did all the bargaining. Yes, your strengths-discovery lies on the other side of your MC experience dear reader😅
PS: This is not a lesson
This is more of something I miss about my MC experience and less about a lesson. I miss the craziness that comes with it- not partying (though we did a little of that too). I mean it terms of the ideas. You came up with an idea, crazy as it was, your MC would support you with it. When we decided to create an education cycle from scratch for the members which involved creating a project tracker in the form of bottles representing how far everyone was with their content, we all took in tow. Competition had us making videos all the way into 2 am just to ensure our bottles were full. That was also when I found that I don't just enjoy project management, but that I was also good at it.
In Conclusion
Have fun and enjoy every unique opportunity you have. I don't know if you relate, but sometimes, you can be living an answered prayer but be so focused on the next thing you want to achieve that you forget to savor the moment. MC experience in itself is a unique opportunity. Doing it abroad brings a whole new dynamic into it. We defined our own work hours and being mostly night owls we'd be awake till around 3am and only wake up at 9am at the earliest. Work-life balance was non-existent. Sometimes we had little feuds within the house, we had constructive feedback which after getting a little mad after the feedback came to realize how crucial it was. We worked and lived together- no breaks, nowhere else you can go. Truly one-of-a-kind experience that I thank God I got to experience.
To date, I am thankful for the experience that I had. I built my self-confidence through setting goals and achieving them. Like how I was scared shitless of public speaking and by the end was able to stand and deliver sessions during conferences and report progress to the Board of Advisors. I am thankful for the lives I touched if any. I am thankful for the unsureness that came with it, the fear, the questioning myself (because at some point I really did start to question why I was doing volunteer work when I could be finding a job).
At the end of the day, things worked out. As they always do. And Uganda will always have a special place in my heart. And not just because of the cheap alcohol😂