How much is too much?

Quoting

Activating Leadership

We lead by example and inspire leadership through our activities. We take full responsibility for developing the youth leadership potential of our members.

Demonstrating Integrity

We are consistent and transparent in our decisions and actions. We fulfil our commitments and conduct ourselves in a way that is true to our ideals.

Living Diversity

We seek to learn from the different ways of life and opinions represented in our multicultural environment. We respect and actively encourage the contribution of every individual.

Enjoying Participation

We create a dynamic environment created by active and enthusiastic participation of individuals. We enjoy being involved in AIESEC.

Striving for Excellence

We aim to deliver the highest quality performance in everything we do. Through creativity and innovation we seek to continuously improve.

Acting Sustainably

We act in a way that is sustainable for our organisation and society. Our decisions take into account the needs of future generations.

These are our AIESEC values. This is a sort of philosophy we live daily once we get to know AIESEC and it stays in our hearts, in our minds. This is what I have believed in since I joined AIESEC in 2007 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. I have gone through a beautiful profound life experience, made lots of strong friendships with young in mind and brave in heart people from all world regions, travelled to a few countries and lived for less than a year in Latvia. Logically, I decided to continue my AIESEC career aiming higher, I was looking for a professional upgrade, I was looking for challenges, I was looking for another exciting year in my life. You know why? Reasons are multiple. One reason is my beloved one: I want to be a cool grandmother. Yes, yes, the coolest grandmother ever that my grandchildren could have. Future projections.

Now, dreaming is great. My dear friends, dare to dream. Dare and make your dreams come true. It is a wonderful feeling.

However, we are now in present. Therefore, let me talk about what is happening NOW and HERE.

Owing to an international leadership experience back in AIESEC Latvia and in Kazakhstan, I have coordinated a national exchange programme. During our year in Latvia our team made a breakthrough: 40 talented young people caught the right opportunity and experienced Latvian culture as well as brought their innovative approaches in solving vitally importnat issues to the societies of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Armenia, the Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, Malaysia, Moldova, Peru, Colombia. This is our main product- AIESEC Experience. This is what we promise to our stakeholders and this what we should deliver. The better the service , the higher customer satisfaction we receive. Right? Or I am wrong?

My long term AIESEC experience showed to me that nothing is impossible. Nothing. You have a goal, you have resources- you will achieve it. You will taste success in the end. Definitely. Do not tell me you cannot make it happen. You just did not try hard enough to make it happen. You do not need to try hard. Play smart and results will come ultimately. Have some patience and have a positive attitude. Easy.

Right, it is easy. However, a disappointing fact ALL AIESEC interns face DAILY here with AIESEC India say it is not that easy.

My point here is simple: AIESEC India "leads" a totally different AIESEC philosophy. Odd AIESEC way.

Reception culture. After painful conversations with many young students that came to India for short term development internships from all over the world to improve illiteracy in outskirts of India or to drive Anti-HIV campaigns, etc I see tears and fears in their eyes. I see uncertainty and non confidence in themselves. After they landed in airports they are not picked up. They are not provided with accommodation at least for the beginning. Or if they are provided with accommodation, then this place may have a room, an AC, and a bathroom. It is an ideal case. I am encountering with these situations daily, in Mumbai and in Hyderabad. I question here the following: if you cannot manage fifty ( 50 ) interns on average in a quarter why do you keep bringing people here?

Legal issues. Management internship with TCS that I am in as well as most of my friends here requires a longer staying in India. Thus, it involves a legal registration of foreigners. While my staying in Mumbai, my friends and I had to CHASE AIESEC Exchange responsible members to assisst us in legal registration. After two weeks of a long procedure we got the stamps and we started working in the company. My question here is - you know your pipeline of incoming interns, you can project how many passports need to be registered, you know what promise you give to your stakeholders. Why do you complicate the processes?

New economy. Labour mobility is widespread nowadays. Though it concerns some governments, labour mobility's core is as old as the world: our ancestors migrated to have a better life, and current world population flows due to the same reasons. State of the art technologies give a room to practise a new economy : business can be done virtually and you do not necessarily need to be present physically in the office. Seems that AIESEC India is very progressive in these terms. Once an intern arrived, AIESEC India members forget about him/her. No or low interaction with him/her, no welcome parties, no cultural activities that build awareness about India, that break people's stereotypes. An intern just adds another number in an Excel sheet. I question a member from AIESEC in India: what reception have you received in another country during your internship ( if you had one ) ? Or what reception would you like to receive once you decide to go for minimum 2 months internship to any part of the world?

People. Eventually, we deal with young people in AIESEC India. An average age of an AIESECer in Western Europe is around 23-25. Our members in AIESEC Latvia and Kazakhstan are 20-25 years old. An executive member of AIESEC Mumbai, India is 17. When you are 17, you most probably care about education, social life, Facebook. A mate of mine has witnessed it in Mumbai: an intern arrived, and a reception coordinator was chatting with him in Facebook. Yes, it is a down to earth example. But we talk about people and their lives. We talk about EXPERIENCES - we just talk and we do not make any right actions.

It is very crucial- at least for my friends and me - to prevent these situations with future interns. A giant work must be done. First, it should be understood by every member of AIESEC India, and it shall be solved by executive members of National Board of AIESEC India. Show your leadership by managing your Numerical Desires in a right way.

I am extremely disappointed I know the answers. I feel ashamed when I see interns' tears and I cannot help. They love India but they hate AIESEC here.

My purpose of this post is not to destroy image of AIESEC in general or AIESEC India in particular. My aim is to give a voice of another numerical result, or a voice of an intern and ASK every single person from AIESEC India - what are you doing to improve your reality? How do you plan to manage your membership and impact young people's lives? What are those stories that we tell ? How will they determine the way we live?