Melina's story
She went to a Development Traineeship in India.
"I am one of the interns, who had a developmental internship for about 6 weeks in Baroda, found in the state of Gujarat in India. I have chosen to do my internship on the ‘Tribal’ project as it consists of many different interesting aspects like village trips and deliver workshops. I also wanted to learn about indigenous people; we don't know much about their culture, so I wanted to learn more about it, as well as to share my own culture with them. India was not my first choice for my internship, but ends up to be a fantastic trip and I cannot imagine how my internship could have been
betterThe village trips were one of my best experiences. Both trips were very enriching and showed me other aspects of India. When we entered in villages, it was as if we were in a different country: the atmosphere, the environment. Village life seems so interesting and it was a challenging experience. It was so easy to relate to the environment, but concerning interaction with the locals, it took a slightly longer. At first I found it a bit difficult to interact with the lady in the kitchen, the principal of an adolescent’s school and the kids. It’s so difficult to gain the locals’ trust, and even more when there is a language barrier. I never spoke Hindi in Mauritius, but still I could manage a bit and could at least understand Hindi. It was nice to see the children so amazed by our culture presentation and how they joined us in the jives(dance).
One of the hardest moments was to see the children’s daily tasks: the boys have to cut grass and feed the cows while the girls were helping in the kitchen. The kids were all under 11 and doing hard manual jobs, which would be considered as child labour in many societies. It was amazing to see how organised these
kids were, their rapid pace and competence in their different tasks. Another awesome experience was to attend National Congress 2010 in Kodai Kanal, where I learned so much on AIESEC in general; the hierarchy system, goals, application of AIESEC values.
This internship contributed a lot to my self - development; I came across all kind of experiences and challenges in different aspects. I have learned to be more independent, to live with my roommates, work as a team, rely more on papers with signatures than trusting people, respect other lifestyles’ and Gujaratis’ culture. Throughout my internship I achieved all my objectives, and even more than that. But nevertheless, it seems that 6 weeks were not enough. Furthermore, I met with some trustworthy friends in Baroda, and also throughout the globe."
Melina Mootien
University of Mauritius
Samia's story
She went to a Development Traineeship in Indonesia
"My internship was a very enriching one in terms of lifestyle, environment, Culture shock and much more. I was quite confused and deoriented at first, but as the days went by i got to feel more confident that this was going to be an AMAZING time. The population of Indonesia consist of Muslim as majority and myself being a muslim i have to admit that i experience a totally different way of practising my religion. Youngsters there had a totally different lifestyle than in Mauritius. I got engrossed in their traditional food, habits. I met amazing people from many different countries, all of us having to deal with this new place, the food. Fortunately Indonesian people are very warm and they tried to help us in all of our worries however trivial they were. My hosting family felt like true family and i still do miss all the people ive met over there.
The country itself was just beautiful, i saw some of the most beautiful sunrise and nature ever. Transportation and food was very cheap and therefore i could afford to do a lot of traveling around.I have so many memorable moments, seeing a sun rise at the top of a mountain with a temperature below 10, traveling to GILI Island to swim and see turtles. But what i enjoyed the most was how it felt to be among Interns and just chiling out , sharing our thoughts, laughing over all the awkward situations we were going through.
I was surprise to see such a busy inflow of Interns in Malang. The AIESEC team was always busy organising for new comers as soon as one group was finishing its work. they have their own way of making things work for the best. I believe Education Projects were the most fruitful. Unfortunately i observer a reluctancy from companies to change and go with the evolution of the market. Indoensian people are very rooted to there traditional ways and work with intuition.
This experience will remain in my heart for always, it was a taste of independence and responsibility. I also got to see what i was capable of and broke all the perception that my family had over me. I also got to know how to manage my money well and understand its value. I didnt let one day slip and tried to take the best out of this internship. I came out of it more mature in a way J"
Samia Hussanee
University of Mauritius
Rezah's story
He went to a Development Traineeship in India.
"Arriving in Baroda was a very strange but pleasant feeling for me as it was my first time abroad and the most important my ever first internship. I would say first internship as I intend to go for internship again. I went for home stay at an AIESEC'er's place. The family was very welcoming, I felt like being at home,they would always be talking to me, about the Indian culture and traditions.
Then came the event , Balkalakar. Balkalakar was an event organized by AIESEC in Baroda for school children with theme “EVERY CHILD IS AN ARTIST”. In the event I was part of the volunteer team looking up for the children. Each child participating in the different competitions had a very creative and realistic view about the future especially for the environment. During that event I felt like to be part of that organizing team and learned in some way how to manage an event on the field and also to get to know about the vision of children about the society and environment and the world.
Next came AP+, it was my first ever interaction with an HIV positive person in India and the most important part would be bringing all HIV positive persons together for experience sharing. Even knowing about HIV, when I first stepped in that NGO, I had a sort of a fear. But after having talked to those staff among who were HIV+ persons, I came to know that knowing about HIV in theory and doing practical work on the field is completely different. It brought me a huge learning point and more courage to go ahead for my internship for the welfare of HIV + persons and spread the awareness about HIV.
Then the visit to Laksya Trust. This trust is an organization which is for the homosexual and bisexual community in Baroda. It was very sad to see how homosexuals are being treated. Talking with them was really nice as they also are human being after all. It made me thought about one of the criteria of AIESEC, we do not discriminate on sexual orientation.
During a village trip whose name is Rangpur, I was involved in sessions on hygiene, environment, importance of education and HIV awareness. Sharing of culture by all interns involved in the village trip. During the 3 day stay in that village, I realized that how we citizens of Mauritius are so lucky to get every facility. Those people in village are deprived of many advantages that we do have in Mauritius and we neglect them.
I was part of the Mauritian delegation for AIESEC in India National Congress. During the congress, I developed many ideas how I could make AIESEC in MAURITIUS have a faster growth, interacted with other delegations with which I came to know about their strategies of how to make a progressive and sustainable growth. So basically AIESEC in INDIA National Congress has brought me loads of ambitions that I can do for my LC AIESEC in Uiniversity of Mauritius."
Rezah Aubdoollah
University of Mauritius
Wenda Ho Tu Nam
She went to Malaysia for Development Traineeship.
To all people going in an internship, missing your family and also your habits at first, which is totally natural especially for us Mauritian who are usually very family-oriented. But gradually, the interns become your “family”- you live in the same house you take all your meals together, you go out with them. It definitively creates some links.
The best part of the job, which was spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS to the youth under “The Red Project”, was the workshops we conducted. I like it because it allowed me to meet local people and this is when you really learn about their culture.
One best memory was my trip to Thailand with two of the interns – Sheysi from India and Beverley from Hong Kong who became my best friends there during the one-week holiday we got from the job. It was totally unplanned and it sure was a great experience I gain from the internship.
Rowin Kristnama
He went to India for Education Traineeship.
I worked on a project called Worldview and conducted cultural sessions with 8-14 year old children. We were a group of 12 interns from 9 different countries. I helped in an event hosted by AIESEC Chandigarh called Empower and participated in its Local Congress. Back to Mauritius, I was handed responsibility of the External Relations, Communications and Information Management portfolio. I improved my selling skills following the two events I was responsible for during my term: Global Village and Entrepreneurship Day. I found my way in press articles and media coverage to promote AIESEC internships. I am now on the Executive Board again: ready for more life-changing experiences.
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