I've got my elect !!!

It seems like yesterday when I got elected for President of AIESEC in Sri Lanka but time has flown by like nothing :) and I already have an elect to take after the position after me.


Being President of AIESEC in Sri Lanka was a dream of mine, one that came true, though at a time I had even given up on it on personal reasons. To be the leader for an organisation full of young people with aspirations and all of them on a voluntary basis and to represent your tiny island among a network of 95 countries is an unparallel experience that very few people get in this world.




Congratulations!!! Sahan for taking up the challange of leading our wonderful organisation. Seeing the younger generation of very passionate AIESECers I know that you will be able to drive AIESEC in Sri Lanka to greater hieghts. I wish you courage and inspiration !!!

Now that the drama has finished I can once more start to think about next step for my AIESEC experience. I want to gather international experience and think an International Leadership oppertunity would suit me best, but more on that later.

Awesome time at the SLYP workshop at Thottupola

I got a surprising invitation to the Colombo Skills Workshop of the Sri Lanka Youth Parliament ( SLYP) just the night before the weekend workshop. A weekend I was thinking to keep to myself to rest up a bit and head home, but the opportunity to network with young people passionate about social change got the best of me and there I was getting up early morning to head to 'Thottupala' (Piliyandala) for a weekend residential workshop.

Looking out at island in the lake from top of the tower	Our room with the view...	Toilet pretty much open to nature on one side :)

The weekend was relaxing, entertaining and also meaningful :) a nice combination !!! The major moment was the 'aerial rope' thinggy from 70m up coming down with a rush of adrenaline. It's just that sec on lift off you get such a kick that at the end after you hit the water you are like 'woah!!' and wanting to go once more.

The workshops included topics like Problems Analysis, Awareness Raising, Advocacy and Lobbying that I found pretty interesting as an aspiring social entrepreneur.

Besides the workshops, the adventure it was the people that made it most special, a cool young crowd that you can relax and enjoy with. Thnx all for the awesome time!!! Getting to know you was a blast !!

They say pictures can say more than any words could...so here goes...

The Aerial Rope in front of the sunset	It starts 65m to 70m up...	Coming down with a rush of adrenaline

Me and Hisham back on land	The guys playing in the pools	Bonfire !!!

Dinner with bon fire and candlelight	Teaching them to play Mafia :)	It wasn't all just games and play :)

Country Visit from Ryan ( Director Asia Pacific, AIESEC International )

Well we just droped off Ryan ( Director Asia Pacific at AIESEC International ) at the Air Port after hosting him for 6 days on his country visit to Sri Lanka.

The visit was focusing on providing country coaching on different aspects whilst also havign a special day to work on the Growth Network ( Asia Pacific) Board matters.

Ryan's visit was a refresher in the sense we got a person who had a strong idea of the organisations direction to look at our reality at this critical point in time with six projects kicking off. The points highlighted during the visit are sure to help us to improve on things.

With the country visit last time having ended up a mess in more ways than one I was pretty keen to make sure this year it never got to something like that. It was good to hear from him that though he didnot have much of an idea of what to expect here in AIESEC in Sri Lanka what encountered has left a positive impression on him. This makes me happy of the effort put in from my side to have an awesome country visit.

Another guy who came through on the country visit was Insha ( or is it Insa/Insar need to ask him) who hosted Ryan at his home during the visit. He was an awesome host making sure everything was going a'ok and even calling me up twice a day to make sure it was so. Thanks bro and big thanks for your parents also.

During the visit itself there were several funny moments when we had fun on Ryan's behalf. First it was a "traditional" welcome after picking him up at the air port which involved a chanting ceremony (all made up) and making him some unknown leaves.

Then it was once more fun to watch Ryan going throgh our latest farewell ritual the "Yoga Therapy". This involvs a Yoga book left at the office by an previous intern and us choosing which poses on the book the star of the day must take. After couple of single poses the one on the picture is one where Ryan had to take on a love pose with a volunteer ( I got Sahan nominated for this ;) hope he doens't know it was me)