The Land of the Pharaohs

Few years back if somebody were to tell me that I would be going to Egypt - ' The Land of the Pharaohs' I wouldn't have believed them but now the tables have turned and I'm going to Egypt next month. ( Whoo hooo!!!)

It has been one year since I got to know that the next Presidents Meeting is going to be in Egypt and was excited by it as most others but it's only now that the feeling is sinking in fully. I cant wait to see the Pyramids, Alexandria, and all other things and places I've been reading of during my childhood. It's for sure a dream coming true for me...

Its not all fun, this trip infact its more work if anything but the conference itself will have lots of excitment for me, starting from meeting up with friends from the other countries to oppertunities to promote Sri Lanka among over 95 countries.

I'm yet to plan out my post conference travels in detail but know that I should get that out of the way soon. I've been doing initial research on the country and the culture and thought to share something that I came across with all of you...

Greetings in Egypt

Besides the traditional Islamic greeting of "assalaamu alaikum", there is the extended "assalaamu alaikum rahmatullahi wa barakatu". The first being "peace be upon you" and the second being "may the peace and blessings of God be upon you". In Egypt there is also a series of morning greetings which are heard and many times lead to a contest of who can give the best greeting. Someone will say "sabah el kheir"(good morning) and then may receive the response "sabah el noor"(morning of light) the exchange continues with the first person saying "sabah el foul"(morning of jasmin flowers" and receives the response of "sabah el eishta"(morning of cream, this is what the British call clotted cream or Devon cream which is served on sweets). By this time the two participants are laughing at their out linguistic cleverness.

Am I going to Ghana for one year?

Well I guess the first question that comes to the minds of the people is , Where is Ghana ? :) For those of you have no clue Ghana is a country in West Africa.

So what is my interest in Ghana? Well, nothing much I just want to spend one year of my life there !!!

I applied to the Member Committe of AIESEC in Ghana as a Vice President and every day I'm getting more and more excited about it. If I get selected, which I only get to know around the 5th of Feb, I would be one year working with Ghanians who seem to be wonderful people.

Why Ghana? Well the whole package seems interesting similar yet so different to Sri Lanka in terms of both country and AIESEC. The People, The Culture, The Nature all has me captivated about Ghana and the more I read the more I find my self drawn towards it.

I first got to know of Ghana back in 2003 when I was first selected for the International Virtual Team, the Suxxess Network Drive Team, and had a Ghanaian team mate. My friend Bior with whom I used to chat a lot on MSN later became MCP of AIESEC in Ghana parallel to my LCP term. I also got to meet him here in Sri Lanka cause that year AIESEC in Sri Lanka hosted the International Presidents Meeting and he was attending as President elect. Bior was my first connection to Ghana and the only one for a long time :)

Then few months back I came accross the blog of Dalia, a Lithuanian girl on International Experince with Ghana and this also went in to my mind I guess. It was exciting for me to be reading about her experiences.

But it was only when I came accross the Application for the Member Committee and started reasearching more and more about the country I made up my mind that this is a place I would love to be and makea difference at. I know that its gonna be challanging but that's just what I'm looking for !!!

8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific

I've found interest in the next ICAAP ever since I got to know of it and now I'm looking at possibilities of cooperation with them. Next week I'll be meeting up with few people from the organizers and presenting ideas for cooperation. The funny thing was to find people I've already networked with involved Dinidu and Nurani will be two of the people that I would be meeting up. Overall this has me very excited these days !!! even with me jumping off my seat at times cause of how things are falling in to place.

A strong possibility of not being in Sri Lanka ( rather somewhere in Africa) has not deterred me from pursuing this, I believe that there is a strong oppertunity to make a difference and that its my reponsibility to make it happen.

HIV/AIDS is a growing problem in Sri Lanka though I have many people saying to me that its not. May be they compare our situation to that of African region and say this but the fact that I read there are more than 1Million HIV/AIDS affected in India means it can easily come in to the country. Moreover I believe that for us to fight the epidemic we should start our campaing early and not look around to patch things up when we face a tougher reality in few months or years time.

If you are interestedted in getting to know more about the conference and the youth related activity happening alongside it, visit www.icaap8.lk

Day full of Entrepreneurial Spirit !

Just thought to recap the happenings of my exciting day today where most of the time was spent on Entrepreneurship related events.

First it was the session by the Indian School of Business that we had a 24 member strong AIESEC delegation attending on the topic "Building Entrepreneurial Organisations Across Generations".

The panel was made up of Prof. Ram ( ISB) as the moderator, Mr. Mano Selvanadan ( Carsonscumberbatch) , Mr. Udena Wickramasooriya ( Brandix), Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara ( PIM) and Mrs. Thushara Kanakaratna ( Nadastra / Virtusa)

Each person was sharing their connection to Entrepreneurship and gave away wealth of knowledge for me to adapt for my own Entrepreneurial venture. Though their focus was on Corporate Entrepreneurship and mine is on Social Entrepreneurship I picked up many things I know that are going to help me if future.

I found Mrs. Thushara Kanakaratna's experience sharing interesting in one sense cause she was the only female Entrepreneur there and we dont find so many at that level and it the IT sector; then because of the fact that she's an 'Serial Entrepreneur' now part of her 3rd Entrepreneurial experience of setting up an venture. I could relate to this loads cause I know that I am also highly facinated when it comes to starting new venutres and getting them off the ground.

So after a bit of networking ( met Mr. Patt - Carsons, Ms. Shiroma - HSBC, Dr. Travis Perera - PIM, CIMA Staff Members, Kelaniya University Lecturers) and lunch with the gang it was next to a meeting with a Local Committee President for a 1 hour meeting. At the end of the meeting you find me rushing to the next event for the day, yeah the topic is again Entrepreneurship !!! , an Entrepreneurship Learning Circle at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura.

Here I get my next dose of Entrepreneurial Spirit for the day and quite a strong one at that. The special invitee for the event was Mr. Rohan Pallewatte ( CEO, Lanka Harnessing (Pvt) Ltd ) who's experience sharing was extremely powerful. After the all the amazing stories depicting true entrepreneurial spirit he told of then came the surprise.

The organising committe ran a video of his speech at the TYOP award for 2006 which left me speechless and humbled. He started with showing gratitude towards Buddha and the Dhamma and then he recognised the efforts of the Armed Forces for us to live the lives we are living. During his speech he showed his grattitude to his mother is words spoken in Sinhala and then talked about his late father and his gratitude towards him. Then having thanked a number of people who have helped him over the years he next went on to thank the Chairman of his company in Japanese. He finished his speech of with making a remark that each individual must think of their contribution towards the GDP of the country.

I believe I learnt something from each of them and that the power of their Entrepreneurial Spirist has empowered my own spirit to take on challanges.

The Sunday Times - AIESEC to host annual meeting in Egypt

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ISSN: 1391 - 0531 Sunday, January 14, 2007 Vol. 41 - No 33- No 33

Financial Times

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AIESEC to host annual meeting in Egypt AIESEC, the world's largest student-run organisation, will host the annual International President's Meeting 2007 in Egypt from February 18-27 where the Presidents of 95 countries will reunite for the most important event of the year. Leaders of 95 countries travel to Egypt to attend the most important annual meeting for the world's largest youth organization, the organisers said. The International Presidents Meeting is where almost 200 leaders from across the 95 country network will come together to elect new International leadership as well as develop future global strategies for the following year. For the past 58 years, AIESEC has held a crucial position in bringing together influential entities to work together for a common goal and develop future leaders that have the knowledge, skills, networks, and expertise to have a positive impact on their societies. Suchith Abeyewickreme (President, AIESEC in Sri Lanka), Sahan Hannadige (President elect, AIESEC in Sri Lanka) and Rajith Thiyambarawatte will represent Sri Lanka at this global conference.