New Zealand, 26-09-2010 - 24-11-2010
In May of 2010 I decided that I needed a break from my studies between my bachelor Business Studies and my maser Marketing Research. Luckily plenty of AIESEC people were around on campus to convince me to go on an internship supported by this great student organization. After both parties agreed I eagerly started looking for a suitable internship. It was not for long until AIESEC Waikato contacted me (yes, I was very lucky) and notified me of the possibility of going on a DT in New Zealand. The reputation of New Zealand being first of all one of the most beautiful places on earth and second being the home of very hospitable people, were enough to trigger my interest and so I started looking in to the offer. That’s how I first learned about CanTeen.
CanTeen is a NGO supporting young people living with cancer, they organize all kinds of member activities for both young cancer patients as well as their siblings. For example all the members go to an amusement park together once a year. Activities like these cost loads of money and thus CanTeen organizes yearly fundraising activities, one of these is the sales of Bandannas. These rags are to be placed upon your head and often worn by cancer patients, as a sign of compassion these Bandannas are sold to all the Kiwi’s (New Zealanders). My job was, together with 9 other international interns, to first find suitable places for sales, do the logistics, contact schools for awareness presentations & sales and for the majority actual fundraising and sales of Bandannas on the streets and shopping centra of Hamilton.
Together with my mainly Chinese colleagues and now friends, we raised over NZ $28.000,00, almost 4 times the amount compared to the previous year. I honestly think there were few Hamiltonians left without at least one Bandanna.
AIESEC Waikato’s role in this process was supportive, they arranged pick-ups and host families and were planning ahead dozens of activities. However this being the first time since years that AIESEC Waikato had received interns we could clearly see some flaws in their excessive planning. Altough with a 2-week window of feedback we managed to steer all processes in the right direction and I do think everyone eventually learned a great deal and made some good friends. One thing you should keep in mind is that it’s always YOU who will have to make the most of your work, for example our original tasks were not that challenging, but after some brainstorming and effective actions we were able to turn this around in a very successful project.
Luckily it was not only working and discussions in New Zealand, that would be a shame as there is so much to see, to do and so many people to meet in this amazing country. It already started on my airplane flight. In the seats next to me a Kiwi couple and I started talking and this ended up in them inviting me over for a visit at their beach house in Tauranga (which ended up being awesome). Things like this happened to me and many other travelers regularly, I experienced Kiwi’s to be very open to other cultures and people in addition of having a great hospitality. So is hitch hiking a good way of getting around, you can easily get a pick up to your destination from a kiwi and you’d be unlucky if you would only get an extensive tour with great stories, it’s more likely that you would also get invited over for dinner. Then there are the amazing and diverse landscapes, which makes New Zealand really the most beautiful place to visit. Flawless beaches, volcanoes, high snow-covered mountains, fiords, lush rainforest, glaciers, geysers and a lot of meadows with sheep, everything is there! It’s definitely a must to travel around and not be stuck in a city like Hamilton or Auckland. Me and my Chinese colleagues had an amazing trip around the north island, where we met a great deal of other travelers and did things like sky diving and doing a 7 hour track through volcano landscape. It certainly invites for a longer stay and a visit to the South Island, which I did.
To finish up some Do’s and Dont’s while in New-Zealand:
Do:
- Taste a Fergburger in Queenstown
- Go to a rugby match
- Go Skydiving
- Go Backpacking
- Buy a CanTeen bandanna
Don’t:
- Call a Kiwi an Australian
- Stay in Hamilton for too long, go out!
- Go to a cricket match
Bram Voets
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