Experience: Damiaan van Ballegooijen, Kampala, Uganda

I went to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, for 8 weeks. During this period I did an internship at the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in the first part of the day and a Microfinance and Entrepreneurship (MFE) project in the afternoon. I wanted to gain another international experience and do something totally different, therefore I was especially eager to go to Africa. AIESEC was able to give me this opportunity and guided me through the search process. I applied to different Traineeships, this process took a lot of time and was frustrating in the sense that some TN managers took a long time to respond. But when I came across the TN in Uganda and got a positive reply quickly I was very enthusiastic, and was able to “make a match”.

A couple weeks later I was on my way to Uganda, I flew via Dubai and I stayed there for 10 days, so that was a good start to my journey. I arrived in Kampala a couple weeks before my internship started and I had already booked a safari for the first week. I chose to go earlier because I wanted to travel around in the country as well and I expected that I would not have the opportunity to do that during the internship.

After I travelled around I still had one week left before the project started and I met with the LC for the first time to set expectations and go through all the things I needed to know. Unfortunately, they were not very clear about the EP’s role in the MFE project and they still had some difficulties with the internship but I was assured everything would be fine. Which in the end it was. The housing was not yet arranged so I stayed in a small hotel in the centre of Kampala, where I stayed the rest of my stay because I was able to make a nice deal with the owner, and because it was very close to work.

The other interns from the MFE project started to arrive as well and my internship at the CMA started with only one week delay. I was a research intern and assisted in data entry and other daily tasks of the senior research officer, I also had to write a report on the Influence of the African Monetary Union on the Integration of the Capital Markets in East Africa. It is a very interesting time in East Africa, as they are in the process of becoming an integrated trade block.

When all the other EPs had arrived the MFE project also started, there were around 20 local students attending and 8 international EPs. During 6 weeks, the students were given lectures from professionals from the field of Entrepreneurship and Microfinance. Although the role of the EPs were unclear in the beginning, we had to give presentations when there was no technical facilitator. We also acted as facilitators in discussion and role plays. At the end of the project all the participants had to write a business plan and incorporate the things they had learned during the project.

During the course of the exchange there were some situations where the cultural differences became apparent. For instance, before the project started, I was supposed to meet a couple of LC members to recruit students for the MFE project on campus at 2 pm. I was at the university right on time and started to call some members to tell them where I was and confirm our meeting, they said that one of the members would be there very soon and that they did not know where the others were. Time went on and reached 3pm, still nobody, I started calling again, but nobody picked up their phone, and I decided to wait for another 20 min or so… After 15 minutes one of the members called and they told me that nobody could make it… and that we will start recruiting tomorrow! Normally “African Time” meant a little later but not that they did not show at all!

The local AIESEC community was very active and organized all kind of activities. There were a couple of universities where AIESEC operated and they all had EPs over for the summer. So we were with a big group of interns. Next to the weakly drinks at the local bar Mateo’s, they also organized a conference in Entebbe, one hour away from Kampala, where we stayed for a whole weekend and all kind of activities were organized. The interns also organized their own activities, we went rafting in the Nile in Jinja with a big group for instance. And a lot of people travelled to Kenya and Tanzania. I went to South Africa with two other interns during the World Cup 2010 where we visited the games USA-Ghana and Netherlands-Slovakia.

What did I Learn?

First of all, this experience gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of new people, not only from Uganda but from all over the world. You hear a lot of different life stories and learn about many different countries. But of course I learned most about the Ugandan culture, not only about their timing, but also about their view of the world and for instance the importance of their religion. During my internship at a formal government organization I learned about the Ugandan business culture, which I experienced as formal in official business and with superiors, but at the same time very relaxed and fun between colleagues. 

Next to that I experienced first hand the difficulties that people from my age experience when they grow up in a country where the possibilities are less than what we are used to. This changed my view of the world that we live in.

The advantage of doing an exchange with AIESEC is that you are not on your own. During the summer there were approximately 40 international interns in Uganda. I have made a lot of new contacts and already met with a few of them a couple of weeks ago. AIESEC also facilitates a lot of projects like the MFE project where you can put your knowledge you gained in practice. I gave a lot of presentations and taught others what I have learned during my studies which was a very satisfying. Another good thing about an AIESEC project is that you can have influence in the way it is organized because it is all done by students. Therefore I have learned how to organize a project and especially have learned from the things that went wrong. I can only say that it was an amazing experience, and that I would recommend it to everybody!

Experience: Freek Soetenga, New Delhi, India

Hi everyone! 

I am Freek Soetenga, former student of Tilburg University. 

I majored in Human Resource Studies and graduated in February 2010 in Tilburg. Of course I could have opted for a more common start of my occupational career, but I decided differently. 

In 2007-2008 I spent one semester as an undergrad student at a American University and ever since I have felt the desire to go abroad, for a longer period of time, again. I feel like you really get to know the inhabitants and their culture when you live and work in a foreign country, as opposed to visiting 

the same country as a tourist. I wanted something new, something different. Therefore I decided to sign up for AIESEC and try my luck with them. Soon I realized that India would be the best option for me. For many different 

reasons, but mostly because I had heard so many fascinating stories about that place. I wanted to experience and see what it is like myself. 

My coach warned me that several LCs in India are on a blacklist because they 

hardly organize anything for foreign EPs. I decided to go anyway and two weeks after my graduation I landed on Indian soil. Well, to be frank, the LC is almost non existent. I met my contact person there only once, at work, just because the organization I worked for (Centre for Social Research, CSR in New Delhi) wanted them to come over because they also experienced some problems with that LC. To be completely honest, they did invite me twice for a 

dinner party, but both times it was during the weekend. And weekends are there for you as an EP to explore the country! That is the good thing about AIESEC in India. They put all AIESEC trainees in 4 or 5 different apartments so you have always other foreigners around you to hang out with. 

The downside is that you do not have any privacy really. We had to share rooms with one, two, three and at times even four other people. Two trainees had to sleep in the hallway, with just a little curtain to block the view. I was pretty 

lucky because I roomed with a very nice American guy and we got along well. 

Unfortunately our room did not have any windows, and just a fan to keep us ‘cool’. Just so you know, I am not complaining, I had a great time and I would definitely do it again, but I would not recommend it to anyone. I am trying 

to give you a realistic picture of the situation. Anyway, at one point the thermometer reached 48 degrees centigrade and the warmer it gets, 

the more likely it becomes that the power cuts out. One week there was some kind of construction going on, which resulted in four hour long 

power cuts, every single day. I had to work that week and I spent an equal amount of time in a basement, a relatively cool place, to read a book and wait for the power to come back on..great! 

Work. Of course I should also tell something about that aspect. What I learned in India that, and this is not just my opinion, but most other EP’s shared this, you should NOT go there if you want to expand your professional knowledge/skills. Most EPs were disappointed with their job and as a 

consequence, changed or quit early. I did not end up being disappointed because I kind of expected this to happen. I, and I would recommend this to everyone, went there to get to know the people, the way they work and to experience what their daily life looks like. 

To some extent I managed to do that and I am thankful for that. However, I would also like to tell something about my job. 

 CSR is an NGO that focuses on researching issues concerning underprivileged areas of society, restructuring gender relations and empowering women. I joined the research department to help them out with there ongoing and new studies, but, given my HR background, I was also promised that I would be responsible, together with a colleague, for setting up a HR department. 

 From day one I have been regarded as full-time employee. I started working 

right away on different studies. This really reminded me of just a month earlier when I was still working on my thesis. What I am trying to say is that my daily activities were very similar, especially at first, to what I had been doing at home. It helped that I felt like I was working for a good cause. At times I was the only one in that department - there were no other trainees and just two other foreigners - and because they treated me as a regular employee, they did not give me extra attention or whatsoever. I did not find this a major problem, but I can completely understand if someone else would have felt lonely. If you are that kind of person, try to join an organisation with many other foreigners (not hard to find) 

Luckily, this got better in my situation as well. At the end of April, beginning of May a lot of Indian and some foreign interns joined the organisation for the summer break. 

Also I got to go to several conferences (of which some were completely in Hindi..) and into the field to conduct the questionnaires I had developed. This made things more interesting. My second part of the job, the 

HR-related task, unfortunately never really materialised, except for some recruitment tasks.

 One more thing I want to say about CSR is that I was surprised by the way they carry out their research. It is very unprofessional (and this goes for a lot of things in India) and often even incorrect. I really feel that I helped them out in that area. I finished some projects, got funding, wrote research proposals and papers. 

At work, but even more so in daily life I experienced how bureaucratic and hierarchic the Indian society is. I can think of numerous examples. The caste system is still prevalent and everyone seems to be so afraid to lose his or her job that they will always live by the rules. For the most part people are sincerely friendly, but you have to be careful because you will also meet a lot of people 

(more than for instance in Nepal and China) who will try to take advantage of you; especially when you act like a tourist. Do not wear shorts or sunglasses and try to learn some Hindi, this will be a big help. Oh, somehow, people that try to sell random weird stuff to you - which happens all the 

time - never seem to understand that you are not interested in their product, instead they assume that they will have to lower their price. As a result they will follow you around for 40 minutes whilst shouting an arbitrary number in rupees at you; and in the end they will possibly get frustrated and most likely shout at you and then leave. 

Like I already said before, I would definitely recommend going to India, but be careful. Do not expect anything from the LC. Therefore, only go to a city in which there are many other AIESECers. 

Do not expect too much from you internship because you might end up getting frustrated. If you cannot stand heat, like me, you are going to have a hard time. The sweaty weather I did not like, in fact it was my least favourite part. Also, sometimes it is fairly hard to deal with all the beggars and poor people that surround you. One time, three little boys grabbed my leg and just would not 

let ago anymore. It is such a cliché, but at times like that you realise how well off we are in Europe. 

What I did like were the parties and weekend trips with other foreigners (and locals), the street food, the hospitals (yeah, you might get sick and some of your friends will for sure), every single rickshaw ride, the interaction with locals, getting to know the city and so much more. I could go on for hours, but I already rambled on for too long. So, if you have any questions, please, do 

not hesitate to ask me. 

Freek Soetenga 

Experience: Teun van Vlerken, New Delhi, India

My development internship was with an organization called Kalakar Trust, which takes care of slum children in New Delhi. The Trust was founded to protect the artistic skills of street artists who moved from Rajasthan to Delhi during the past half a century. In order to preserve their skills and enable them to sell these talents Kalakar Trusts provides education and health care to the slum colony where these people live. My role was to teach the children English.

The people at the school were very cooperative and kind. I found integration in the working culture of the school fairly easy, even though I was told that I was basically the first one out of many volunteers who had really managed to become a part of the school. At the time of teaching, there were no other trainees at the school.

The local AIESEC in New Delhi was not all too popular among trainees, to put it mildly. Suspicions about money, integrity and professionalism were more than once discussed. Actually, during my first week a massive fight was just going on as the trainee house had just been without running water for two weeks, and that in August when temperatures easily top 40 degrees Celsius.  However, I must say that, even though I have witnessed questionable behavior from the AIESEC LC, I have personally not encountered any problems. 

The cultures in India are so very different from what we are used to, so that one finds himself completely in a different world. Especially in New Delhi, the massive capital, life is pretty tough and it takes some time to figure out how to deal with a variety of issues. Just to name some; the daily struggle of bargaining a decent price for the auto rickshaw requires some skill and it is only after some weeks that you have mastered this. Dealing with the ever present bureaucracy demands a lot of patience and preparation. Being folded into a bus with so many people around you that you can hardly see any daylight through the mass of bodies are you may also require some getting used to. And of course the ever present variety of cows, dogs, monkeys and the like makes the streets look slightly different from what we are used to here in the Netherlands.

India however is a beautiful country to visit and to live in. Life is full of colours, scents, people, and surprises and the kind of person who is open and eager for new perspectives will without any doubt enjoy life on this subcontinent. The country allows all religions to be practiced freely, something that only adds to the wide range of different people and cultures.

On a personal level I don’t think my stay has really changed me, though it added a lot of insights and perspectives. This is because I had already lived for a longer time in another country and culture before, which prepared me to some extend to changes in my environment. However, if a long stay in India is your first experience abroad it may come as quite a shock.

Every extraordinary experience contributes to your general perception of the world and certain issues, and India has in this respect certainly done its job. You see and you act according to the situations you encounter, and hence breathe to the fullest extend the culture, but it may take years to fully comprehend what this has done to you and your personal development.

I certainly recommend New Delhi as a place for a traineeship (but you need to be flexible). It’s vast and ugly, pollution is terrible, the heat is sometimes unbearable, the food makes many people sick, monkeys may enter your house to steal things to eat, you lose your bag on a train or your watch on a bus, but it shapes you and in the end you will love it all.

Teun van Vlerken

Experience: Tjeerd van Kampen, Beijing, China

Dare to dream!

On the 12^th of May, 2008 a deadly earthquake occurred in the Sichuan province of China with 68,000 deaths. This catastrophe made many children orphans. When a student of the Renmin University of China in Beijing visited this area and saw these children, she decided to set up a project in her student organization to help the children. She was a member of AIESEC and created the Dare to Dream project. A project about inspiring children to dream with summer camps in Sichuan with foreign and Chinese volunteers.

Content of the project

The project took place for the third time in the summer of 2010 and consisted of 6 organizers, 23 foreign volunteers and 24 Chinese volunteers with duration of 6 weeks. The project started in Beijing, where the volunteers had training for 5 days. In Sichuan the group was divided into two smaller groups. Each group went to a different school, where they provided a summer camp of 10 days. After the first summer camp, we had a small break, where we evaluated and prepared for the second summer camp. After the second summer camp at two other schools, we evaluated in Chengdu. There ended the third Dare to Dream project.

The training in Beijing involved multiple things. First of all the training was about to learn each other better. We did name games, teambuilding games, and had some free time in the evenings to spend together. Secondly, we got some lectures about how psychological effected the children can be due the earthquake and how we have to cope with it. And last, but not least, we had to make courses and activities for the summer camps.

Every foreign volunteer was coupled with a Chinese volunteer and every pair taught one class in the summer camps. We had many different courses with fun interaction with the children. Some examples are English teaching, a lecture about responsibility, debates about topics of their interest, and presentations about dreams and careers. Furthermore, we had activities like Global Village, a cultural role play, a talent show, a sport meeting, a lip dub video and a goodbye party.

The organization

The organizers of the Dare to Dream Project arranged everything for the volunteers during our stay in China. They arranged the summer camps together with the schools, picked us up from the airport, arranged accommodation, and were always there if you needed something. They were really helpful.  But the organizers occasionally lacked the ability to take own initiative. Sometimes volunteers had to come in action or pushed the organization to gather necessary information. It was noticeable that the organization wasn’t experienced in leading projects of this scale, but they managed to make the project a success. In the end everything worked out and I’m really thankful for their big effort in this project.

My coaches in the Netherlands helped me professional with finding a good internship, prepare for the travel and were ready to help during my travel. I’m also thankful to them.

The culture

Chinese culture is completely different than the Dutch culture. The things I were really amazed about or were very noticeable to me are the following.

First of all, the traffic is completely different than the Netherlands, besides that the roads are bigger. They drive really close to each other, like to zigzag through the traffic, wear no seat belt, use cell phones while driving, and horn a lot to let others know they are coming. But no accidents! The drivers are really experienced! I feel also really safe when I’m in the bus or a taxi, even though the traffic looks like a mad house. Furthermore, when you have to cross the street, you just have to start walking. The cars will avoid you. After the first day I enjoyed crossing the street and the first days back in the Netherlands I cycled through red light all the time!

Besides that, the food is completely different, but very good! But at first eating with chopsticks was really awful. The Chinese volunteers, who treated me for a meal at the first day, gave me a spoon eventually. After 4 days I managed to eat with chopsticks properly and back in the Netherlands I eat meals with rice with chopsticks. As well is the food more spicy in China, even the KFC burgers!

Furthermore most of the Chinese can’t speak English at all, their English signs are so bad that it is funny, they spit occasionally on the ground, they like waiting, and they have always long discussions, which sounds like big fights due yelling.

Once in a lifetime experience

This travel showed me a lot of insight of what kind of person I am, what I can achieve and how I should live my life. I met awesome people, gain a lot of experience and had loads of fun!  Besides the teaching we also had loads of time for sightseeing. For instance, I have climbed a mountain, climbed the Great Wall, saw pandas, and visit the Terracotta Army. We also had to endure some difficulties, but together we managed them. The stay has changed me a lot due this knowledge and experience. I am really glad I joined this internship! This project blew my expectations completely away! Simple said, it was an once in a lifetime experience!

So if anyone has the same opportunity as me to go on an internship, I would say, do it! You won’t regret it! Just choose an internship that suits you and don’t forget that you control how good it will be!

Tjeerd van Campen, Tilburg

Experience: Sandra van Buren, Davao, Philippines

Hi AIESEC,

I would like to tell you about my great experience of last summer. 

I went to the Philippines, Davao City, and did a development internship in the Woman’s jail of Davao City and tutored kids in SOS children’s Village. 

It looks like a weird combination, but I had the best time ever. When I arrived in Davao, an AIESEC-er of the LC picked me up from the airport. He brought me to a hostel, where I spend the first night together with a Chinese girl who also arrived on the same day. Unfortunately it seemed to be that the organisation which I initially should volunteer for, cancelled my internship due to organisational reasons.

As AIESEC always says; ‘Take initiative!’ I lived in a house with five other girls. One of them was working at the Woman’s jail, I asked her if it was possible to come along. She asked her chief of Gawad Kalinga (the voluntary organization) and it was done, I could volunteer in the woman’s jail.

Woman’s jail

We were asked to set up a project for social and psychological activities in the jail. 

Gawad Kalinga restructured the jail in 2009. New cottages for the woman were build and new facilities came, so that they could live there in more human conditions.

My roommate, Olivia, and I were the first group of people who entered the jail as volunteers for this organisation. It was an impressive experience, because most of the woman didn’t see any foreigners ever. I’m a tall, blond girl with a really white skin, so that was even stranger for them… The women in the jail are mostly there for dealing drugs, because they needed the money to support their families. For their costs of living, they are dependent of friends and family. There are women in the jail, who don’t have friends and family or any visitors to support them. That is why, besides social and fun activities we wanted to organize something to support them financially. We organised a talent show, the women were singing, dancing etc. and we invited all AIESEC-ers and exchange participants. 

At the end of the show we asked for donations, so that we could buy the women shampoo, coffee, candy and fruits. It was fun to organise such an event and the women were so grateful. I learned a lot of these women; although they are in jail they are so hopeful and care about the good things in life and friendships. The women shared a lot of stories with us and I am grateful that they shared their experiences with us…

SOS Children’s Village

The project in the jail only lasts for around 4-5 hours a day, so I asked around for another project. A lot of the exchange participants in Davao city were volunteering at SOS Children’s Village. SOS Children’s Village is a project who creates a family for orphaned or abandoned children. These children live in a house between 8 and 11 children and there is one surrogate-mother. As you may notice, 11 children is a lot to handle for one mother. That is why the EP’s are there to help them. As a SOS-tutor you are the tutor of one child, I was the tutor of Mickey an 11-year old girl. The EP’s helped the children with their homework, played with them and gave them some special attention when needed. The children loved it that we were there with this group of EP’s. They loved the extra attention and shared their stories with us. Mickey had some problems to concentrate on her homework, so I thought about some activities to trigger her to do her homework. I made a scrapbook with her, with pictures, stories etc. When finished school we first worked on her scrapbook, after that we did her homework. A nice combination and the scrapbook is a nice remembrance of our time spend in Davao. With some of the EP’s we thought about doing something special for the kids and the mother of the house we were volunteering. Some of the children never went to the beach before, because they don’t have the money to go there. So we took the children to the beach and we all together had a great day.

Filipino-style

Besides the projects, there was some leisure time which I spend in Davao City and I also travelled a little bit with some other exchange participants I met in the Philippines. I visited the islands Cebu, Malapascua, Bohol and Luzon. The Philippines are really big, they have great beaches, but also nice mountains and beautiful rice terraces. I can tell that almost all of the Filipino people are so nice. 

They kind of admire Western people, because we are ‘the American dream’ and we can travel and do everything we want. But although there is a lot of poverty, Filipino people are very satisfied with their way of life. Filipinos are also very relaxed; when you decide to meet at 3 o’clock, don’t be surprised when somebody shows up at 4 o’clock… 

Filipino people eat rice as breakfast, lunch and dinner and they eat with a spoon and a fork instead of a knife and a fork. In most of the area’s they do not have flushing toilets and they do use toilet paper, but you have to bring it yourselves. Most Filipinos are catholic, but Davao is a catholic city on an Islamic-Island. A lot of people think that Davao City is unsafe, because it is on the Islamic-Island. But actually I felt safer in Davao City then in Tilburg... People recommend to not go outside of Davao, because of the Islamic-danger. I agree with that, but Davao City is so big that there is a lot to do in the city and you can spend your time at all of the surrounding islands.

The local committee was very nice, they organized a lot of dinners and joined a lot of activities we organised by ourselves. But, the committee is not working very efficiently. When I arrived and I did not have an internship, they were more relaxed and did not take any action to provide me an internship. 

Of course, it was not a problem to organize something myself.

I also had to arrange my accommodation myself, because they told me that I should stay in the hostel for a few days, but I rather wanted to be already with the other EP’s, so I arranged something myself. It is just the way you want it, you can wait for them to organize something, but I prefer to take action and do it myself. That is why we had dinner every night with a nice group of EP’s and did a lot of activities during the evenings and weekends.

There is a lot of poverty in the Philippines, but we, “Western people”, are quite rich there. During my stay in the Philippines I saw a lot of poverty, when I was in Davao and during travelling, but also a lot of richness, like going to the mall, cinema or have dinner in a luxury restaurant and go out every night. In Davao it is possible to do almost everything you want.

Experience

I met a lot of great people, AIESEC-ers, EP’s and a lot of local Filipino people. I did not want to miss anything and I am so glad that I had this experience. I tried to have no expectations before I went to the Philippines, so that I should not have a shock or something like that. I was enriched by the project at the jail, because it was a very special project.

I have an advice for all the people who are going on an internship; take action and be creative! There is a lot you can do, but arrange it yourselves. I did not expect to meet so many, great people and I am thankful to have this experience via AIESEC.

When you read this story and thinking of going on an internship via AIESEC and have any questions about a development internship or about the Philippines and Davao City you can contact me! I like to talk about the great time I had and hope you will have such an experience too.

Thank you AIESEC for this great experience!

Regards,

Sandra van Buren, Tilburg

Experience story: Roel Kramer, Nairobi, Kenya

Kenya, Nairobi, AIESEC Strathmore & UON

June the 5th, finally made up where to go because of too much interesting internship opportunities in different countries. Well, 2 weeks later I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya and the adventure could start!


I was going to work for Kuruka Maisha, an art school for street kids. I would help in daily operations, do some counselling and focus on marketing of the performances. And I would stay without any costs at the director of the organisation during the time of my internship. However, the day I arrived in the morning I was told he wasn't able to host me, so I was moving to another host “family” (one guy actually). It was a nice place, good location etc. But after a week he started asking for rent; €300 (which is enough money to rent your own house in Kenya). So again plans changed; I moved to the LC-house, living with 9 other international trainees. In the beginning we had some problems with running water; so sometimes showering meant throwing buckets of (cold) water over your head. Though everything got fixed after a while and it was really great living together with all those different nationalities, going on trips together, going for dinners, drinks, cinema, parties etc etc.


Then concerning my internship, there was a small problem. At the moment of my arrival the
organizational activity was around the level of zero. This was, as my director communicated, due to the fact that no money was transferred from the Belgian funder this month. But, it would arrive
anytime soon. So I started to think about all sorts of different projects I could start with. However, as time proceeded, my director kept telling me he expected to start lessons and projects again the next week. After three weeks I lost my patience, and went to search for other opportunities. Via some roommates and AIESEC UON I came into contact with the AHCP, which is an organization based in Kibera (the biggest slum). They had an entrepreneurship project, teaching young people about how to set up their own businesses. I really loved this project. 3 times I was teaching (sometimes together with other trainees, but most of the time alone) on marketing, finance, accounting, management etc. This was a wonderful experience, standing in front of a class of 13 students around my age and older. I really had the idea I could contribute a lot, since all the students seemed to learn a lot. There was a lot of interesting interaction with the students; they took me to their houses in the slum, invited me for a hike, showed me their current running business etc.

Then a bit about the social life in Kenya. Arriving at six in the morning in Kenya, the whole first day the people of AIESEC Strathmore showed me around in town. It was exhausting but very nice they took a whole day to show me around. The next day I would be taken to the project, but nobody came. I tried to call and text, but nobody showed up. Neither the next day. It was after 2 days that I took a matatu (bus) myself and met with somebody in town who could take me to my project. I can say that the AIESEC 'ers from Strathmore were not really very active and very much involved with the trainees (with a few exceptions there). 

Every Tuesday there were AIESEC drinks in a bar in town, including all LC's (there are 5 in Nairobi). Here I met a lot of AIESEC'ers from UON, also the LC where I ended up doing the project on entrepreneurship. These people were way more socially active and involved with the trainees. Actually from Strathmore they didn't even take care of me when I was telling about the lack of work at Kuruka Maisha, I had to take care of myself. Though I think that in Nairobi, no matter what LC you are, you can have a great time. If you are willing to take some effort to meet new people, it will be a lot of fun. Since there are a lot of trainees (in the summer there were over 30 I think) and also a lot of AIESEC'ers you can hang out with. 

So, if you would be thinking about going to Strathmore anyway, just do it if you think you're project is really cool.

Nairobi is quite developed, well the town is. You can find fast food chains (not McDonalds but some South-Africain chains!), you can go clubbing, go to cinemas, luxurious shopping malls etc. But also a lot of parts are not developed, like Kibera which is a slum with 1,4 million people. Here there is no (good) sanitation, no running water, a lot of HIV/ AIDS, sometimes no electricity, houses made of mud and wood, no garbage system. Although there is a lot of poverty, the people are so friendly and warm-hearted. Actually I really liked it working there and interacting with the people living there.

Nairobi is known to be really dangerous and unsafe. You should really take of yourself in town, that's true. Don't trust random people in the streets talking to you and trying to get something from you (if you want to ask for a street or something; approach someone yourself, don't let yourself be approached). Especially during the night you shouldn't walk alone, unless you're with locals. I expected to be robbed at least once, but it didn't happen!


There are quite a number of tourists in Kenya; a lot organized tours go on safaris and to the coast. It makes sense, since it's a really beautiful country with a lot of wild life, and at the coast beautiful beaches combined with an interesting (Arab) culture.

I learned a lot, especially adapting to the standards in the different country. I was meeting with a
person in town to go for drinks, she showed up an hour to late. Every Kenyan has a strong sense of religion from which the majority is Christian (you see texts like: God is able, Jesus is our bread even on buses). The traditional food is hard to get used to, unless you love beans, rice and ugali (a sticky starch sort of porridge). But you can also have really good food (and fruits!). Public transport is different; no time tables, no well maintained buses with fixed seats; but small vans with loud hiphop music ignoring any rule on the road.

I really loved my stay in Kenya. Though things didn't work out as I expected, I had a really great time.I met so many nice people, Kenyans as well as international trainees, had the idea I really contributed with my work, and also saw a lot of the country. To my opinion, most important of all is that you're not focusing too much on your expectations but that you're open to changes and are willing to make the experience the best yourself by taking initiatives.


Roel Kramer (Tilburg)




http://roelkramer.blogspot.com