Friday, January 30, 2009
I don't like leaving things halfway.
And I love the friends I've made.
But the amount of bureaucracy and the ridiculous division of labour almost makes me want to quit Aiesec.
When I interviewed, I got the impression, probably mistaken, that the projects run by the projects department would receive help from all the other departments too. As in, in would be an Aiesec project. Not an Aiesec Projects project, which is the case for me right now. It's frustrating because it's a lot of work that could probably be streamlined if we had the help of BD to get funding and marketing to help us with, say, a timeline of when posters should go out. The only department we work with is OGX and that's just us riding on their EPRD to get a few DTs.
I'm not interested in getting the fancy titles. I'll never run for any of those posts. My loves are capoeira and daydreaming, my honour demands that I be a good person, and my work is the law. Between them, how much time does a person have?
To put my daydreams to good use I proposed the TTP. But the groups it is meant to help will probably not receive the help because there is no Aiesec presence in those countries. Hell. The whole thing was for East Timor and I haven't even been able to talk to anyone from Timor, and the idea was shot down immediately when suggested to the team. Because it was difficult.
But the results are not there. Really. We're so distracted by fulfilling the Aiesec requirements for learning events and we spend so much time in meetings...
My main question now is, if I quit, will I be able to take this project and proposals out? Can I work on it outside of Aiesec? Or is that against the rules?
Because I seriously don't think that it is going to become what I envisioned in 2 or even 5 years. What I need to do is 1) get an accreditor to buy into it and 2) get the government of that country to recognise accreditation. The main point is to train teachers to provide children with basic primary education in countries where there is a desperate shourtage of teachers. Not volunteerism on the part of any teachers. Not experience on the part of any interns. Not awareness in the country running the project.
Even the awareness raising projects are conventional because Aiesec is conventional. Even if there is money, the use of real dishes are impractical because nobody would wash their own dishes. And who would use them again? So we should just use disposable because they are easier. Never mind that we are emphasising that actions should be taken to resolve social issues. :s I see the practical sense, but because this was a micro decision, we could not say that the whole CCA would use real plates and cutlery at events.
Which makes sense. The CCA is about exchange. It is not greenpeace. :s so I was irrational.
I wonder what they would have done 50 years ago. Before disposable everything was made cheap.
I'm grateful for the friends I made, but it's been a year. The bureaucracy is killing me. WHen I interviewed, I was told that change was imminent.
I don't see it.
Eve.
[edit] so google says styrofoam was invented in 1954. Huh.
Labels: aiesec, school