Live Like a Local! - Piumal's Unique Experience in Philippines

"It is an experience which you can gain countless values to your life, while having fun, adventure, memories and new friends."

The total experience was based on the help of AIESEC. AIESEC merged me between Sri Lanka and Philippines. Therefore the LC Davao (LC in Philippines) treated me as a member of a same organization than a complete stranger from a foreign country.

I worked for the Institute for Socio-Economic Development Initiatives (ISEDI). Its vision is to empower communities and sustainable organizations by nurturing people to reach their full potentials and maximize their resources.

Basically I Completed 2 projects and got involved for a community project. I Made a leaflet on the topic of “Climate Change Adaptation and Natural Disasters” to give to the community to improve their knowledge on the topic and to make them aware about the ways that they can save themselves from natural disasters.  Philippine is one of the top countries in the world which gets affected by natural disasters frequently. (Eg: The Yolanda Typhoon) Therefore it’s a must for the citizens to know about the topic. The leaflet provides info on how to get prepared, how to face and how to overcome the natural disasters. Yolanda victims are the main target group of population, since the area is more frequently get attacked by disasters.

Then I Made reports for few selected entrepreneurs on how to improve their business and maximize the potentials. The team visited the business several times to collect info and to conduct interviews and the suggestions were made by discussing with the team. We, the Exchange Participants with the help of the TNM, organized a half day event for street children with full of games and fun. There we gave free lunch, snacks, toys and gifts for everyone. Children had an awesome time with us.

Philippine is a Christian country, and the people are much more progressive than Sri Lankan, mostly women. Activities like drinking alcohol, smoking, clubbing is considered as very normal in the society. The relationship between parents and children is weaker than Sri Lankans. Most of the families are dependent on the male. Hospitality of the locals is same like Sri Lankans.

Not each and every citizen in Philippines speaks English, mostly the villagers don’t and it came as a huge challenge for me; Communication.  . Therefore when I wanted to travel to some village areas, I needed some pre plans as in the name of the place and the roads written in their own language on a piece of paper. Also I learnt some commonly used Philippine words like “how much?”, “How far?”, “Please”, “Thank You’ and etc. Still it was a great Experience. I would have never experienced this if I was ever to step out from my comfort zone.

It was fun and memorable. I just loved the freedom I had over there. It’s totally about you and the confidence you have on yourself. Just had to manage everything by myself, sometimes according to the interest of others, time and specially the budget. It feels awesome to have new friends from all over the world. I’m pretty confident that I have improved my English and communication skills from the internship. That’s something I really wanted to happen, a unique experience that you can never match with anything else.

Piumal Tennakoon

Undergraduate in Electrical Engineering
University Of Moratuwa

What it takes to be a Global Citizen? Dehan's Internship Experience in Malaysia

"Through the Global Citizen Program I had the chance to add a momentous experience to my life and have impact on the lives of others. " 

I worked in a NGO named Amitabha Malaysia. In that NGO, we worked as a fund raising team. We supported them for their kids’ orphanage project, old folk home project and recycle project called Yellow Bin. In Yellow Bin project we helped them to find buyers for buy used clothes.  And also we distributed food and other home appliances for a native.

In AIESEC UTM, the university I was doing my project; we had to go the university at least 3 times per week to participate for their AIESEC projects. Most of the times, I worked with their TM team. They helped me a lot to build up my career as an AIESECer. In these projects, I’ve met different type of people and learnt how to deal with them. In my intern team, there were interns from India, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Germany and Vietnam. So this diversity helped me to develop to have impact on others’ lives

The biggest Challenge I needed to play was with People in Malaysia mainly because of the language. They speak in Malay and Chinese. In my internship, I worked in a Chinese NGO. So most of the time I had to communicate with Chinese people. Mainly It was too hard to understand their pronunciation. During free time, Intern Team was supposed to teach English and also to do a drama with Chinese Orphan kids. But they didn’t understand any single word of English and didn’t get the meaning of the drama. So we decided to do a comic movie for them. Finally it was a big success. You can see the video from following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEvFLLi7i4&feature=youtu.be

Going abroad through AIESEC gave me an instant network of students my age. Ultimately the network I build with AIESEC has inspired and challenged me to learn, explore and constantly strive for excellence. Working abroad is a tried and true way of becoming a Global citizen. During my time as a volunteer I learned about different cultures and customs. I learned to adapt to a new environment and improve my communication skills. A Global Citizen experience is every time a unique opportunity to get perspective on life around the world. Additionally to personal development, unique experiences will help me to differentiate myself in the job market. Many HR specialist agree that volunteer work in a CV is at least as valuable as paid work experience.  

Last but not least, AIESEC Global Community Development Program exchange was not just 6 weeks of my life. It was a life in 6 weeks.

Dehan Vithana
Undergraduate of Electrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa

"Those seven weeks in my life gave me bunch of experiences which would help me to live rest of my life." Dananjaya's Life Changing Experience in Malaysia

I'am an Undergraduate of University of Moratuwa studying Engineering and during our two month vacation during the 1st year of University I thought doing something different and to start fresh. Then again AIESEC gave me this golden opportunity to go for an Internship in Malaysia and I must say that the credit should go to our lovely OGX team in AIESEC CS. Without them this life changing experience would be a dream for me. Those seven weeks in my life gave me bunch of experiences which help me to live rest of my life.

The major cultural difference I had during my Internship was Malaysia itself; the people, the Religion and their traditions. During my Internship I have met people from fifteen different nations. The main similarity among us is we are all humans and we need to love and respect others to gain it back. It was just amazing!I got that chance to mingle up with lots of people, so it helped me to develop my communication skills, team work, leadership qualities, decision making, time management, presentation skills and specially I learned how to balance my budget during that period.

The journey I went through during my internship was simply awesome. I have met friends from almost fifteen different nations and it was the best thing happened to me during my exchange. Whatever happened inside that period was counted in to my real life experiences. Those seven weeks in my life gave me bunch of experiences which help me to live rest of my life. I did enjoy my exchange program in a big way.

Dananjaya Weerawansha
Undergraduate of Faculty of Engineering
University of Moratuwa

"Feeling Lanka" by Caro Cervantes from AIESEC Pacifico,Peru

What mean "Sri Lanka" after my exchange? Definitely is my second home, Feel Lanka  was one of the best experiences in my life.

When I arrived every single thing was new, different from my culture. My new house, the others interns... 8 different countries, 8 different cultures... All together, here. My project "Feel Lanka 4.0" was about the promotion of the handicraft in Sri Lanka. At the beginning, it was a little bit complicated because we didn’t knew each other, our different point of view, our different lifestyle always made a interesting discussion. But when we spent more time together and we understood each other.

In my project we had to travel around the country making interviews, videos and photos. So, this part was the most challenged because we really felt Sri Lanka.... I mean, the buses, the traffic hum, the spicy food, ooohh yeeaaah, THE SPICY FOOD!, the jungle, the beach, the amazing people. Definitely, was the most exciting part! we had so much fun together, enjoying the country, their culture and making a friends forever.  

My experience in Sri Lanka showed me a lot of things, like how to get out of my confort zone, challenge myself, to know me better, be more tolerant, patient, team work and enjoying every moment with happiness.

Now, I know more about 9 countries around the world, I have a new family, my lovely team and all the AIESEC people to support us during the project. 

As i said, this experience changed my life and made me a better person.

So…Enjoy the AIESEC exchange and come to Sri Lanka, come to Colombo South! 

http://feellanka.aieseccs.lk/

https://www.facebook.com/FeelLanka