Socially responsible websites :-)

Do you want to raise awareness for climate change?? One of the most popular Dutch radio-stations (3FM) is organizing an expedition to the North Pole. Three of their employees are going to see for themselves how the climate is changing and broadcast their experiences on national radio. To go on this expedition, they need 10.000 supporters! Support this by going to http://noordpool.fm/page/home/

Are you living in The Netherlands and interested in volunteer work? There is a website for vacancies available: http://www.vrijwilligerscentrale.nl/ In the major cities vacancies can be seen online and you can apply directly. (If you are a trainee, they are also looking for people who speak foreign language for example for refugee centres and mosques, I can translate what it says)

Some examples, in Rotterdam they need people to mentor children from less fortunate backgrounds, people who can teach Dutch or give computer lessons to women from different ethnic backgrounds, play bingo with senior citizens and so on. Anyways, you get the idea...

If you have a blog or a website, you can also put a banner on it, counting the days until the milleniumgoals should be realized. This to raise awareness for the topic.

Am always open for more suggestions :-)

Dirty Dancing - Julia and James

Here is an UK wedding, the couple decided to do the Dirty Dancing final dance scene. They nail it, awesome!!!

Carnaval 2007

Have been celebrating "Carnaval" for the past couple of days.
Started friday, finished yesterday. Got the flu on sunday and monday.
People in costumes, painted faces, drinks, junk food and traditional music. Pics will follow.

We need new leaders

Almost every day the media report about soldiers being killed or injured in combat. We summarize these reports by saying: a few more killed, a dozen killed, one hundred killed.

A young guy, 24 years old about to marry his girlfriend. She lost her father when she was 18 and he helped her recover her grief. Before he left for war, he bought a house for them to live in when he would get back. It was a house close to the woods, because they both really liked nature. They wanted to have children together in a few years.

A boy, 18 years old who grew up very poor. He wanted to see something of the world and thus joined the army. He was an only child and his mother was a single mother. His father left when he was little. During training camp he saw Germany for the first time. The beauty of mountains amazed him and he wrote his mother a postcard telling her how much he loved it there.

These stories could be the stories of “a few more killed”. These soldiers are people, real people with hopes, dreams and family. In an interview I heard one soldier say that it was not important whether the soldiers themselves believed in the war they fought. Their governments should figure out where they fight and why. However leadership many times is inadequate deciding on the army’s faith. Diplomacy is often not enough and wars are fought over the wrong reasons: land, money, and resources, power the list goes on.

This just shows how important our leadership is and how important elections (if any) are. Just imagine what would have happened in the Cuba missile crisis if different, less charismatic and diplomatic leaders were leading world’s superpowers. The great leaders of this world did not take violence as a means to an end. However, we are fighting many violent conflicts all over the world. Hopefully, the new leadership will be stronger and find ways to solve these conflicts. We need strong leadership.

World record, world champions and real character

An orange ocean of people in a sold-out stadium. Faces of athletes showing pain, smiles and defeat. This weekend the world championships all-round speed skating took place. I watched around half of the tournament on television. Two world champions were crowned and both were honoured by the Dutch anthem. Both speed skaters are 20 years old and both reached new heights in their sports career. One coach crying, laughing and screaming together with his athletes. Emotions were high this weekend, how great is sports?

Yesterday I was catching up with a friend that I know from my previous university. We both moved to Rotterdam, finished our degrees in communication and started a new degree in business administration. Over a glass of wine in a bar we were discussing our life choices and thinking whether we had regrets.
We both found our investment in education has really paid of. Our career potential has increased; we have more business knowledge and more defined goals.

Anyways, we ended up in a bar at Rotterdam’s infamous “Stadhuisplein”. For insiders, this is the square where the Skihut is. To give you an idea: bartenders dance on bars or are busy flirting with girls. The girls do not have a lot of clothes on and the music changes every 10 seconds. It is extremely Dutch actually.

In the end a fun night although I did sustain a minor hangover today, haha.

A new government, creation of a vision (??)

I posted a while ago on the post-election drama in the Netherlands. Yesterday a new government coalition announced their plans after weeks of deliberating, team building and so on (yes they had weekend sessions in the woods too :-)). When listening to the result I was indeed very surprised.

The Netherlands has a vision again (this is what they claim). I have tried to find their vision but I could not find it on the Internet. Since two out of three parties have a christian background, family is central in this vision. In practice this comes down to a number of initiatives:

• daycare for children is going to be improved
• familie who put their children in daycare can get some kind of compensation
• highschool students need to do an obligatory socially responsible internship
• books are now free for higher education

Other parts of the vision include bringing more values into Dutch society ( abortion is going to be harder, shops need to be closed on sunday, coffeeshops near schools need to close), making it a better place to live (no liberalization of housing market, environmental taxes for planes and cars, working on integration).

What to think of all this?????

Although I do not agree with some of the content (shops closing for example), it is interesting that this government is not talking about strategies but about vision. Perhaps this is a good way to look at society nowadays. Bringing back values that were lost for a long time should confront people more with a less materialistic side of life. This vision also aims to unite the country instead of dividing it as the previous coalitions did (leading to the disastrous results after elections). Perhaps this is the way to create one country again. Interesting huh??

Warmth of an LC

When Adrienne starts to talk about HER NGO and HER children, her face just lights up. Imagine a small, messy room above a cafe packed with people. They are all making jokes, screaming at eachother and being loud. She stands there and tells the story about her India and the work she does. Everyone goes quiet and they all stare at her. They can see the enthusiasm and passion in her face.

Yesterday me and Adrienne went to LC Tilburg to promote Atma Mumbai. The story above illustrates the atmosphere. At the end we showed them a movie about children in India. We said they did not need to stay if they wished, it was optional. Everyone stayed and they all watched the video in absolute silence. A lot of them wanted to buy scarfs to support Atma and some were thinking of giving monthly donations.

What makes this so powerful?
The people in the LC were so supportive and warm, their reactions amazing. I was sincerely touched. I know in AIESEC lot of people talk about making a change but Adrienne (and Hayley ofcourse) are really doing it. Sometimes it feel that people so not realize the impact these activities have on Adrienne's life and the appreciation is very low. She could have gotten a well-paid job by now but she chose to live a modest life and dedicate all her time to helping children at the other side of the world. That is why the reaction of this LC is so touching, they acknowlegde her efforts and supported the ideas. There is nothing more rewarding then taking a night of from your thesis or work to do this and get such feedback.

Amos Lee concert

Yesterday I went to the Amos Lee concert. He is absolutely brilliant. Amos Lee is a singer/songwrite who toured with legends like Bob Dylan and Norah Jones. The legendary record label Bluenote Records signed him. This fragment from
YouTube shows one my favourite songs.

Natco AIESEC NL: back in the game

Again, I was back in AIESEC for a few days. I was asked to do a training on conference management and for logistical reasons, this meant staying at the venue for the entire conference. I was the only alumna and it was a bit weird being part of the conference and at the same time not at all.

The most fun is seeing my successors, MC 06-07 doing their thing. I really think they are doing an amazing job and I am very proud of them.

Personally it was nice to hear that people really liked my training and it was fun talking to the VPs that I trained at the beginning of the year.

Finally, it was really cool to see the new MCP, Mohcine on the stage and in his new role as MCPe. I met him as a new VP on our transition weekend and we have always got along very well. Seeing him transform into a new role is interesting and fun.

The curry's are coming :-)

Indeed an historical week for us and for India: TATA Steel has acquired our Corus for 8,7 billion Euros. This will make TATA Steel the 4th largest steel company in the world. It is also the first time an Indian company has acquired a Dutch company, leaving ample room for speculations: are the curry's coming?

The first international in AIESEC The Netherlands is Indian, the head of the strategy department (my master) at Erasmus University is Indian. Furthermore they have 3 assistants who are Indian and another professor. We are all collectively wearing pashminas from India. More and more Bollywood movies are being shown, it is becoming a favourite holiday destination and indian food is gaining popularity.

Indian comedian Russel Peters might have said it right: "in so many years everyone will be beige. We are coming. "