Where life is not just sitting next to a working desk

Frankly I’m lazy to walk into University. With much effort and pain I attend lectures, may be to sleep one hour or two, to take away the weariness over an exhausted journey starting from Borella that ends with a little less traffic in Kelaniya. No , wait! I do not sleep in lectures. Usually being a bit late to enter the lecture hall , I am always welcomed by the lecturers to sit in the very front. Pity me. I don’t get the chance of having some fun at the back.

But there’s a few who makes me come to University. I often receive messages in this way.

Dear Pamodhi,

There will be a Local Committee meeting today at the Career Guidance Unit, your attendance is very important. Please be punctual.

Dear Pamodhi,

I need to get the matching list sorted out and discuss how we are going to raise funds. Please meet me at the Career Guidance Unit.

Dear Pamodhi,

We are having an introductory session on GCDP. Will you be able to talk about your experience to the gathering?

Thilina sends me the funniest ones.

Hi,

Need a little favor. I’ll give a bunch of my photographs which might inspire you to write. (A winking smiley at the end)

They certainly know the way to get me into work. Sweet people though. It’s fun to be with them in meetings. To hear the funny conversations ,their cute confessions .To see the brooding, slack- jawed faces of members when talking about money and financial matters. To be with people, it’s enlightening. Worth a lifetime, because there is something good to learn. Everybody has stories. To create living diversity is one of their biggest visions.

INGENS -  AIESEC Colombo North 

When I first met Thilina, he went on telling that they are the largest student run Non-Profit Organization in the world for young people to discover and develop their potential. In addition to providing over 20,000 leadership positions and delivering over 470 conferences to the  membership of over 60,000 students ,they  also run an exchange program that enables over 16,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to travel , explore and work with foreign people , which is a  fun filled experience.

I wanted to know more about the Colombo North Local Committee (University based branch). Samith Yasas, the current Colombo North Local Committee Vice President for Non Cooperate Development projects was eager to divulge their success stories. With much pride he remarked that the Colombo North has been ranked the 10th best Local committee out of 124 local committees around the world. Further he added that they are the 2nd in the local line, which receives the highest quality measure with regard to their projects and handling foreign interns who come down to SriLanka to work with them. The committee’s projects run in many platforms .Starting from English education to the grass root level in SriLanka, they are committed to health awareness, tobacco and drug reduction, women empowerment ,  to improve social media and  communication , to develop technical and digital skills like photography and filming  and even environmental and energy conservation. They even bring down interns to work with major companies in SriLanka like Walkers Tours, Wild Drift , C3 Magazine , Escape Holidays , Charter House, Life Foundation , Total Amber , CCBT and several others   . The basic idea of providing such internships to young college students is to enable them explore their potential and to improve leadership qualities and business knowledge. This is quite a good chance for young people to get familiar with the working environment even before they walk out of Universities.

Having said all these, just a month ago the Colombo North Committee successfully concluded the Annual Youth to Business Forum at the Kelaniya University premises, focusing on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsibility. The event was graced by leading Entrepreneurs and business leaders like Mr. Suneth Kotuthenna - the Factory Manager at Unilever, Director HR in Virtusa-Mrs. Chandi Dharmaratne, Non Executive Director of Lankem  Ceylon – Mr Anthony Jeyranjan and many more.

The task is no longer easy. They work day and night, running up and down having endless meetings to make sure every one of them achieve targets. They are up to the slogan “work hard and party harder “. This is very much true if one witnesses their annual conferences and meetings. Quite elegant from beginning to the end with perfect organization which halts with heavy dancing and partying together. This is their culture. It’s a place where one can meet random people, make friends, work together and enjoy moments.

Hard work has paid them. They won the award for achieving the highest growth in Global Community Development program at NLDS 2013 (National Leadership development Seminar).

Samith concluded the story that way.

But he didn’t stop there. He said they’ll pull themselves into better stuff to bring the most exclusive to the young graduates and undergraduates. I like to say this. It is also because of the strong passion and the dedication of some people like Thilina and former members like Sunethi and Dilum have brought success to the Colombo North Committee.

Me being a part of them , it’s a place which always keep my life alive , too see them dance , to see them working like wounded horses , gasping with so much effort. This is what I call AIESEC . Not just AIESEC . It’s AIESEC Colombo North of the University of Kelaniya.

Let’s give them a big hurrah!


( Featured n 'The Nation'  newspaper in early July 2014)