EXPERIENCE AT AFROXLDS Rahim Hafiz: CC Teamster Transport and Logistics
The all “amazing and challenging part” began when I applied for AFROXLDS 2015 Teamster for Delegate Servicing at the review session which was quite tough interview than I had expected. Fortunately, I did manage to pass the review process, however, I got selected to be in the transport and logistics team.
The following week after my exams was when my roles kicked off. It involved picking the Facis of the conference from the airport and dropping them at the intern house in Kileleshwa. The maximum trips I made in a day was about 3 trips with some even having a pick up of 1pm. Moreover, my team gave me a day off and so they decided to delegate amongst themselves and take turns on that day. The most exciting one was picking up the President Elect of AIESEC International at the Airport, since I got to take a picture with her and shared our AIESEC Experience.
Soon it became more challenging when now it was time to pick the delegates from the airport. This I managed to do by liaising with the taxi drivers whom I had met and especially the ones who gave a good price and were trustworthy. On first day of the conference, almost 70% of the delegates started arriving at the venue and I managed to meet a lot of new people as well as my pals whom I had met at last year PIOS Conference in Tanzania. There was a special delegates arrival google sheet where I monitored well each and everybody’s arrival after airport pickup. I was communicating the same with my CC VP Nancy Wanciuri. There were times I had to face challenges and find solutions such as when a delegate was charged a high price or was dropped off at the wrong destination.
Moreover, apart from just concentrating on my transport and logistics role, I also assisted the conference team which consisted of the MC of AIESEC IN KENYA, 3 CC Officials and the AFROXLDS Teamsters. It was one of the best ever supportive and collaborative team that I have worked with to in ensuring that AFROXLDS 2015 was a pure success. We faced challenges and managed to find solutions together. I was so much privileged to be part of this fantastic team of the conference. However, “behind the work scenes of the conference” acted as a strong pillar for the conference.
The opening ceremony at the United Nations in Gigiri. All the delegates were transported from the hotel to UN. There was tight security and the check-ups were even intense. Various speeches were given out by the PAI elect, CCP for AFROXLDS 2015, MCP of AIESEC in Kenya, officials from the Kenyan government and UN Officials.
Later after the opening ceremony, we went back to the hotel and prepared for Global Village Ceremony, which was about show casing various cultures of the different countries and the interesting part was trying tasting the different country’s foods. Later on in the night was opening plenary involving introduction of the various Facis, the chair and the conference team. Different entities also danced on their country’s role calls and I liked the one of Ethiopia “uptown funk” by Bruno Mars. I and my fellow Teamster (Dennis Tugee) assisted each other a lot, and sometimes decided to take shifts to assist each other in executing our roles effectively. The various sessions were just so amazing, my most favorite one being ‘drop of water’ which I would also like to share with my LC during induction conference. During the conference week, we had youth to speak forum with various corporate leaders invited for the session. Tata Consultancy Services was my most interesting workshop. MaC and PR team leaded by Wincate Muthini (MCVP MaC and PR AIESEC IN KENYA), was on top spot, especially Celma Costa(Teamster MaC and PR) who did a great job being so much active on social media with the rest such as Kelvin and Ray managing to create amazing videos. However, the most special event for me was Kenyan night, which had the highest turnout and I was assigned to be the ‘bartender’. First two drinks were free for all the Kenyan Night delegates, but later drinks went for sh100 each. It was so intense especially managing to give and sell off drinks to a lot of people all surrounding you, although I got assistance from an MC Kenya Member, Lorna. During gala dinner, I managed to take a lot of pics especially with the conference team and my EB members (Njoki, Edna and Tracy) as well as other international delegates. I have managed to learn a lot from this conference and also challenged myself a lot based on the roles I was assigned.
