Lighting the Fire

Over the weekend, I attended a seminar in Ohrid called MILDS, or Macedonian International Leadership Development Seminar.  It was hosted by the larger branch of the organization I work with, AIESEC Macedonia.  In many ways, I was excited to attend the event to learn more about the organization and meet the members from AIESEC Skopje and AIESEC Tetovo.  I did not know that the seminar would be such an inspirational event.

For those of you who need a reminder about what my organization does, the main concept is that it supports leadership development in college students and provides opportunities to intern or volunteer abroad.  Each country has its own AIESEC branch (called a Member Committee), and from there cities start their own local branches (Local Committees) that usually operate out of a single university.  These LCs are led by an Executive Board which establishes internships or volunteer opportunities in its region, help local students find these same opportunities abroad, and train the members to be better leaders through seminars and by letting them lead projects.

I arrived late to the seminar on Thursday because I was taking the Foreign Service Officer Test in Skopje that day.  Therefore, when I arrived the sessions had already begun.  Yet, as I joined my the other members in my group, who were team leaders for projects in LC Skopje, they were excited to meet an American at the seminar.  The first session was led by an alumna of AIESEC Skopje, and much of what she discussed were about her experiences as a leader for the organization and her career afterwards.  As I listened to her speech, I noticed that all she mentioned, I already knew.  Following this session was the closing meeting for the seminar.  According to AIESEC, “all that happens at MILDS stays at MILDS”, so I cannot provide specifics of the meeting.  But basically, the practices seemed a bit cultish.  For example, there was a wish box where people can requests others to do something in front of the large crowd, punishments for breaking rules (some of which were raunchy), and a Doctor Love session.  Ending the night was a giant party, which started at 1:30AM and lasted until 4:30AM (with a scheduled meeting the next day at 9AM).

Given all that I experienced on the first day, I guess you could say that I was pretty skeptical about the whole seminar.  Was there really anything I could learn about leadership?  Wasn’t I too old for these cult-like practices?  And how am I going to function for the next 3 days with only 4 hours of sleep each night?  Despite these initial brooding thoughts, I figured that the seminar would not be futile because I had the opportunity to meet the leadership of AIESEC Skopje, who I will need to work with over the next two years.

Well, as the seminar progressed on the second day, I began to change my mind about the seminar.  Sure, many of the sessions presented information that I already knew.  Yet, the college students attending the event were learning something.  They were discussing how to be a leader, what the best practices are, and how to meet the challenges of Macedonia.  It soon became clear that I was watching these students transform.  These students, constrained by the practices of their small country, practices that are embedded in a history of foreign domination, struggle for a national identity, Communism, and corrupt politics, were discovering a new way to lead their country and their lives.  They were learning to lead and serve at the same time.  Many Peace Corps volunteers work for two years to make minimal change on the mindset of an organization, school, or municipality, yet AIESEC is changing the way these students lead when their minds are impressionable and their passion is great.  Although AIESEC exists in countries that are larger or better off (it exists in over 120 countries, including the USA), it also has the ability to convince AIESEC Macedonia that despite living in a poor and small country, they can make a difference in their own lives and those across the globe.  It is without a doubt that I met some of the future leaders of Macedonia at this conference.

As day two came to a close, a fire was lit inside of me.  I was inspired to lead my group of students in Prilep to feel the same passion and to believe in the possibility to accomplish what they set their mind to.  Unfortunately, of the over 80 delegates who attended MILDS, only seven of us were from AIESEC Prilep and one was from Tetovo.  Therefore the majority of our members missed out on this experience, and the seminar was dominated by the members from AIESEC Skopje. 

The third day came and went, and I only became more inspired to work with AIESEC Prilep for the next two years.  However, right before the gala began, commemorating the end of the seminar, AIESEC Prilep called an impromptu meeting.  When I met the Executive Board in one of the hotel rooms, I arrived to see our president and my counterpart in tears.  They had terrible news to share- AIESEC Prilep had failed to meet its yearly objectives by the end of 2013, and if it did not meet its criteria by this November, it would no longer exist as an entity.  That means that it would lose its NGO status, the Executive Board would be dismantled, and AIESEC Prilep’s functioning parts will be controlled by AIESEC Skopje.  No wonder my counterparts were in tears- there was a chance that all that they had worked for would cease to exist in a year. And for me, if AIESEC Prilep no longer exists as an organization, I may no longer be able to work with the group and may be reassigned to another Peace Corps post.

Despite these fears, I was too confident to worry like them.  Inspired by the conference, I knew that my experience, the passion of AIESEC Prilep, and our accomplishments so far would get us through the year.  Not only will we meet the minimal requirements, but we will supersede them.  In a way, I feel like I am part of a Disney movie, acting as a coach that falls into a situation to turn things around.  AIESEC Prilep is where it is now because of the failures of past leaderships.  Its current fate is challenged by the leading committee AIESEC Skopje.  LC Skopje is not evil.  On the contrary, I really like all of the members that I met.  But I hope that by the end of the year, they will notice our accomplishments and have their faith restored in our committee.  And so, like Emilio Estevez in Mighty Ducks, or like the rag tag “Team Pup N’ Suds”, I must rally many of the members to get be inspired and turn AIESEC Prilep around.  In a way, AIESEC Prilep is all that the EB has to prove their leadership potential, and it was the organization that I was assigned to and that I have already invested my heart into.  So of course, if we fail, that will be terrible for all of us.  But since the circumstances have become dearer, there is no possibility to take it easy, and a fire has been lit under us.  Luckily, I thrive when working in crises.

So here we are now, preparing for the next months, which hold the fate of AIESEC Prilep.  We must send students on exchanges.  We must bring students here to work with an organization.  We must train our members to become great leaders.  In a way, MILDS was a microcosm of Macedonia.  The majority of the delegates were from AISESEC Skopje.  Skopje sucks up the young and ambitious, draining other towns and villages of their life force and potential.  AIESEC Macedonia is dominated by a group of young students who are all friends and former leaders of LC Skopje.  Macedonia is ruled by one party.  Only one delegate who attended MILDS was ethnically Albanian.  In Macedonia, Albanians and Macedonians hardly collaborate.  Yet, I can see that AIESEC Macedonia is beginning to change for the better.  Despite these issues, these students are bright and have the potential to change Macedonia and the world.  During MILDS 2016, I do not doubt that everything will change, and that change will be the beginning of a better Macedonia.

AIESEC Macedonia