Kristians Pond

IT IS NOT A WAR

2008-01-04T09:36:00.000+01:00

The international media, and friends here in denmark seems to have a very war-like imagination of what is going on in Kenya, most likely due to the medias continious reference to other african countries like Rwanda, Somalia and Ebony Coast.

So for the reference - Kenya is not becoming a new geniocide, nor is it in a state of civil war.

During the last week 300-400 people have died from the post election violence - compared to a full population of 30 million people. The Kikuyu tribe, which is the one most ethnic violence has been directed at, is approximately 22% of the population which is more than 5 mil people. The Luhya (14%) and Luo (13%), which from a purely tribal perspective has been some of the strongest opposition supporters, hold about 6 mil of the population, so the situations in which police have shot at protesters, can in no way be called geniocide either.

Kenya is a country on the rise - it has during the last five years had a gcp of more than 5 percent, and (according to nationmedia), lifted more than 2 mil out of poverty - thus the vote was not about who could save the country, but about who could make it grow the fastest. The situation in Kenya, is not a civil war agains an evil dictator. It is a display of frustration over a disputed poll that split the population in two - and it is a power game between two politicians, who are both unbendable focused on leading the country in the next five years - refering to the quote from a friend in my last post.

The sad thing about this situation, is that the politicians who vowed to take kenya to new heights, now seems bend on destroying it. Right now there is over 170.000 displaced people in Kenya, and unles a solution is found quickly that can make people live peacefully side by side, then this will be a huge problem in not only the months, but also the years to come - if a solution is found, however, most of these can go to their homes again, and life can, with quite a bit of rebuilding, continue.

But again, it is not a geniocide or a civil war - just an election and a bunch of politicians from different parties, gone very very wrong.

For voices of wisdom, please check the editorials of the two kenyan newspapers previously posted, and the statements of amongst others the Danish ambassador.

Situation in Kenya

2008-01-03T15:48:00.000+01:00

Hi All

Worked in Kenya as leader in a student driven leadership organization the whole of last year, so have been trying to stay in contact with my friends in the country in this very sudden crisis, in a country that is both stable and peaceful normally. People are telling me that stores has been burned, as well as kikuyu houses in many of the affected areas, so there will be certainly be a huge need for investments to get the local communities back on track when the conflict drives over.

Friends in El-Doret and Kisumu tells me that they are still locked down for travelling, and that violence still erupts in the evening hours, even though things have gotten better over the last few days. With the postponement of the rally today, people hope for relative calm in the next 2-3 days (with more shops hopefully opening for sales of basic necessities) - but unless a solution is created by the two rivaling parties, people fear that tempers will flare again Monday and Tuesday where today’s demonstration by the opposition has been moved.

Most are shocked that such a thing could happen in their country, and just hope for a quick solution so things can go back to normal. A quote from a friend: "... we voted for a better kenya non of us signed up for this.most pple want the leaderz to speak up and end this not to go to the press give demands before negotiations or telin us the results were free&fair and constantly wishin us a happy new year. i am incurrably hpeful itl blow over ..."

For an insider perspective on the situations, check the blog of Victoria, who is currently HR director of the NGO in kenya, and who is situated in a safe house near ngong road (kibera slum):
http://mailtovvik.blogspot.com/

or check out the HPs of the two big and mostly impartial Kenyan media houses:
http://www.eastandard.net/
http://www.nationmedia.com/

Best regards,
Kristian

A year has passed

2007-07-31T22:26:00.000+02:00

Mish, a very close kenyan friend of mine wrote me a comment about one of the first blog entries I wrote more than one year ago now - this blog entry was about one of the most inspiring events of my life, attending the international trainers conference in AIESEC, and it was the very experience that gave me the courage to take up the responsibility as the MC People development in the year that now has passed - one event CAN certainly change the course of a lifetime ;)

In the ending comments of my article a year ago, I wrote that I now had regained my inspiration, and that all I needed was ways to express and share it - through my year in Kenya, I most definately arthieved that, meaning that I both managed to inspire a lot of wonderfull young AIESECers (or at least so several of the claim ;)), and gaing so much satisfaction and personal learning from doing so. Kenya was a wonderfull experience for me - however, it was just the first steps, as there is a whole lifetime of experiences and possibilities ahead of me - next step for now is national training in Denmark, finishing my studies and training or charing in conferences all over europe ... after that, well who knows, as long as I keep following my passion I know I will not get bored ;)

Smiles and huge hugs!
Kristian

Reflections on evilness and the state of Africa

2007-06-10T07:54:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine posed this question in her blog "What makes people evil". This inspired me to write quite a long comment about the state of Africa, which I might as well share with you her too ;)

---

Well, my experience from living here in Kenya for a period (even though Kenya is one of the most thriving and peaceful African communities), is that it basically is up to the individual whether he or she is good or not. Most of the wrongdoings in Africa is to some extent linked to accepting the status quo - just as in Blood Diamond, the phrase "This is Africa" or "This is Kenya", is used as an excuse for the country or the region not moving anywhere, and newer being able to do so - which is really sad.

The people who are "evil" down here, that is muggers, conmen, corrupt officials etc., all see themselves as justified for their actions, as they have families to feed or because nobody ever supported them (survival of the fittest). The interesting thing is that this even counts for the rich bad people too - what is important is the thrift of you, your family and your friends, everybody else must try to make it on their own.

By my belief one of the biggest reasons for this, is undependable governments throughout many years - if you cannot depend on the system, you will have to make your own way in the world - if you tried to change it a few times and failed, the easiest way out is a "TIA" attitude - accepting status quo, is to fail as a leader of change.

Anyway, luckily I see a lot of positive development in many African countries now a days. Kenya lived under a dictator for 20 years until the last election in 2002 where he democratically was replaced. The current president has used most of this term on slowly rebuilding the country, and on the way fighting corruption, bad economic growth etc. Kenya is on the right track now, and so is Tanzania, Ghana and a few others. South Africa is fooling a bit around, and does not seem to be moving much, Rwanda is developing strongly by surprisingly having an extraordinary strong, open minded and development focused leader (who nevertheless is a dictator - political opposition to him always seems to get beaten down in the press very quickly), Nigeria - heh, etc.

So my hope for the world of tomorrow is that this development continues, and that other areas of the world does not develop into a status of utter stupidity - like a Christian/Muslim war or whatever - aie, humans can be so stupid at times.

---

Hugs and Smiles from Sunny Kenya
Kristian

Lacking towards the end

2007-03-07T17:50:00.000+01:00

Hi All, a dodgy update from the warm country down under.

I have now been here for almost eight months, and I am beginning to feel really comfy and integrated. Nairobi is a beautifull city when you know the pulse, and Kenyans are approximately the most wonderfull people in the world. The definately have lots of "challenges" society wise, and the culture as such is very emotional, which can make it a challenge to work in it at times, but as a whole, Kenyans are the warmest, happiest and most caring people in the world (Open to inviations from countries who want to prove me wrong ;)).

Am currently working on finalizing my area, and making sure that all what I have done for AIESEC down here during my year as responsible for people development (aka. human resource + leadership development), survives and goes into caring and competent hands after me. Have been recieving a lot of positive feedback, which I admit flatters me, but also worries me. If you only recieve positive feedback and still knows you could do so much more, and so much better in a number of areas, that must mean that either people are either not noticing, or that they just hold back right? Anyway, hope I have managed to touch the lives of at least a few individuals down here, and that what I have made, have some kind of impact on the lives of the 400 AIESEC members I have been working with and on. By going here I realized a dream, the next step will be to make dreams of similar impact and passion come true for the rest of my life too :)

A few thoughts shared - will upload some fancy photos later...

Smiles,
Kristian

2007-01-07T08:24:00.000+01:00

Amazing New Years Eve at the Beach!

2007-01-06T00:13:00.000+01:00

New Year, 30 degrees heat, seven friends of which six are girls, cheap booze and a big milky white beach. WOW!!!

How happy can a man be :)

This year I celebrated New Years Eve together with a bunch of friends on a beach at the Kenyan Coast. We chilled in front of a few five star hotels, enjoying our cheaply "imported" Kenya Canes (Kenyan 40% spirit made of sugar cane), the gently rolling waves of the ocean as well as the retro music swimming down towards us from the hotels - definately a new year to be remembered :D

Huge hugs to the crew consisting of Jacob from Germany (my fellow male), Siobahn from UK, Natalia from Germany and Leah, Sheila, Nina and Juliet from Kenya - nothing like a party amongst friends you trust and love :D

For more details explore the photo album below - you will not regret it ;)

New Year Malindi Kenya 2006/2007

Huge Hugs and Best of Smiles :)
Kristian

Beauties of Kenya

2006-12-16T22:03:00.000+01:00

... and now we are at it, we must remember that Kenya has more than one natural resource. Added a few pictures of the beautifull people in LC UoN - the most amazing thing about them, is that the beauty you see on the pictures is nothing but a reflection of what each of these amazing individuals contain. So much potential, so much energy, so much passion - WOW!!!

Best of Smiles and Hugs to the People of AIESEC UoN :oD
Kristian - Your MC Passionator!

From left: Emma, Esther, Fiona, Saohan, Beryl, Sheila and Mary

AIESEC YaY!!! (Sylvia in Charming Action)

Huzler Action (Keitany and Fiona)

Dodgy Dudes and Dudettes! From left: Nina, Dan, Hiram, Esther and Me

Beauty of Kenya

2006-12-16T21:31:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I had the priviledge of visiting one of the most beautifull natural reserves in Kenya. I was staying in a small hut inside Lake Nakuru National Park owned by Kenya Wild Life Service together with 30 AIESECers from University of Nairobi. During the four days of stay, the gazellas regularely came all the way up to the hut for grassing, and the first night we had a horde of bizons crowding the courtyard. Early Saturday morning we were driven through the park, and got some amazing sights of both nature and animals.

I have added a few pictures entirely for your pleasure ;o)

Enjoy!
K

The fight for survival - Public transport in Nairobi

2006-12-03T18:52:00.000+01:00

The air is filled with tension, on the small street people are packed shoulder to shoulder, and every set of eyes were focused on the incoming bus - it comes briskly, then suddenly with a jerk moving to a halt. Suddenly the tension is broken, the waiting is transformed into movement towards the door. A slightly angry conductor stands in it, trying to make space for the people in the bus to leave out onto the street, but people keeps pushing and crowding towards the door - even more angry now, the conductor slams the door in the face of an oncoming lady, and the bus suddenly jumps 10 meters down the street, causing the oncoming horde to fall down like dominos. A pushed down lady starts wailing. The door opens again, and people starts seeping out of the bus again - not cooed by the roughness of the bus, the crowd attacks again, the conductor is now virtually fighting with oncoming customers in the door.
Finally the last passenger leaves the bus, and the real fight is now on. I, together with a Dutch and a Canadian friend join the struggle, and using our elbows quite a bit we suddenly find ourselves in front of the door. A Kenyan mama with a crowd of children passes in front of us, shouting - make space for the bebes - we form a defensive line, and she enters the bus unharmed. Finally the three of us pushes ourselves up the stairs and into the already moving vehicle, as by magic getting the last three empty seats. The fight is over, the mood in the bus is cheerful, we are the victors and the spaces we sit on, are ours by conquest. I hear a man down the bottom of the bus, commenting with a smile, that never before has he seen Muzungos (White people) participate in the fighting to enter a bus. I feel the pride swell in me, knowing now that I during the last five months have become a true Kenyan :)

Smiles,
K

2006-11-27T20:59:00.000+01:00

Back in August I and a group of other interns and ceeders decided to pay a small fourday visit to the beautifull country of Uganda. We spend quite a few days catching up with AIESEC friends in Kampala, the capital of UG, where we grew quite fond of the local fast food - RoolEgs (A nice chapati (eating pancake) and a fried omelet, rolled together - mmm!!!

After Kampala, which proberly is the most beautifull city of east africa!, we drowe to ginger - the city from which the green nile springs from lake victoria. We got a nice boatride, and otherwise chilled at the nile. Decided to share a few of the pictures, so enjoy :)

Smiles,
K

Me at the Green Nile

Me and my Ugandan friend Ruth

The whole UG exploration team

Me in the nile (and the special nile in me ;))

Snapshots from my Kenyan Experience

2006-11-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

Barbecue at the Attorney General (Patron of AIESEC)

Facilitator team at Take It Up LDS

Kenyans at Global Village

Kenyans a bit later at global village (Singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" ;))

2006-11-25T23:10:00.000+01:00

Hi All

Long time, no write, story of my life I suppose. Anyway, as I now have internet in my house, I will be able to start writing much more regulary :D

I have now been in Kenya for five months, and even though I still have some problems relating on a personal level with Kenyans, I have started to get used to how things work down here. An excellent example of this was when I today entered a mutato (wrecked up minibusses, who constitute much of public transport in Nairobi). It was late, as I had been chilling with some AIESEC guys at their preferred spot, the cantina of the cental police station, and I was walking together with a few friends. We got to the mutatus, and as usual there was quite a bit of crowding. I push myself in, but in this process I feel a slight tickeling near my left pocket. When seated in the mutatu, I feel at my pocket and finds that my phone is gone, out of the window, I see a woman disappearing down the steet. Now, what I could have done in this situation was to scream up, and push my way out of the mutatu, and try to catch the woman. When you have been in nairobi for some time you do however know that that is not how things work. The sensible thing to do is to sit back, reflect on your own stupidity in regards to taking care of your stuff, and exchange a few words with the people around you about the problems regarding theft on the street and the Mzungu effect (Mzungu means white person aka. white semigod with unlimited money, and applies to all light coloured people in Kenya). Even at this moment I am not sad or grupmy about it - down here it is part of life. I was stupid, and suffered the consequenses - in Nairobi they are always there, no room for naivity.

Last weekend I visited the national park with a few interns. Even though we could not go into the actual park (the tourbus was apparently booked by a group of sportsperformers), we had a wonderfull time checking out the fancey animals at the safari-walk, which basically is a big zoo with all the animals of the savannah. Quite a cool zoo though, as all the animals is living in something that quite closely resemple their national habitats. Last time I visited the park however, we had quite a cool guide. Partly because he showed a genuine interest in the animals and what he was sharing, but mostly because he let us into the cage of the parks five year old leopard, which have been raised there since she was a cub :D

Kristian the Cheetah Tamer ;)

Will keep you updated with my many adventures and challenges!

SmilesNhugs,
Kristian

Kenya, Global MC and International Congress

2006-08-27T20:28:00.000+02:00

Last time I posted I was a student of computer science at Aalborg university in Denmark, I had just returned from the most amazing AIESEC conference of my life, and to be honest I was quite inspired. Inspiration can be a dangerous thing, and now, four months later I am part of the national AIESEC team in Kenya, with the overall responsibility of activating 300 Kenyan AIESECers dreams, passions and personal development, and only 12 months to make a difference. Dreams can certainly come true, and life can make some amazing twitches once in a while, if you dare take the chance!

As I will be getting internet in my room, more updates of my life, experiences, joys and frustrations will be popping up here at the blog - for now I will keep it to exclaming that Kenyans proberly are the friendliest and most social people on this earth and that I truely enjoy the two months I so far have spend in Kenya.

Warm Smiles,
Kristian

ITC2006: The most amazing conference ever!

2006-05-08T16:14:00.000+02:00

This is an article I have made for the Danish AIESEC'ers, and as it describes one of my most emotional experiences, I believe it fit to share it here too :)

I was asked to describe the conference I have just attended in Lithuania, a thing called ITC2006, a conference where every person had experience and interest in learning and people development, and a conference that have become one of the strongest, and most emotional experiences in my life. The objective of the conference was to create a holistic view, or complete overview and understanding of the way we drive learning in AIESEC, and of course to create a network of highly skilled and motivated individuals throughout the world. I strongly feel I gained the two objectives, but besides this, I have gained so much more both personally and professionally than I ever expected!

To conceptualize the conference, try to remember some of the most professional and amiable people-people you have ever met in AIESEC, then imagine a conference where almost all delegates are like that. Try to recall some of the best and most inspiring facilitators or trainers you have had –then imagine a conference were they fill out the whole seven person faci-team. Imagine the best chair you have ever had at an AIESEC conference – then imagine a person who is even more inspiring, jumpy and in touch with people. Imagine these people, split into groups of 14, working from nine o’clock in the morning, till eleven o’clock in the evening, both learning about and experiencing each of the learning environments. Imagine the stress and the joy of having to design, plan and execute a five hour training at the end of the conference for a group of Lithuanian university-students, and the following joy when the students express that the training widely exceeded their expectations. Imagine a conference, where everybody, even tough Viking Danes, sob during the closing plenary, desperately clinging to the group he/she have shared almost a week together with.

I know this is very emotional and I know the experience will be living in me for many years to come. It is an experience which made me realize the full potential of AIESEC as a source of inspiration and learning for young individuals, and which gave me the last connections in my understanding of what I have been doing for the last many years in AIESEC. It is an experience, which made me regain my passion in pretty much all aspects of my life, and have made me rethink my whole current situation and my future – and even open up my own blog on the net ;)
So all together, a truly amazing personal experience!

From a practical point of view then yes, I gained my objectives. I now know how learning environments fits into the big picture, I know both how and why we use every one of them, and have loads of ideas of how to make them come through in the LCs. Let me share my main holistic line of thought regarding the purpose of learning in AIESEC: We want to create peace and fulfilment of humankind’s potential. This we want to archive through creating change agents, who will create a positive impact in society for the rest of their lives. The way we develop change agents, is to give every member a chance to go through the AIESEC experience, so he/she get a practical opportunities to develop the attributes of the change agent. The “official” goals are made explicit through the competency layer model. The practical way to create and support this individual development is through the six different learning environments which are constantly nurtured in AIESEC. These are self-discovery, team experiences, mentoring, virtual spaces, conferences/seminars and learning circles. So, in order to increase the “production” and quality of our main product, the change agents, we need to ensure that each of these environments empowers each and every member of AIESEC, to the fullest of his/her potential, or in other words from a PD-pow, it is important to create an attitude of self-driven learning in the LC, and to make sure that the members have the tools and education, to make the most out of his/her time in AIESEC. A simple example is to make sure that people know the DISC team-model, so they have a reference to why they clash with certain kinds of people in the daily work – a nice way to strengthen the team-experiences learning environment (or strengthen learning, during team experiences).

We learn, and create learning environments, because this both support the very purpose of AIESEC, and the very purpose of us being in AIESEC. We can gain individually, as groups and as an organisation at the very same time, by just keeping this very beautiful idea in focus. AIESEC is learning, through learning in practical experiences we perform amazing things, and help shape amazing individuals. That’s the beauty of our organisation!

The theme of the conference was “Learning to Fly”, and I must say that I have been flying high every day since I returned. My challenge now, is to land again, and to find ways to share the insights and inspiration with you. A way I will open here and now, is to issue this open invitation – feel free to write me with any questions, ideas and issues, and I would fully enjoy answering or discussing them with you, and I would love to use my network to gain even more insight into any of these topics!

Passion and introductions

2006-05-03T16:24:00.000+02:00

Smiles for everyone and welcome to my blog about passion, the world, inspiring people, and whatever else comes my way!

In order to properly introduce my world, I will start by presenting a number of very inspiring facts (and semi-facts) about me, my world and my future!

(Semi)Facts about Me:

Loves people, and love inspiring the world around me
I tend to reflect about anything, anywhere and at any time
Dream of ending up in a position, where I can inspire and positively impact people, and where every day brings new interesting challenges and learning opportunities

PassionS:

I am a proud member of the most passionate student run organisation in the world - a thing called AIESEC - in which I together with numerous other people try to archive the beautiful vision of "Peace and Fulfilment of Humankinds Potential" (ask and I will give you the whole speech - it is very inspirational ;))

Facts about My World:

I am living in the north most city of Denmark - called Aalborg - a place that unfortunately is quite far from anything
I am still in university, working on turning my technical education towards a more inspiring people perspective (1 year left - I can do it!!!)
I have just returned from the most amazing conference of my life, and am currently holding in my hand a stone from the lake in Lithuania where I shared so much time with a wonderful team of inspiring people from all over the world!

Current Projects:

Writing my thesis (crisis management in it-projects - a learning approach)
Trying to find a traineeship, or an national AIESEC position somewhere in the world

Ideas for my FuTure:

I am going to explore the world next year, through either traineeship, or an international postion in AIESEC!
I will most definitely end up in a job which consists of both inspiration and passion every day!

Current Struggeles:

The world is a big place - where to go, only thing I know is that I want a full cultural experience, so europe is out of question!
How do I archive my vision of working with people in a daily inspirational environment, when my current "documented" compentencies is primarely technical!

So - now that you know me, I hope you will be prepared for some serious reflections comming up during the next weeks, months and years!

SmilesNhugs,
Kristian