Monday, August 3, 2009

Internship completed!

On 2nd August 710pm, I finally touched down on KL International Airport.

After I left Cameroon, I flew to Kenya, where I stayed there for 5 days, then to Thailand, then to Malaysia, and this Saturday, I will go back to Singapore.

I was wearing my çaba (a very big loose Cameroonian dress), samaras (bamboo Cameroonian sandals), and having my hair Africanly plaited to give my family a shock. I was taking a video as I walked out the arrival hall to capture their emotions. And guess what I saw!



And there were my family with a huge poster to welcome me home!

At that moment, the notion got instantly embedded in my brain - I AM HOME!

And now I am here, I am glad to announce that I have formally completed my internship and my adventure to Africa. It has been a super great journey. I can judge how life-changing it is yet, I guess I can only tell that when I resume the normal life routine, and then realise how different I view or I handle them. But one thing is for sure, it has been the best way for me to spend my summer holidays, learning so much, loving so much, and discovering so much. Thank you my dear MC, NST and not forgetting MCP, for supporting me throughout in terms of emotions or work. Now I am back, inspired to action!

My memorable moments of the trip:

  • Fighting hard with homesickness halfway through my internship, with the warm support from friends from both Cameroon and Singapore. I emerged from this episode discovering a lot more about myself and my patterns of behavior.
  • From being scared about my perceived overfriendliness of people to understanding it as a gesture of hospitality, and mingling into the culture of being friendly with everyone, to missing it when I am now back.
  • Going to Kenya without knowing anything about the country and only two email correspondence with the MC, bagged only with one belief that someone will be there to pick me up and to house me. The reality didn't fail my belief.
  • An AIESEC member declaring that his vision is to solve Africa food shortage problem, and he has been consistently emailing me to update me about his progress to his vision.
  • During Cameroon national planning meeting time, it rained so heavily that the electricity got cut. The EBs and MCs continued with a lamp all the way till 11pm.
  • An AIESEC member came to my accommodation to just see how I am doing after I reached my internship city, to speak with me and help me to plait my hair.
  • Having instantly 40 friends in Kenya through attending one gathering.
  • In Kenya, I met an Austrian intern and got to know he knew my TN when my TN was doing his internship in Austria, and met another Canadian intern who is a friend of my mentor Celine!

1 comment:

  1. whee! love your family's welcome back poster - it's a classic! haha :)

    good journey! time to get cracking to create more AIESEC XPs! :D

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