WHY #AIESEC4Libya IS A HASHTAG YOU NEED TO SUPPORT NOW!

I wrote the title in all capitals because as everyone knows, in today’s world there is nothing more attention grabbing, boisterous, and frankly frightening than an all caps sentence. So allow me to justify my wild use of this unfortunate form of letters.

Each one of today’s youth plays one of these two parts in the world, they are either the victim of those policies created by a generation that won’t live to see the consequences, or the change makers, thereby making them the force creating the future in which they will live. In a small part of the world you get to choose which part to play, in many others however, it is enforced upon you either as a norm which you grow to accept or a rule which you despise but dare not break for fear of the consequences.

Many of you will notice and recognize a name in the hashtag above; AIESEC, an acronym for Association internationale des étudiants en sciences économiques et commerciales (I can totally pronounce that!). AIESEC is an organization which has for many years been facilitating opportunities for young people around the world by allowing them to go on exchange programs that can be related to their field of study. What started out as a strictly European organization is now extended to 133 countries around the world. Unfortunately, Libya is not one of those countries.

While the absence of AIESEC during the Ghaddafi era can be easily explained, its current absence is not so easily done. It is impossible for anyone to not have noticed the motivational nature of Libyan youth after the revolution for it seems like after being almost dormant for such a long period their energy has burst through after the revolution and they were taking part in everything! From Training workshops, to voluntary activities, creating a civic society environment and nurturing it from every aspect. It was hard to miss the talents blossoming, the skills developed, and the interest and curiosity that grew by the minute.

All the above is reason enough to hope for AIESEC to be able to extend to Libya, but if you feel like that is not convincing let me introduce you to the team who has so far been working on the expansion initiative for months:

• Mackey Abogrean, 21, Faculty of accounting graduate, part time radio host.
• Sara Bilghasim, 20,A Linguistics student, part time teacher/Radio host.
• Abdelmunim Badi 19, A Business studies/French language student, part time radio host.
• Asma Dekna 23, A law student, and an experienced AIESECer.
• Emad Sokni 21, Engineering student.

You can also see them here:

And here:

And for every great video, you have terrible bloopers which you can see here:

Now that you have survived the entirety of this article, I would like to rather boldly ask for your support, hashtag on Twitter, facebook, Instagram or even tumblr (For the hipsters out there) #AIESEC4Libya with how you think AIESEC will benefit the Libyan youth in rebuilding their country or simply wishing us luck with the upcoming process of the AIESEC expansion Initiative.

Thank you