Sometimes, a small action from us can have a huge impact on lives of others and on the future.
This week (on Saturday 10th December 2011 to be more precise), I was invited to a painting exhibition, an event which is part of a project called “Hope for Orphans” by AIESEC University of Mauritius. During this event held at the Municipal Council of Quatre-Bornes, I saw some paintings and work that are being done in the project which really touched my heart…
About AIESEC and the Project
AIESEC is the largest student run organisation in the world, active in 1700 universities in 110 countries. It is the platform which enables young people to discover and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact on society. AIESEC provides its members with:
- Leadership Opportunities (By leading a team)
- Internship Opportunities (By going on internship in any of the 110 countries where AIESEC is present)
- Global Learning Environment (By constant work and communication across border and around the globe)
One example to demonstrate the above is that we run projects on social issues and provide internship opportunities for people from other countries to come and work on these projects.
Hope for orphans
It is a 10 week long project during which AIESEC UoM envisions to bring a smile to every orphan. Provided with the necessary facilities, we believe orphans can contribute significantly to the society. They also may offer a different view on the way the world is seen. Our main aim is to strive to make the orphans good citizens so that they can work towards the welfare of their siblings. To work on this project, there are 16 international students presently in Mauritius and are placed in different orphanages, where they are organising activities for the children and working with them. More details on the project can be viewed on their website HERE or on the video below:
Connecting the dots
Having worked on several projects on social issues (HIV/AIDS, poverty, woman empowerment, cultural education etc.) last year and this year, I had noticed that each issue is inter-related to one another and despite the fact that we have never done a project on agriculture, it was somehow connected in all of them. It can even be said that whenever there is a problem in our society, agriculture is here as the “healing component”. For example, in centres where there are people infected by HIV/AIDS, they are being encouraged to grow crops, flowers or rear animals. Same applies for poverty, woman empowerment etc.
Dreams
We all had dreams when we were a child. Living in our own world, we were dreaming of becoming a doctor, astronaut, lawyer or engineer someday. But this project has shown me and others that not everyone dreams of becoming a doctor or having any other white-collar job. Through paintings, children from different orphanages have shown what their dream is. The following are some paintings that I appreciated a lot since they were related to agriculture.
The other dreams were also very interesting and the pictures can be viewed on the slide-show of the event below:
I have not been directly linked to this project, but projects on children are always special since all the efforts that the team is putting in would certainly have an impact on the future. Big congratulations to the Organising Committee President of Hope for Orphans project, Mr. Mushood Badulla and his team! Keep up the good work and keep impacting!
Concerning dreams, I believe that one should never stop dreaming, and we should continue encouraging these children pursue their dreams!
Concerning dreams, I believe that one should never stop dreaming, and we should continue encouraging these children pursue their dreams!
“If you can dream it, you can do it” – Walt Disney
