Cocktails

Well it’s been quite the week so far, featuring not one but TWO cocktails that were both very interesting and very different.

The first was an event that we have been planning for an entire year. The idea was told hold a big event to march the official “launch” of AIESEC in Mozambique. The original plan was to do this in December, but it didn’t quite work out, so we waited. Of course, we have been running operations since October and have already realized 6 exchanges and several other projects and events, so it’s not really a “launch” so to speak, but an event to mark that AIESEC is here and established with a strong plan for the future. This wasn’t for the students of the universities - they already know us. This was more for the government and the business community to take us seriously and know how they can work with us.



So the date was finally set for June 30th, the last official day of our term on the national team. We invited more than 60 influential people from around the city, including government, student organizations, companies and organizations. We had three guest speakers – Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and an honorary member of AIESEC, the CEO from Ernst & Young and The Minister of Education. Lilian was our moderator and Daudo also gave a short speech. Marco was in charge of the guest list and I was the official photographer.



We started a bit late, in true Mozambican fashion, but the event went pretty smoothly and we got good feedback at the end. We had a lot of our members there as well. The two major Mozambican TV stations (TVM and STV) both came and filmed the whole event and did interviews with Daudo and the other guests. The next day, STV showed a two-minute clip about the event on the evening news! We will see in the next few months if the event achieved its objectives.



After the event the four of us all went out to a traditional Portuguese restaurant for a fancy dinner. It was really nice and the food was incredible. It was a big weight off our shoulders. As Daudo said “Next week will be the first week since we arrived that we won’t have the Official Launch as a weekly priority”.



So now AIESEC in Mozambique is officially launched! The event has garnered us 12 appearances in the media in the last two days alone.

As the Official Launch was only June 30th, you can probably guess what the second was. Yes, the day after was Canada Day and I received and invitation to go to the Canadian High Commissioner’s house for another cocktail. I wasn’t expecting a large crowd – maybe 20 or 30 people – but there were more than 100! Not all of them were Canadian, some were guests and affiliates, but there were still a lot of Canadians there. The first lady I talked to was from…. Victoria! What are the chances!



They played all Canadian music and they had a group of school kids sing O Canada and the Mozambican national anthem. Then the High Commissioner gave a speech – all in Portuguese, which was a little odd. But it was nice and I understood most of it, especially since he spoke very slowly.




There were lots of snacks as well, starting with sausages, cheese with crackers and some sushi-like things. Then came dessert, featuring brownies, chocolate cups and… wait for it… maple leaf shaped sugar cookies and plates of mini pancakes with maple syrup dip!! It was very yummy!

Then, just to make us all feel more at home, it started to pour. Because I walked to the place, I ended up staying an extra half hour waiting for the rain to stop. At least tropical rain is intense but short-lived. And until that day, it had not rained for over 2 months! Mother Nature was saving up just for us!

Now that it’s July, we are just wrapping things up and finishing our transition with the new team. I am working on my plans for what comes next. Two more weeks until we are all done! Crazy!