This year the 2013 JCI Africa and Middle East Conference, earlier known as the Area A Conference, was held between the 8th and 11th May 2013 at the Grand Palm in Gaborone, Botswana. It was a great pleasure and privilege to be there and represent JCI Mauritius.
Little Facts on Botswana:
Botswana got its independence in September 1966 and is a country covered up to 70% by the desert. The citizens of Botswana are called Batswana and the currency used is the Pula. JCI Botswana has 130 members at 2012 and 3 Local Organisations.
Apart from the countries in Africa and Middle East, the conference witnessed the participation of nations from other continents, Brasil, France, India, Japan, Scotland, Spain and UK to name a few.
On the very first day of the conference, all Chief Delegates attended the National Presidents’ meeting where all chief delegates had a presentation of 2 minutes to report on the status of their respective organisation. Moreover, we had a status report from the President and councillors of AMDEC. Another interesting presentation at this meeting was that of the representative from the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC), an organisation which works closely with JCI in Botswana.
In the afternoon of Thu 9 May and Fri 10 May, we had the General Assembly 1 and General Assembly 2 respectively. The Vice Presidents assigned to Africa and Middle East gave a status report during Assembly 1. Apart from other presentations in General Assembly 2, we had a presentation from JCI Brasil regarding the forthcoming World congress in Rio. We also had few presentations from JCI Japan who was represented with numerous attendees.
The same day, all attendees were invited to the Botswana Night held at a place called the Botswana Craft. Once there, we had the opportunity to see the traditional dance of Botswana performed by dancers wearing a common attire. On Saturday morning, delegates left the conference centre as from 10.00am to participate in the community project.
Finally, the awards night and the closing banquet were held on Saturday in the conference centre. As you are aware, JCI Mauritius has won 3 Awards and it was a great honour to receive those awards on behalf of JCI Curepipe and JCI Port Louis.
In 2014, JCI Togo is hosting the JCI Africa and Middle East Conference. It is indeed a great experience for a JCI Member to attend such conferences at least once. I will encourage you to be prepared and make it to the next conference in Lome, Togo.
Yogesh Bappoo
JCI Mauritius Treasurer