Are you a window opener?

Intelligence is such a strange thing. It's spread oddly within families, societies,countries. At the cross-roads of genetics and environment, Intelligence needs to be unveiled and nurtured. That's the importance of a supportive environment. Because supportive environments are scarce, everyone cannot be likewisely intelligent.

In the beginning of my university career, i studied cognitive psychology; there was a class where we were asked to figure out a locked down classroom in which children would be parked with no external influence: the windows and the door will be closed down. We were asked to imagine what will happen With time. The answer was simply that the classroom will turn into a dummies' classroom where "the raw genius flows".

And the genius will start flowing in the form of a round of applause given to the first self-reliant child who will stand up and announce"i just discovered the sum of two and two! Guess what? It's five!"

The dummies' class structures itself according to three golden rules:
1- Don't challenge the authority, there's always a wise meaning behind the words

2- There's no other truth applicable to us than ours, our reality is unique

3- We are the lucky ones, but we are not aware enough of that

Since i completed my cognitive psychology classes, the dummies' classroom simulation has remained vivid in my mind.

Two months ago i was attending an international leadership conference in Limbe. I was stricken by a Beninese and a Gabonese discussing about democracy in their home countries; the Beninese was so proud of the new political change that happened in his country, that he was mocking his friend for having kept the same regime for 36 years, with the same "forever elected" president. He then affirmed his own president he was so proud of was elected with no political program but was "a new person bringing new ideas"

I heart the bells of the dummies' classroom ringing for the first time.

Flabbergasted, i whispered in the ears of the Beninese: how the hell can you vote someone without reading through his program? "No one knows his program, he replied, he's supported by very influential people. Sorry, i can't publicly criticize him, he is my president now"

The bells rang louder: don't challenge the authority.

As a reply to the Beninese, the Gabonese said alternance is not what mattered, they kept the same team, thus creating a foundation for stability and peace."Look at Rwanda and Cote d'Ivoire, he then added, see the killings in Sudan and Congo. We live in peace, and peace is priceless. Our regime's delivering,that's why they are still there."

The bells rang frantically: we are the lucky ones, but we are not aware of that.

In the same leadership conference, a bunch of Europeans were asked for what they admire most in Africans, and they said : "La Joie de vivre"(happiness). Africans were enchanted with the answer. We are the lucky ones. The society might be on the verge of collapse because of no social justice or welfare system in a capitalistic world, our kids might be starving, but we are happy and want the world to see it.

The Europeans were then asked for what they dislike most in Africans and they replied "their laziness". Africans went crazy and shouted "you know nothing about Africa, you've been here for just a couple of days! I remembered one very popular political speech delivered in my country when new patterns of democracy were inspired by the Eastern wind in the early nineties. Urged by the international community and the civil society to organize a national dialogue to collectively address some national issues,the head of state declared "Cameroon is Cameroon". Many countries have had such a speech at a period of their history. Outsiders cannot understand us, nor give lessons. Our reality is unique.

Ding... Dong!!!

Apart from happiness, when we look at all the other areas of the economic, social, cultural and political life, Africa gives the picture of the dummies' classroom, where all the less clever pupils were parked for a kind of fast track to the humanly acceptable standards.

Let's take the case of Peace in Africa. Because nightmares like Rwanda are taken as reference, absence of an open civil war means peace to most "peaceful" African countries. That's the paradigm of the dummies' class.

Now imagine a new child entering the classroom and saying "wait a minute: two plus two makes four!!!" Will the others be convinced? Hell no, their way is the way.

For the specific case of Africa, the outsider would question: but can there be peace when women are just superior to dogs and cats? Where basic needs are not fulfilled, where there's no freedom of expression? Where a phone call from an influential person easily replaces any established article of the law? Where young talents have no other option but to fly away?

Peace in Africa means no war. We are the lucky ones, for there's always a person living a worse situation than ours.Don't challenge the authority. Our reality is unique.

Can the breakthrough come from the outsider entering the class? He'll hardly be listened to. He can challenge only superficial paradigms. Our reality is unique. The opportunity is just given for the outsider to challenge his own assumptions and grow.

What about opening the door and sending one of the dummies not to a first class, but just a different class, he'll start challenging his assumptions and come back transformed. No rule of the dummies' class will apply to him. He'll talk to his former classmates, and they 'll listen to him. He will challenge the authority. He would say our reality is unique, yet we MUST learn from the others. He would say you are not the lucky ones, you are the challenged ones. Take your challenge on.

In both options, a window have to be opened. But the second option is more impactful as it injects a change agent withing the dummies group.

For real. For good.

The mission of AIESEC is it not to open windows for Africa, Asia, Europe, America?

Outgoing Exchange is the answer.
It's also my commitment.