A couple of weeks ago AEGEE-Skopje elected a new board. This means a fresh start for the antenna, who had to face criticism for organising the autumn Agora 2011. The new President, Fatima Salifoska, told the Golden Times why it is definitely worth to go to an AEGEE-Skopje event in 2012.

Golden Times: Congratulations, Fatima! What are your plans for your antenna for 2012?
Fatima Salifoska: Thank you very much. I have a lot of plans for this year. First of all, we have a project financed by “Youth in Action” in April, then we will organiae the Summer University called “Ministry of foreign language” and later on our plan is to organise a Local Training Course in October. Of course this is not all. I will try to strengthen our antenna, to increase the visibility of AEGEE on local level and to organise more one-day events for our members, more like workshops.

Golden Times: Can you tell something about yourself? What do you study? How did you join AEGEE?
Fatima: I am 22 years old. I just started my MA studies in International relations and diplomacy at the Faculty of Law “Iustinianus Primus”. I am a member of AEGEE-Skopje since 2009, when I heard about the Summer University. I chose one, applied and participated. My first AEGEE experience was in Croatia at the Summer University organised by AEGEE-Zagreb, AEGEE-Rijeka and AEGEE-Zadar. Since then I knew that AEGEE is the right place for me. That was the most amazing event that I have attended until today in my life.

Golden Times: What did you do at the Agora?
Fatima: Before the Agora I was Visa responsible and during the Agora I was the CD and Chair team responsible.

Golden Times: Looking back, what comes to your mind when you look back at the Agora in Struga?
Fatima: One-of-a-kind experience! It was stressful, I’m not sure if I can say that I had a good time, because of all the problems that had arisen, but it is definitely something that you cannot experience anywhere else! We’re all sure that there were many problems, some from us, some from other sides, but at the end of the day it was a useful experience for me.

Golden Times: How was the general atmosphere in your antenna after the Agora?
Fatima: Even though I think the network shares the opinion that the atmosphere was negative, some of the volunteers that weren’t AEGEE members became part of the network, some members got interested in working on the projects coming up, especially the one in April. We elected the new board, as you can see, and we have two new girls in the board that are eager to start working. I’m not saying that we think everything’s smooth. It’s definitely not, but we’re trying to make it better.

Golden Times: Did the Agora have negative financial consequences for your antenna or did your antenna survive it well?
Fatima: Yes, we definitely did have and still have financial consequences. The responsibles are informed about that and we, here, are trying to resolve some of them. The ones we’re capable of resolving. I hope that with the new board, we will try to do our best our antenna to be financially sustainable.

Golden Times: Good luck! Final question: Why should all AEGEE members go to an AEGEE-Skopje event?
Fatima: It’s not just the AEGEE-Skopje events, it’s about all the events that they’ll be missing if they don’t attend them. Something special about our events is the fact that they’re unique. One event is about culture, another more like training, third could be about travelling around the country, the fourth is a fun event and so on. Something you’ll be missing at every event is visiting our country!

 

More about AEGEE-Skopje

  • AEGEE-Skopje fanpage on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aegee-Skopje/347458741961215
  • AEGEE-Skopje account on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000231984617