I was seated in the sitting room one morning during the last days in the month of June keeping myself updated with the happenings around me when I decided to check my timeline on face book. Its become a norm that I will always find something new and just as I thought I saw a sponsored post "world life experience". I went through its content and I was drawn in so I checked its website it reads " travel, discover and share experience". 12 lucky people will tour the world (40 countries) within a year with two weeks break four times and getting paid for it. First though of anyone is that its an adventure of a life time (smiles.....) But while on it, they will carry out different social activity. For me that was the deal breaker. It wasn't just going to be an adventure but lives will be touched ( you want to know more about WLE then check their website www.worldlifeexperience.com and also their social media pages).
I told my brother about it and he said "scam alert"( lol.....). He said that because of the 9£ that will be paid before you can complete your application (lol....). Even before telling him I read a few comments on the post I saw and there were a lot of people questioning the reality of the project. I mean it's a big one and looks unrealistic to some people (lol....) But that is when I choose to believe and to trust. I thought whoever would have though of such idea (lending a hand to people while having an adventure) will come off as sincere and it's a bigger risk to not be a part because of 9£(lol....). It's so much courage for everybody who applied because there were thousands of people from all over the world applying and the chances of being among the twelve (ermm.......thinking) I believe the answer will be in binary (lol.....). I went ahead with my application and along the line I had issues with making my payment plus the website was down for weeks (sigh......). Eventually when they came back online and the deadline was pushed forward, yet again there were questions on the reality of the project if they can't handle such issues (WLE greatest challenge during application days). Still I wasn't able to make payment as a result of the payment method not working with my country so I sent an email. Again deadline was moved to the 7th of August (sigh....) and another payment method enabled as a result of people like me left behind who haven't completed their survey. I was able to make payment and complete survey during this time and then all applicants had the long wait (lol...).
Website down again after 7th of August but social media pages buzzing with information of progress and a lot of anticipation from candidates all over the world. People were following through to see what becomes of their fate on the journey and finally in September we all saw what we have been waiting for. 5th of September I saw on my timeline that 84 preselected moving on to the next stage with two more stages before finally getting the twelve. Everybody was to get an email but already there were comments and all comments were not selected, not selected, not selected (sigh......lol). By then I haven't gotten any email yet. But I think I saw two selected from the 84. So where are the rest???. Not everybody has gotten an email yet and we've been told already it may take a little time and to make sure to check all email folders.
A few people started to raise eyebrows and question how the selection process was done, where are the 84, why weren't they good enough. A lot of why, where, when, how.......(sigh....lol). So WLE uploaded the first photo image of the names of the 84 preselected but brought down the post after they came under fire from the public. I didn't see that photo image but saw the newly uploaded one. There were comments about why WLE brought down the post with all the comments ( apparently they were negative comments). I went through the list of the 84 but found it to be greatly unbalanced. 23/84 from spain , 17/84 from Brazil with other countries represented. Some continents were sparsely represented like Africa, Asia, Oceania and we have 41 persons from just two countries. I shook my head and thought they made a really big mistake. I expected more from WLE as someone who had faith in them but was indifferent about the whole list thing(lol...).
WLE posted again how the 84 were selected and so I checked to see how it was done but I stopped in my track when I saw the stake for the selection was raised different from what was advertised and by then I totally lost faith in them. There was no fairness at all. Negative comments on their page and people giving up on WLE. so I decided to send an email. I tagged it "my two cent". I requested for the email to sent to the appropriate team in charge. I wrote about how I had so much faith in WLE and it staying long only if things were done right. I wrote about my reasons for not wanting to be a part of the second season because of the unbalance in the list and WLE raising her stake to select the 84 different from what I was to believe when I applied and hoped things will be looked into. I wasn't expecting any reply as that was just me giving my thoughts. Surprisingly I got a reply from Antonio Dias and he had this to say about how it turned out
"I really understand your point, as I respect your side as well your feelings.
However all the process have been made by recruitment specialists they need criteria to select and for this first edition, it's important that everything goes well, so they considered the traveling experience relevant on this event.
It's a long journey, and it's really important to the upcoming events that everything goes as we planned, so we need to guarantee all the right conditions.
- We want to show to everyone that we are transparent with the selection process, but this is our first event, we can make mistakes, but I promise that I will learn with every mistake to be able to correct all them on the next event. I apologize sincerely if something look not fair, but I m working hard to transform this on a truly experience. "
We exchanged a few more emails and we became friends (it was that easy.....lol). More importantly than being friends I got know he is as polite as polite can be and a sincere person. He also spoke about his love to meet new people from different cultures, sharing his view, getting others life perspectives and his wish to start a way for everyone to enjoy those rich experiences all over the world (I believe that is where WLE comes in). He is also an open person, can be philosophical (lol.....) and is willing to learn. It was only much later I got to know he is the visionaire behind WLE.
For me I understand that sometimes in life mistakes are inevitable but our willingness to learn and wanting to never stop to make a change makes all the difference. When Antonio asked me if I would love to do an article for WLE, the first thing he said even before i gave him a reply of if i would or not was that it is okay to write about the mistake as that was what truly happened (lol....). He spoke about being courageous to tell the truth and bracing up for whatever comes afterwards.
Today I am happy I walked my path with WLE. After all for me aside the adventure is the lives that will be touched all over the world that counts.
I believe in WLE and its success. How many more are with me?....lol.
Kisses and hugs.
For me I understand that sometimes in life mistakes are inevitable but our willingness to learn and wanting to never stop to make a change makes all the difference. When Antonio asked me if I would love to do an article for WLE, the first thing he said even before i gave him a reply of if i would or not was that it is okay to write about the mistake as that was what truly happened (lol....). He spoke about being courageous to tell the truth and bracing up for whatever comes afterwards.
Today I am happy I walked my path with WLE. After all for me aside the adventure is the lives that will be touched all over the world that counts.
I believe in WLE and its success. How many more are with me?....lol.
Kisses and hugs.
