Tuesday (June 17, 2014) was a big day for the work part of this adventure.  Our work location for this month is at the North West University Mafikeng’s campus, home to about 11,000 students.  An NWU worker, Daniel, is charged with picking us up in the NWU bus each morning to bring us to work and take us home at the end of each day.  After only one day, he’s starting to learn that getting 14 people anywhere is like herding cats, but he is patient and has a great laugh.  North West University has 3 campuses and a broad set of programs, with our particular campus focused on Rural Development as this, along with Platinum mining, are the main drivers of the region.

We were greeted by the Rector and other University leadership and each smaller team presented our proposed work to the broader crowd.  After months of prep work, we finally got to put that prep to practice and really start working.

In non-work related notes, we convinced Daniel to swing by the grocery store on the way home so we are not solely dependent on the lone restaurant at the hotel (which has good food, but 30 days of the same food will get old!). We also celebrated Valentina’s birthday at dinner at the hotel, complete with a cake we got at the grocery store and a sparkly paper crown for the lovely birthday girl!

#ibmcsc

Early Monday morning, we started our adventure to get from Johannesburg to Mafikeng (side note, Mafikeng is actually spelled three different ways and I’m still trying to understand which is the correct one – very confusing – as the answer changes based on who you ask!)

The 14 IBMers from CSC South Africa 12 team plus our trusted advisor, John, gathered with all our luggage.  The first bus arrived and promptly turned around as not being big enough for our luggage.  A half hour later a second bus arrived with a trailer and Tarik took the heroic job of loading all our bags.

We embarked on the 300 Kilometer journey and saw the South African country-side roll by.  We spotted tons of cattles, horses and sheep, plus a pack of ostriches, a lone zebra, gazelle, and 6 giraffes munching on some trees.  Unfortunately, we were traveling to fast to get any good photos.  We stopped after 2 hours for a lunch break at a gas station.

Back on the bus for another 2 hours of getting to know each other and napping.

We arrived around 4 pm to the Mmabatho Palms hotel, 5 hours after starting the journey.  We were greeted by Professor Maaga (pronounced Ma-ah-ha) who will host us for the 4 weeks we are in Mafeking and working at the North West University.  After checking in, we had a briefing and casual dinner at the hotel.  Back to work for most teams as we head to North West University on Tuesday to meet the client, iNeSI, and the leadership of the University to present our Work Plan for the month.  I’m looking forward to getting a lay of this new town, seeing our work environment and settling into a routine.

#ibmcsc

Our 2 days in Johannesburg come to a close this morning as 16 of us board a bus to Mafeking.  Our final teammate Savi arrived yesterday morning and we have 2 advisors from the NGO sponsoring us, Digital Opportunity Trust, traveling with us, Muriuki and John.  John is a PhD candidate at the North West University where will be working the next 3 weeks and can show us the ins-and-outs of our new city.  The trip is only 300 KM, but the driver is saying it will be 5 hours.  Guess we’ll get to know each other really well on a bus for 5 hours!

Joburg has been a wonderful welcome to South Africa with all the amenities of home while getting immersed in our new country. Our hotel was like any American chain and across the street from a mall so the team could get food, hit up a grocery store or bank, or swap our SIM cards to get local data plans.  I loved the little dolls, pictured below, to indicate what type of service you wanted on your room.

Yesterday (Sunday) was spent working from the hotel most of the day.  We had a kick-off session with our client, iNeSI, which is the eSkills Institute for South Africa.  They graciously agreed to work a Sunday morning — not only of a long weekend, but also Father’s day — to get us started in the right direction.  Then our smaller teams broke off to work on our first pitch to the client.  My smaller team includes Effie from Canada and Chandra from Australia, pictured below at our kick off dinner (complete with napkin bibs) and working from a coffee shop yesterday.

And finally, here are two more good pics from Saturday in Joburg that didn’t make it to an earlier post.  The first is many of the team at the Apartheid Museum and the second is my admission to the musuem as a ‘white’ (randomly selected when you buy your ticket, not because I am white).

 

#ibmcsc

Today marked our first official day doing work for Corporate Service Corp South Africa Team 12 and we kicked it off with a bus ride from the hotel to the IBM office in Johannesburg where we met the Country General Manager and other senior mgmt who graciously took their Saturday morning of a long Holiday weekend to welcome us, give us an overview of IBM in South Africa, and a security briefing.  We posed for what will be one of many group photos, although we are still one shy as our final teammember will arrive Sunday from India.

After the morning work meeting, we continued on the bus to do sightseeing in Joburg with a lunch and tour of the Apartheid Museum.  It’s a wonderfully detailed museum that kicks off with a random assignment as either “white” or “black” to enter into separate parts that eventually merge.  And it ends with an array of sticks that when viewed from a certain direction form Nelson Mandela’s profile. From there, the bus toured us through Soweto with stops at Hector Pieterson Square and then to Nelson Mandela’s house.  A quick stop at the hotel, then back on the bus to Sandton Mall to meet two of our clients from iNeSI for an Indian dinner.  The day concluded 11 hours after starting at 9:30 pm and now I sit in my hotel judiciously using my 1 hour of free internet to connect back with the kids, check email and of course post this blog!

It was a gorgeous sunny day in Joburg, around 60 degrees, then getting quite chilly when the sun went down.  I knew it would be Winter here, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that it would get dark early so I was quite surprised both last night and tonight when the sun set at 5 pm!  My other very surprising discovery was how fast items charge on 220V!! I had a few other photos I wanted to share, but the free hour on my phone timed out before they could send over email to my laptop, so I’ll post them at some further point. We are back to work tomorrow morning — a Sunday — to start work sessions with the clients.

#ibmcsc south africa

24 hours after leaving Hudson, I am safely tucked into my hotel in Johannesburg — home for the next three nights. I met all 13 teammates in the lobby upon arrival as I was in the last set to arrive. (Unfortunately Nicoline had to be pulled from the team last minute due to the needs of the business, but she will get to head on a future CSC assignment).

Pictured here are Chandra, Julie and Aruna, the first teammates I met in the Joburg airport –

I’ve FaceTimed the kids and now will get unpacked and into bed as we head to the IBM office tomorrow at 8:30 to officially kick off. It’s straight to business for #ibmcsc southafrica!

Ever since telling folks that I was heading to Africa for over a month for work, I’ve had lots of (the same) questions.  So, in case you were also wondering some of these things …

Why are you doing this? Why not! Seriously, though, this is not something I decided on a whim.  The application process is not the easiest or quickest. IBM opens applications to qualified employees in April each year.  Your write a bunch of essays (it’s like applying for college all over again!). Selections are made by July for the next year’s class.  Then you patiently wait for your assignment that could occur up to a year later. I first applied in April 2012 and got a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ note in July. When the application period opened again in April 2013, I had a lot of conversations with Dave on if I should apply again and the opportunity was just so incredible that I wanted to try again.  Personally, I love to travel and this was a trip unlike any other. Professionally, it will afford me skills growth in the global market and the ability to learn about many other parts of IBM — always a good thing for a career. Altruistically, it lets me be part of a group to make an impact in a community.

But how can you leave for that long? The above mentioned husband makes that part much easier knowing he’s been supporting me 100% from the get-go. His typical response is “We’ll handle it” and I know he will.  The kids are also curious and excited for me.  Yes, I will miss them terribly and I’m sure there will be some rough patches, but it will be summer with lots of activities and we have wonderful support with family, friends and sitters.  I’m hoping the experience sticks with them, too, that it’s important to give back and also important to do things that make you happy.

Did you get to chose South Africa? Nope. IBM sends teams to 30+ countries and there are a few hundred selected into the program each year.  The dedicated CSC staff does their magic in creating teams that have the right blend of background, skills, and geographic location. You can list your geographic preference (Africa, Latin America, Asia or Eastern Europe) and timing restrictions.  Since it would be much easier logistically for me to be away during the summer, I let them know I’d go anywhere if it was in June or July.  I was thrilled to get the nod for South Africa.  Other CSC teams on deployment right around my timing include Ghana, Vietnam, Argentina and Peru.

Will you be able to talk / text / post over there? I hope so! We have been told we will have Wifi access at our work environment, but we won’t know for sure until we get there.  Assuming I can get connected, I plan to use all sorts of new apps (well, new to me anyways) to communicate back home.  I have Facetime and Skype ready and am playing around with Viber and Whatsapp.  My only request is to not call or text my cell as it will be really expensive!   Download Viber and Whatsapp (both free apps) if you want to chat or text while I’m there.

Do you have to get a lot of shots? A few, but nothing too bad. For my time in Mafeking, I really only had to get Hep A (shot) and Typhoid (pill).  Because of Dave and I’s post-assignment trip to Zambia and South Africa, I also had to get Yellow Fever (shot) and Malaria (pills).

What’s the weather like? What will you wear? It’s Winter in South Africa now with the mornings in the high 30’s / 40’s F and the afternoons warming up to the 60’s or low 70’s F.  Much better than the crazy heat that most of us assume about Africa. We’ll be in a work environment where it’ll be a blend of business casual and formal business attire when presenting to the clients, so I’ll have to bring suits, dresses, etc, in addition to casual clothes.  I’m not sure it will all fit — and I’m sure there will be a further post about cramming it all into one suitcase!

What will your day look like? During the work week, we will be heading to the ‘office’ at a local University.  It will be much like a normal work day of team meetings, collecting data, research, analysis, creating recommendations and implementing them.  The 15 of us are further divided into smaller teams and I’ll be working with Chandra, Sanjay and Effie on increasing eLiteracy rates in South Africa and creating a way to measure the impact. On the weekends, it’s a mix of giving back in more traditional activities like working with schools and personal time / fun activities.

What happens to your regular job while you are gone? We sign a contract that states we won’t work on our regular jobs while on assignment. My day-to-day work in Procurement on Supplier Diversity and Supplier Connection will be graciously picked up by multiple colleagues.

Do you get paid? Does this count as vacation or leave? I continue to receive my regular IBM salary while on CSC assignment and it doesn’t count against my vacation for the year.  Nor do I get any comp days.  It’s a cost and vacation-neutral program.

Are Dave and the kids going with you?  During the one-month IBM assignment, no one is allowed to travel or stay with you so that we are focused on our work and client.  At the end of the CSC assignment, Dave will drive the kids to my Mom’s and then fly over to Johannesburg.  We will spend a week split into a safari near Kruger National Park then flying to Zambia to see Victoria Falls.

Why is there always the #ibmcsc in your posts?  IBM has a very cool way to aggregate social media from all of the participants involved in the program.  It works by pulling in all blogs and tweets with #ibmcsc hashtag.  I have to work it into all posts so my blog and tweets are included in the main IBM social page.