First posting on a new blog – where to begin? Let’s start with the reason I’m starting the blog. I received notice today that I’ve been accepted into a pretty elite program in my company called the “Corporate Services Corps”. Yes, I’m an IBMer. The CSC takes IBMers from all over the world and dispatches them in teams to developing countries to volunteer their time helping local enterprises – it’s like a corporate version of the Peace Corps. This is a neat video that a person from IBM Japan did to document her experience in Tanzania.
When I got the notification, I really felt like I had won the lottery. The competition to get one of these slots is fierce and I feel privileged to have been selected. There were close to 10,000 applications from over 60 countries, and only 400 slots. This is a chance to make a real difference in the world and a chance to take all those things that I’ve learned from toiling in corporate America and apply them to something meaningful. As of yet, no word on timing, location, or project but I plan to record the whole thing here so stay tuned over the next few months. Last year the teams went to Ghana, Romania, The Phillipines, Turkey, Tanzania, and Vietnam. I’m hoping for somewhere in Asia so I can learn some new culinary tricks at the same time but I’d be happy going anywhere.
There are still lots of details to figure out - like being away from my family for an entire month (YIKES!) but it's all very exciting. More to follow, right now, I’m still walking on the clouds.
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