PROJECTS ASSIGNED - STATEMENT OF WORK HAS BEEN RECEIVED

The statement of work (SOW) has been assigned for my subteam. Ulla, Vinayak, Mary and I will be working on a project with the Kenya Ministry of Health focusing on Women's Health related to cervical cancer. We started our team calls today and I can already tell we have a great mix of expertise. There is a significant amount of work to be accomplished over the next two weeks to be prepared to meet our clients once we arrive. So, I'm working to integrate these tasks as priority while 1) still performing my "day job", 2) transferring responsibilities to my back up and 3) trying to make sure I have everything I need for my stay in Kenya. Add to all that I am leaving my wife and four children for a month, so there is no way to hide that I'm starting to get stressed...

OUR HOME WHILE IN KENYA

We finally found out where CSC Team 7 will be staying while in Kenya. Our team will be staying in Karen, which is west of Nairobi, at the Country House Inn. The Karen area is named after Karen von Blixen-Finecke, the Danish author who wrote Out of Africa in the late 1930's. Kenya has a national museum to Karen Blixen as well.

The previous discussions from other teams about the accommodations had me worried a bit, but after reviewing the Country House Inn, I think we'll be fine. It's also nice to be closer to Nairobi centre since our colleagues on previous teams had to travel hours each way to interview clients in Nairobi.l

VACCINATIONS - ROUND 2

I received my second round of Hepatitis A & B vaccinations this morning.  Add another $350, bringing the total to $1,215. The good news is, I'm all finished with the shots and am now probably vaccinated against every known disease to man - hah.

TEAM PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

As I mentioned earlier, the entire team is required to complete learning activities that will help prepare us for our assignments. These topics are assigned to a team member who prepares and presents the content during our weekly call. The subjects are very interesting, and range from Team Development, Roles and Responsibilities, Cultural Adaptability, Travel Safety and Consulting Skills.

In addition to the regular job responsibilities, the extra work is taking more time than I expected...

MY COLLEAGUES IN CSC KENYA TEAM 7

We are the 7th team deployed to Kenya and consist of 12 people representing 8 countries (United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, and Australia).

Our expertise ranges significantly from technical specialists to consultants. We have weekly calls to review a variety of subjects to prepare us for our trip and assignments, and I feel confident in the groups abilities and drive for success.