RECENT ACTIVITIES

I've lost count of the days, so here's a brief summary of the recent activities.

I missed Ava's 3rd birthday Monday, but managed to skype just after her party. She was so cute in her birthday dress and she really liked her scooter. Now, she'll be able to keep with the others. I miss my wife and kids a ton, and can't wait to get home to give them all hugs.

My Mom and Dad took Olivia, Amanda and John Paul to a Reds game last week. It looks like they all had a great time. Also, just a reminder for those who didn't know, my Dad received a new lung via transplant last autumn. He's looking and feeling great.

Our sub team working with the Ministry of Health has been attending interview sessions with a variety of stakeholders, including members of the World Health Organization, Kenya Ministry of Health - Division of Reproductive Health, those responsible for Kenya's Health Management Information Systems and consultants working with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

These interviews are designed to help our team gather critical information about our areas of focus. Those being interviewed have been most generous with their insight and time. Like I mentioned before, there is passion in all they do.

After the data collection period, we'll have a small window to analyze the data and develop our preliminary recommendations, which we will socialize with the stakeholders to validate for our final presentation.

Approaching about two weeks to go...

SO, THIS IS WHAT A REAL SAFARI IS...

I had the great fortune of visiting the Amboseli National Park last weekend for a wildlife safari. Amboseli is about 237km south from where we are staying in Karen, and just north of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Tanzania border. Our tour driver, George, picked us up Friday and drove us to the park. We mostly drove on Kenya's main highway between Nairobi and the port town of Mombasa. It was a pretty decent road, but crowded with trucks hauling containers. The trucks use the road because the only train tracks between the cities were built by the British in the late 1800's and cannot manage the weight. There is a plan in place for a new rail system, which is all set to go pending government funding.

One interesting item about the drive was, the trucks move very slow and most of the highway is only one lane in each direction. If you get stuck behind a slow truck, you play chicken and move into the other lane to pass him. Now, in the US you can manage this pretty easily due to the power most vehicles have, but in Kenya, most engines are small and do not accelerate quickly. Needless to say, there were a few close calls, but George had everything under control.

Now, back to Amboseli. We stayed in the Ol Tukai Lodge which was very nice. We were able to see three of Kenya's "Big 5" animals, including elephants, cape buffalo's and lions. Additionally, we saw cheetahs, wildebeests, hippos, a puff adder, gazelles, antelopes, baboons, and other monkeys. The "Big 5" refers to the African lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo. The term "big five" was actually coined by big game hunters and it refers to the difficulty in bagging these large animals, mostly due to their ferocity when cornered and shot at.

Enjoy the photos...

He's waiting to get into his room...

One of the Big 5

A Cheetah for my son John Paul

One of the Big 5

 

 

 

One of the Big 5

THINGS ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM HOME

Now that my first week has almost concluded, I thought I'd introduce some items that I've found very different from home.
 
There are no hot water tanks, rather some appliance that electrically heats the water as it runs through. It does not do a very good job, and the water is lukewarm at best. The lodge does suppy flip flops to minimize getting shocked, which happened to me when I attempted to adjust the water flow. Lesson learned.

No washing machines/dryers at the lodge. I'm fortunate the housekeeper does laundry on the side. After a handwash and air dry in the cloudy Nairobi weather, I have fresh t shirts, socks and undies, all for 500ks (Kenyan Shillings), which is less than $5.

There is a nice flat panel Sony TV in my room, but not many channels. I usually watch the local news stations, which are always interesting. For example, I saw a news story of a Matatu driver that had his radio stolen. He liked his radio so much, he hired a Juju man (witch doctor) to cast a spell on who took it so he could get it back. After two days, no dice; the radio was gone.

I already talked about the traffic; it's insane. Since it is winter here, the weather has been 60's-70's, overcast and rainy. I saw the sun for ten minutes yesterday and was so excited I took some photo's. It feels chilly with the dampness, but I guess that's better than being in a suit on a 100 degree day.

The lodge is nice, and the staff are really great...

DAY #6 - INTERVIEWS

We're really rolling now. With a full day of interviews scheduled, we're ready to ramp up the information gathering and interview process. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and we were on the road to Narobi an hour or so later to make an 8:00am meeting. If you do the math, we planned for 1.5 hours to go less than 10 miles.

We had three interviews with a variety of department leaders, and I have to say I am inspired by their passion. It is quite clear these people really care and are invested deeply in their respective causes. The passion and commitment they all display is contagious and has certainly helped ignite our team to do our best work.

View of downtown Nairobi from the MOH Offices

Thursday's lunch...tasted great and less than $5

OUR ASSIGNMENT WITH THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Kenya has made significant strides since their independence, but had recently experienced some time of serious challenges. The democratic elections in 2007 and 2013 have reignited the Kenyan people, and government, to create a globally competitive and prosperous nation with a high quality of life.

Kenya has developed and started implementing a vision for their future, named Vision 2030.  Vision 2030 is a national long-term development blue-print that aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens in a clean and secure environment.

Vision 2030 is anchored in three key pillars: Economic, Social and Political Governance. Our team, working with the Ministry of Health, is assigned to three primary focus areas (project scope) to support the “Social” pillar.

FINALLY - A SKYPE WITH THE FAMILY

I had an awesome time this afternoon talking to Angie and the kids on skype. It was great to see their faces and hear their voices.What a great tool. I wish they were home more when I try to reach them, but usually it's mid day and they are all off enjoying the Cincinnati weather (warm and sunny).

Talking with them reminded me of how much fun we had on vacation before I left...

DAY #5 - WE HAVE A CLIENT TO MEET

I woke up after a decent night sleep (remember the dream?), and since our team had nothing set up with our client yet, I waited to take my lukewarm shower (more on that later) until after breakfast.

As I sat down to eat, one of my team members received a call and indicated we were supposed to meet with our primary client in 10 minutes. I knew we would be in traffic for at least an hour, so I hurried back to my room for a shower, shave and dress for the meeting. I've never prepared to wear full business clothes so quickly before, it only took ten minutes or so.

We met with Dr. Bashir, the Head of the Division Reproductive Health, and Dr. Odongo, Advisor for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV & Maternal Health program for CDC Kenya. Our primary mission was to validate the areas of focus we were targeting and identify key stakeholders to interview.It is very good we met with Dr. Bashir, because our scope was modified. We're off and running now...

From left to right: Muriuki Mureithi (Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), Joshua Oiro (Futures Group), Me, Ulla Kieserg (IBM team member from Germany), Dr. Odongo, Mary Nguyen (IBM team member from LA) and Vinayak Sastri (IBM team member from India).

DAY #4 - CLIENT MEETINGS

Tuesday started out rough. I woke up at 1am after a dream someone was in my room, and the very real experience of surprise when the person noticed me awaking, and I noticed him. Anyway, I slept poorly the rest of the night and was back up at 6am.

Our entire team left to present the work plans to their clients. My team working on the MOH Cervical Cancer project is still working to meet with the client. It seems the recent political changes, including devolution of power from the central government to the a new county model, is causing serious delays on our meeting, which is critical to validate our understanding of the objectives.

The other two teams presented in the morning and afternoon and they did outstanding work. I think I mentioned traffic, here are some interesting shots caught while moving very slowly to our destination

 

Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi

A NICE SURPRISE

I previously mentioned the team meetings yesterday. During the morning session, attended by 40 people or so, a senior official asked a colleague to began with a prayer. This was quite unexpected, but seemed to set a positive tone for the meeting. Can you imagine this in the US? I guess the power is in the masses, with over 90% of Kenyans being Christian, this may not be uncommon.

I later spoke to a Sister who attended the meeting and asked if she knew where the Dominican presence in East Africa was located. I asked because my home parish is of the Dominican Order and some of the previous priests, including Father Benedict Croell and Vincent Wiseman serve or have served there. The Sister was excited I asked, and promised to coordinate a mass for some of the IBM guests at the Dominican parish community.

I also found out that our CSC Teams host, and the local IBM Corporate Citizenship Manager (Mildred Ostiento) was once a student of the Sister and they had a good reunion.

All in all it would prove to be a very small world if I get the opportunity to see clergy who previous taught at my home church in Cincinnati (St. Gertrude).

DAY #3 - A BUSY, BUSY DAY

Monday (Day #3) starting out early, up at 6:00 a.m. to clean up and dress for breakfast in order to make it to our teams visit to IBM Kenya. The first thing I noticed was the traffic, you can't imagine the degree of crowding by people and vehicles, mostly during the commute hours. It seems matatus (passenger vans or buses) rule the streets, perhaps due to their mass. Also, the pollution is significant, and when stuck in traffic where it is not uncommon to take 90 minutes to drive 15 miles, you can really feel it.

After our IBM visit, our team proceeded to the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications (ICT) where we met with Dr. Bitange Ndemo and members of his team. Dr. Ndemo is the Secretary/Director of the ICT and welcomed the IBM team generously. Our teams discussed our projects with the Dr. and he introduced additional opportunities and insight that was very valuable.

My sub team then met at the office of one of our key stakeholders (Futures Group) and worked until evening to clarify the objectives of our scope of work and prepared for our eventual client meeting. Another 90 minutes or so in traffic and we were back at the Country House Inn for dinner, then off to unpack my luggage which finally arrived. The bags were rummaged through, but the only item I noticed taken was a cheap pair of sunglasses.

Finally, a call to my family then off to bed at around midnight Nairobi time.

DAY #2 - WHAT A GREAT DAY

I slept pretty well last night, but after over 30 hours awake, who wouldn't? As of 10pm, I still do not have my luggage. Note to all future CSC members of the future reading this blog, pack a suit, shoes, shirt and accessories in your carry on for situations like this. I did, and it is saving me since we leave early in the morning to client meetings (full business dress required).

I met the members of CSC Team 7 in person today, and they all seem to be great people and colleagues. We spent most of the day in meetings, then capped off the evening by a meal at the restaurant and my first Tusker beer. If you're from Cincinnati, you'll know what I mean when I say it reminded me of Wiedemann ;-)

Finally, I have to say thanks to my wife and kids. I talked to them this evening and they wished me a Happy Father's Day, then I opened a gift they packed for me and it was awesome. A folio collage of family photographs, personal letters of love from each, several prayer cards and a reminder that I will be remembered in the Father's Day masses at our home parish.
I love you all so much, thanks for the present!

I MADE IT TO NAIROBI, BUT NOT WITHOUT CHALLENGES

Karibu Kenya, or Welcome to Kenya, is what I heard after I landed. The flights were very long and I hardly slept. I guess I am one of those who can't sleep well on planes. My connections had very little time between, and I was worried about my two checked bags making it with me. I was right to be concerned, because after landing at 8:10pm Nairobi time, going through customs, getting my visa, waiting 45 minutes for my luggage, and waiting in line to file a claim, I found out my bags were still in New York. The bright spot, at least they knew where they were and I had my carry on to get me through a day until they arrive Sunday night (hopefully).

I met Kevin and his colleague Joseph at the airport. Both are very friendly. We spent some time collecting other delayed bags for Sarah and Olivia, then were off to the Country House. I arrived after midnight, was served a very nice dinner, talked to my wife and kids, then crashed. A memorable start to be sure.

Here's my new home for a month (thanks for the pic Dino)...

D DAY - FOR REAL THIS TIME

It's Friday and there are no delays, so I'm off on my journey with CSC Team 7 to Kenya. It was a very strange experience leaving my wife and four children, whom I've never been a part from for more than five days. It seems we were all prepared to say goodbye, but none of us fully comprehend the magnitude of being apart for a month. Every little kid I see at the airport reminds me of mine, and I already miss them. So, for all the future IBM CSC participants who are leaving family and are reading this blog, be prepared.

D DAY - TIME TO DEPART --- "NOT"

I was all set to depart Thursday afternoon until my flight out of Cincinnati was delayed, which would have caused me to miss my Amsterdam connection at JFK. After discussing with Delta, they informed me there were no other options except to reschedule until Friday, which I did. I'll be arriving a day later than my colleagues, and will have one less day to adjust, but I'm sure I'll be able to step up and they'll pick me up where necessary.

ALISISITIZA NJE MEANS "STRESSED OUT" IN SWAHILI

Two days away from my departure and the pressure builds. The work to prepare for the actual assignment, the tasks related to packing, and trying to close out all open activities related to my day job is causing significant stress.
Add all that to the uncertainty at home, and it's a witches brew of stress. I am beginning to believe I may arrive in Nairobi either all gray or missing much of my hair...

TIME PASSES QUICKLY

You have probably noticed the delay between my last post and this one. Since we were provided the SOW's in late May, the work has been significant in order to be prepared for our initial client presentation on Monday. Yes, that's right, two days in county and we'll be presenting our work plan to address the priorities identified in the SOW. We've only been able to communicate with one stakeholder to gather answers to our pressing questions, but we've collected quite a bit of collateral and research material to help build our case. I'm optimistic we're off to a good start.

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.

VACCINATIONS - HOW MUCH?

I called my new physician to schedule my required vaccinations for travel to Kenya and he referred me to a clinic that specializes in such things. Due to my age, and being on the edge of changes in some vac requirements, I had to get caught up to ensure I was protected against everything including Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertusis, Yellow Fever, Meningitis, Hep A and B, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Typhoid.

Seven shots later (I have to go back for a couple more), the bill came to $865 bucks. I'm glad I passed on the Rabies series, which would have added another $1,000 to the total.

Fortunately, IBM is paying and my manager was great at approving. Still, I'm shocked at how expensive these are, and wonder if I'm being taken advantage of...

MY FAMILY'S REACTION

My wife and I discussed the CSC opportunity and commitment prior to my pressing the application "submit" button. With four children ranging in ages from 13 to 3, we rely on each other and our Catholic faith for the strength to get through the daily challenges of raising a family. When I shared the news, reality set in for my wife and me. The kids, of course, were apprehensive, but very excited. They obviously do not fully comprehend the impact of being without Dad for a month. Heck, I don't fully comprehend being without them for that long either.

I want to take a moment to recognize the fact that not every mother of four small children would agree to have their spouse leave the country for a month. It's takes a very special woman to make this sacrifice, and I truly cherish her courage. This is just one example of why I am so fortunate to have met her back in 1986, and marry her ten years later. I love you babe, I couldn't manage without you!

I MADE IT!

I applied to IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) in Spring 2012. The application process was very comprehensive, requiring thoughtful responses to targeted questions. The global program is highly competitive, and required significant attention and dedication to ensure my responses were appropriate. I was not selected on my previous application in 2010, so I wanted to elevate the quality of my submission response, which included building over 100 hours of volunteer service in 2011. These improvements made the difference, since I received notification of acceptance in June 2012.

WELCOME!

This is my first attempt at blogging, and it's not intuitive for me to share information publicly. It's taken some time to simply publish this "initial" post, so expect some level of inconsistency as my comfort level evolves. Now, on to the journey...