Meeting the Team

Over the course of the last month, I have met our team (Ananda, a financial markets software solutions manager from Mumbai; Carolyn, a technical solution architect from Johannesburg; Kacie, a business consultant from Washington DC; Prasad, a C++ application developer from Bangalore; Rosa, a finance and pricing manager from Milan; Volker, a GBS project manager from Hamburg, Germany; and Yaw, a business services test manager from Maryland) and our facilitator (Erica, a communications specialist from Massachusetts who was on the previous Ghana CSC team) over the phone. We’ve also talked to previous participants and people from the Citizens Development Corps (www.cdc.org, who IBM has contracted to administer the program in Ghana).

I have been learning about Ghana (my neighbors in college were Ghanaian but I readily admit that my knowledge of Ghana was still fairly limited until this program started). I eagerly watched the Ghana presidential elections, praying that the outcome wouldn’t mimic Kenya’s last year. [I was supposed to go on a return mission trip through my church to Kenya in Feb 2008 and we had to cancel it due to the post-election violence.] I was thrilled to see that the reins were handed over to the winner (opposition president) without any violence, and I fully appreciate what an accomplishment that is even though Americans often take for granted that we’ve had now 44 peaceful transfers of power. I knew that Ghanaian children are given first names based on the day they are born, so I learned that my Ghanaian name would be Efua since I am a girl born on Friday. [Hence the address of this blog, for Tasha Efua Lopez.]

Our team will be living in Takoradi, which is a coastal city about ~225 km (I think they said it will take ~4 hours) from the capital, Accra. It is the 4th largest city in Ghana and had ~335K people in 2005, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekondi-Takoradi). I learned a few weeks ago that we’ll be staying in a hotel, not a hut or anything. I was initially a little disappointed but I realize that it’s better to be in a hotel since I have to wear real clothes Monday-Friday when I am working. I am sure I’ll have an opportunity to take a weekend trip to the bush (if that’s what it is called in Ghana?) to see the rural areas and the types of housing there.

On the logistics side of things, I feel pretty good about the progress so far. After returning from New Year’s in Montreal, I sent my passport in for renewal (it was set to expire when I will be in Ghana) and I am eagerly awaiting its return so the CDC can work on my letter of invitation for the visa I need. As long as it gets here before the end of the month, I shouldn’t have any problems. I got my ticket last week and that makes it seem very real! It will take me a long time to get there and back, but I am confidant that it will be well worth it. In the meantime, I started jotting down items on a list as I think of them so packing will be easier when the time comes. In this case, I will not be waiting to pack the day of the trip, which seems to be my mode of operation recently…

Since my doctor teases me about being the most immunized woman in Orange County, the shots were a piece of cake. My typhoid was due for a refresh, so I got that last week. I also asked about rabies, but he recommended I focus instead on not getting bitten by any wild animals. I took that advice and opted to forego a series of three painful shots, so I would appreciate prayers that I don’t get bit! Speaking of bites, mosquitos love me so I did get my standard anti-malarial prescription filled. I’ve never taken it for 8 weeks in a row, so I am looking forward to the dreams :)

I ordered some IBM flash drives to take over as gifts for the organization where I’ll be working, and I am going to try to bring some nice IBM bags (laptop backpacks and the like). If you have any IBM bags that are in good shape but that you don’t use, please let me know if you’d like to donate them and I’ll take them with me.

I also got a new manager since my last post, because Dave had an offer from an outside company that he just couldn’t refuse. The good news is that he’s the managing partner at an IBM Premier Business Partner, so I’ll still get to work with him. My new manager, Tina, has been supportive even though I am sure it was a real challenge for her to take over a new team and then find out one of her two reps covering Orange County was going to be gone for over 5 weeks (one month program plus a week of vacation at the end). As we do our account planning sessions and other meetings this month, we’re working to define the coverage for my role when I am gone in February and March. I have been pleasantly surprised at how interested people are in what I’ll be doing, even though it will place an extra burden on them when I am gone. There are no easy answers, but I appreciate everyone’s support and encouragement as I prepare to embark on this exciting journey!