Last post before deployment! Get to know my project assignment!

Hello everyone!!! My last pre-work meeting with CSC India 38 team happened last Tuesday and it is feeling more and more real. To be honest with you, I still cannot realize I was really selected to be part of IBM Corporate Service Corps! I applied three times before being selected and finally in November, last year, I got my golden ticket to this amazing journey ahead of me.

As I mentioned before I went to Bangalore, India in 2012, but it was for business purpose and I always felt I needed to come back to India to really explore more of that culture, people, colors and beliefs. It feels like a positive karma. CSC India 38 will be my chance to really get to know India better and actually use my time better to help my host organization.

In IBM I work with BRG Women Brazil (Business Resource Group), responsible for Women Empowerment inside our company and I also work with Young Talents in my IBM department (GBS - Global Business Services) and guess what? I will work with READ - Rural Education And Development Trust organization which also works with Women Empowerment and children for Rural area of India divided in 28 centers which allows them to get access to a library to read and learn, access to the internet and Technology assets as well as provides them with courses to allow them to improve their chances of employment and sometimes even provides them with the opportunity to create products to sell, improving their income at home.

CSC India 38 team has 12 IBMers, which were divided in 4 teams, having 3 IBMers in each. I will have the pleasure to work with Bernadette Davis, IBM US and Robert Bince, IBM Canada to help READ with their challenges. We had a very pleasant conference meeting yesterday where we met with two focal points from READ (Smita and Geeta), introduced ourselves and got to know their organization better.

Our IBM CSC Leadership and Pyxera global, our NGO Partner created a Logistics Guide which has pretty much EVERYTHING I needed to get ready. They also included important contacts to have, a check-list, the flight information of all participants and much more. Shana, Jamie, Marieka, Kabi and Anil, thank you so much for everything! This pre-work was very well organized, structured and without it I would certainly not feel as confident as I am now that we will spend these 30 days in the most productive way possible.

And... We're almost done! I have to be honest with you, I am not yet done packing... This weekend will be all over it =). Next time I write to you will be from India! To finish this post, here goes an Indian greeting / expression I am much fan of: