Yesterday we had our first kick-off call as a team of people who are going to Nigeria as part of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC). All of the team members were present as well as the operations and support team who will be helping us with the logistics. We are Nigeria Team 6, meaning we will be the 6th IBM team to do a project in Nigeria. We spent a good part of the call making some introductions to each other, but I suspect we will have a lot more opportunity to get to know each other. We spent the other part of the call getting an overview of the programme, what we will need to do, and some more initial information with the promise of more to come. We also got to ask questions. We asked about the logistics of travel, security, types of projects, etc. I left the call feeling satisfied that we are on our way – and in some way wanting to quicken the pace 🙂

I awoke this morning to find several administrative and logistical e-mails in my inbox, including forms for travel, pre-work assignments, and more overview information. It somehow now feels real. Like there is no turning back (like I would want to). It’s hard not to feel excited for what is about to happen: the opportunity to serve, a new adventure, a new experience. I can already tell that this will not be about “kissing babies and shaking hands.” We will get some real work done, and I am confident that we will have real results to show for it.

Bring it on 😀

#ibmcsc nigeria