The Road to Rabat

I was a member of Morocco10.   I have learned from a peer that is on Indonesia8, that there are some other tools for sharing our experieine and this is a test.  But here is another picture of the team.  Just because.  

Just over a month has past and my CSC journey continues.  I have had daily, including weekends, contact with members of the Morocco10 team...Zoom, ST, What’s App, Facebook and even phone calls. And my thoughts have drifted to

“Who are We?”

We are consultants, managers, developers, salesmen, attorneys, and marketing gurus.  We are single, committed and married.  We are parents and grandparents.  We brought the fight, are the fight and resolved the fight.  We are photographers, firefighters and horticulturalist.  We pump iron, run races, walk and dance.  We are detailed oriented and big picture thinkers.  We are early risers, night owls and love naps.  We are straight, gay and somewhere in between.  We climb mountains, dive waters and lay in the sun. We love music and meditation.  We are vegetarians and hard core carnivores.  We drink tea, coffee, beer, wine and caiphirinas.  We dress up and we dress down. We work in the office, we work from home and we work on the road.  We are cancer and divorce survivors.  We are country and big city people.  We are flexible, adaptable, teachable and passionate.  Our careers are both ramping up and winding down.  We seek the next thrill and always up for the adventure.  We are sentimental and realist.  We are loners and people persons.  We are essential and we deliver...because We are IBM!!!  (”We are Groot” is so tempting here...shout out to Guardians 2).

That’s 15 people, from 10 different countries who became family very quickly.  While it seems the connection would fade...for me it has grown stronger.  No longer in the “Rabubble” yet these people remain just as key to me as they did when we were in country. They are permanently woven into my life fabric.  Looking forward to seeing them again.

I have to do it...the last blog for my incredible Morocco10 experience. 

The presentation to our client was amazing.  Because my team was amazing...Beth, Luciano and George.  I expressed to them that I felt blessed to have gone this journey with them.  As true IBMers, we delivered.  A standing ovation no less from Madame Ilham, our primary stakeholder.

As I sort through my emails as I prepare to return to work tomorrow, I find my mind wondering back to just last week.  The entire Morocco10 team is made up of the most talented and wonderful people.  I often forgot we were from 10 different countries...a mini United Nations if you will, as we were all from IBM country and “spoke” the same language.  But for 4 weeks we were in a different world.

There are two more IBMers from the COU Client Innovation Center that will have an opportunity to experience IBM CSC.  I know one is off to China.  I wish her the same struggles, feelings and triumphs I had. 

I will be excited to share more details with anyone who is interested.  But for now lets just say I am still processing the magnitude of the adventure. And most likely will be for quite a while. 

Final Deck Completed - Check

Conference Room Chosen and Equipment Tested - Check

Team Presentation Assignments Made - Check

Has Reality Hit, that we are about to be at the end- No Check

My emotions have been running high and low so for today’s post, I just want to share a few pictures.

I was in Fez, Morocco in the medina shopping in the above picture.

The Mosque of Hassan II with my team - George, Luciano and Beth. This was in Casablanca.

This is Liz and I at Rabat Beach right before sunset.  Throwing shade...together!!!!!

We are in the final week of our assignment!!!  Squeezing in all the last to dos and of course there is never enough time...that is always the great equalizer.  Have I struggled...of course, else where would be the growth. 

Beth, Luciano, George and I are working away silently with an occasional comment or question.  I just completed one of our three program deliverables so am taking an opportunity here.  Yesterday, my team took me to this side of the Atlantic Ocean.  Having spent most of my life on the other side, putting my foot in the water and watching a sunset was a checkbox item for me. 

But alas, there is no place I can go that someone has not been before...on a CSC assignment, both sides of the Atlantic ocean, having my mental, physical and psychological self challenged.  However, no one has ever been me doing all these things, so at the end of the day (not sure when that day will come), the road I traveled will have been traveled by one. And what a story that will be.

It is true that my team’s project client is the Moroccan Ministry of Education GENIE Project team; a group of incredibly passionate, intelligent and gifted people, committed to the ICT integration into the country’s education system.  But at the end of the day, the real clients are the 6.5M children of Morocco. 

I have spent much of my life working with children...from my own at home, teaching High School Bible class, assisting with the development of a local Chess Club for elementary and middle school students or working with technology camps at IBM Columbia, MO. 

This morning the GENIE Team was privileged to go and visit a primary school in Sale, Morocco.  We were able to see the use of GENIE program resources by a teacher and his class.  It was amazing. I was so impressed by how they integrated technology into learning.  We visited several classrooms and were treated to the incredible innovation of teachers…integrating role-playing and song into learning.

My project, stay in Morocco and today’s visit just further enforce my belief that all children are all of our futures. There is so much happening in our world and everyone involved with these events (both good & bad) was once a child. That may seem like a dumb statement, yet do we look at every child everywhere as being our personal future?  I know I will.

I forgot food pictures.  My original intent was for this blog to follow my journey in Morocco via a food theme.  Well, that did not work out.  But, It is imperative that I share food pictures.  It’s just that good and I remain in heaven.

Below you see the largest rounds of Gouda I have ever seen, the remains of a meal at a local Spanish Tapas restaurant, a birthday cake for George and a lovely quiche.

This last picture includes paella, a stone bread with olives, couscous and a sushi boat.  Couscous here is available on Friday and the flavor is sublime.

Can you imagine a place in time where your world and what is “normal” changes rapidly and extremely?  From who you see, what you do and how you do it? 

Shall I share more about Chefchauen, the amazing work of the Moroccan Ministry of Education, the food, the logistics of getting laundry or dinner, the Hammam experience, peach and lemon jam, the observations of being here...my thoughts on watching the day begin? 

And my team..storming, norming and performing in an agile manner; which means we have been through several cycles.  Beth, George & Luciano have been my rocks through this wonderful experience.  Never wavering in meeting any requests, always there...even when we may not agree.  We have supported other sub-teams as well.  There are times I look up and without realizing it, the four of us have gravitated towards each other.   So as I work this entry to my blog, it seems the subject has become my team.  So I leave you with a few shots of us.

Week 1 of Morocco10 CSC has been completed and what a week it’s been.  Meeting my fellow team members, settling in to hour “home” for 4 weeks.  Where do I eat, do my laundry, buy groceries?  I walk to work every day...at least 1.2 mile in total...at a minimum.  One day I think it was a total of 5 miles I walked just to get through the day.  Those of you who know me understand the significance.  And I love it. 

For the Good of the Children!

I have been paired with a wonderful team: Beth Hebert (USA), George Rizk (AUS) & Luciano Petrogelli Soares (BRZ).  Our client is the Ministry of Education: GENIE Program.  The GENIE program, officially launched in 2006,  focuses on bringing Information & Computer Technology (ICT) into the 9,000 schools of Morocco.  Our task is to review the programs management systems for potential improvements, with the primary goal being...”For the good of the children.”

To further our understanding, my team, plus other Morocoo10 members, attended a play called “Asa Nisi Masa” last Thursday at the Mohammed V National Theatre.  The play centers around a children’s story movie, “81/2″ from 1963 by Frederico Fellini.  It was interactive, and colorful and whimsical.  There was ballet, tap, trial and break dancing.  Audience participation started it all off.  It is always good to be a kid at heart.

The food here is amazing!  And I certainly do appreciate a good meal; anywhere in the world.  Most of my memories about my travels center around the culinary area.  But Morocco makes everyday a delight in the food department. 

Tangine is a core Moroccan dish...a stew made with with lamb, fish or chicken.  Delicious!  There is also a heavy French history here so crepes are easily and readily available.  Yesterday, my team enjoyed an incredible baked chicken.  It was stuffed with spinach and spices, served with saffron rice.  One common item served as part of a meal are olives.  So many flavors and colors.  I was pleasantly surprised as we get them at almost every establishment...accept maybe the tea houses that have pastries.  :)

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s culinary delights.  I will let you know how it goes, until then:

Belhana wel shefa (Arabic)

Bonne a petit (French)

Enjoy your meal (English) 

I have arrived to Rabat, Morocco and am amazed at what I have already seen.  I cannot describe my intense feelings as I caught a glimpse of the African continent for the first time.  The feeling was indescribable as my plane from Madrid flew over Tangiers. 

Since I last shared, I have met my team, toured Rabat and enjoyed the sights and sounds of this beautiful city. Working together for 3 months prior to deployment really speeds up getting to know each other. Gifts have been shared and meals taken together as we begin our journey.  

I will leave you this Monday morning with additional pictures.  My spirit is so full...and maybe some jet lag too.

Be well!

If you are actually looking though my entire blog you will note some one offs...meaning not part of my IBM CSC journey.  That is because my daughter often tags me to Tumblr posts and they will show up here.  And I think that I am OK with that.  You see, this CSC journey I have been on takes new elements and adds them to who I already am. I like her references to parenting and animation posts that she feels I would appreciate.  It might be interesting for you to scroll down and see how many of those resonate with you.

I have been trained on some “new to me” skills...Consulting, Design Thinking as examples.  I will be able to apply these over the next 4 weeks. Those items join the skills I already have...Agile thinking, working cross culturally and project/program management.  But, these work skills also blend in and add to other aspects of myself; wife, mother, grandmother, gamer, book reader, etc.  Every experience, every exposure changes my view point.  In the end I become someone better than I was before.

Here I am, growing, as I look at clothes to be packed, take care of family business (including a month’s worth of cat food and school lunch money), I get to wonder who will I become next. 

I am hoping that I will just become more. 

As i sit here with my grandchildren after a busy morning (and its still just 10am), I took a moment to check on the other Corporate Service Corp teams around the globe.  Some (like Mexico7- shout out to Karen Bruemmer) are arriving home after their experience.  Just this week, a colleague in the IBM Client Innovation Center Columbia just found out she is headed to China with China34 in July.  I completed all my course work this week and am finalizing plans for family and work while I am away.  Yet, my 15 year old son has choir competition today, I was up taking my daughter to work and had a Facetime chat with a dear sisterfriend.  So my point is, that while I dream of setting my feet on African soil, significant to me as some of my ancestor originated on the continent...I realize that my life is more than full as it is.  And that is a gift!

In my first post, I shared that it was almost 2 years ago that I applied to be a member of IBM Corporate Service Corp (CSC).  Now I am just weeks away from deployment to Rabat, Morocco...but what exactly will I be doing.  IBM started Corporate Service Corp in 2008 as another part of a vast portfolio of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  CSC provides business consulting to organizations in emerging markets.  This program has a three way benefit, 1) provide growth and learning opportunities to IBMers, 2) introduce IBM to organizations and markets that are growing and 3) provide IBM resources to organizations to fill a need that will allow them to grow.  See the key word there...grow, growing, growth!   The CSC program is actually about 6 months long with 4 weeks in country.  So I have been working since December with my 14 other team members in preparation for deployment in April.  In addition to team building, we have been learning consulting and Design Thinking skills.  Much of our work is learning about Rabat and the wonderful people of Morocco.  I am so incredibly excited about this opportunity and hope you will continue to follow along as I share.  Until next time...

There are many aspects to the IBM Corporate Service Corps, including preparation to “live” in wonderful Morocco for 4 weeks.  Just based on the studying I have done thus far, no doubt Morocco is a magical place.  Geographically, there are the Atlas mountains, two coasts (both Atlantic & Mediterranean) and the Sahara desert.  Rabat (the capital) which is on the Atlantic coast, contains souks (outdoor shopping areas), hammams (traditional bath houses that are similar to spas) and a medina (the old town) and so much more.  My excitement continues to grow about those places I’ll go!