Getting started

So many new things, so much to do, so little time....

Well, I can't say I wasn't warned by my colleagues and friends - it will get really busy towards the time you leave, they said, there's a lot to do and a lot to learn. Not the least of which is this, my first blog!  So apologies, dear reader, as I stumble through it.

Stepping back a month or several to set the scene as to why I am sitting here filling in a white screen with words.

The company I work for, IBM, promotes a "Corporate Service Corps" where you can volunteer to help out worthwhile projects in emerging and developing countries, usually in the "not for profit" space.  For various (good, I think) reasons I put my name forward, defying the "never volunteer" rule. And was selected.  Then it went quiet for a few months until I was lined up with a suitable group - Brazil 14 we are called. And we are off to Uberlândia, in Brazil, to carry out a series of projects for various institutions and non-government organisations.  I leave in three days time and still have to hand-over my day job, get to grips with blogging, have a call tonight with my fellow team members and our key client representative (being in NZ world-wide calls are invariably in the night - you get used to it), make sure I have all I need packed and ready to go, and a long list of other things to do that seems to lengthen rather than shorten.

Fortunately my work colleagues and my family are all very supportive of me and what I am about to do, and that makes it all much more bearable, and possibly even achievable!

Enough for one post, I will return and fill in some more background later.

#ibmcsc brazil