I may not be Angelina Jolie...

My Twitter feed @ThomasDongIBM has chronicled the twists and turns along the way, but at last I am exactly one month from touchdown in Senegal, where I will be headed as part of IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) on the inaugural philanthropic team from IBM. #ibmcsc #senegal 

As the name of the program suggests, IBM has modeled a corporate citizenship and leadership development program based on the Peace Corps.  I will be joined by 13 other IBMers from around the world, representing Japan, Singapore, India, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, United States and Canada.  For the last two months we have been preparing ourselves through team building, useful reading and interactions with local Senegalese, as well as CDC Development Solutions, the non-government organization (NGO) who will be overseeing our work. Once in Senegal, we will be on the ground for four weeks, assisting in and hopefully enriching the lives and fortunes of the local people of Thiès (pronounced chess), which is located 60 km east of the capital city of Dakar.  Dakar, incidentally, is on the Westernmost tip of Africa and historically and sadly the origin of the slave trade to the United States.

Senegal is not to be confused with Somalia, a country on the Northeastern coast of Africa, and notorious for its modern day pirates. Despite its poverty, Senegal is one of the model democracies in Africa. It was once colonized by the French, and their influence remains strong in the local cuisine and in politics. With its political stability and very limited civil unrest, the IMF in July of this year predicted sound economic growth for Senegal in 2012.  But that will not be without its challenges.  Financial reforms are still needed, and while not geographically landlocked like other African nations, it does face its share of natural disasters.  Parts of the country are still recovering from a terrible drought in 2011, and ironically, Dakar was in the news last month dealing with numerous tragedies as a result of flooding in the city.  I've gathered that the primary challenges to the well-being of the nation are a safe water supply for consumption and irrigation, and the reliability of their power grid - both things we take for granted here in the Western World.  Probably unrealistic to think that in 4 weeks CSC will be able to solve these large-scale infrastructure challenges, but within the next 2 days, we should be receiving our in-country assignments, and hopefully we will be able to make a lasting difference one community at a time.

Now this journey for me actually began years ago, when upon the acquisition of ILOG by IBM in 2009, I sought out details on the positives for working at IBM, and discovered the many incredible leadership development and community service programs at IBM.  I became eligible for this program after 2 years of service, and was delighted that my application was accepted that summer, probably on the strengths of all the work I had done with IBM Academic Initiative. In my application I had requested placement in Asia and within weeks I was assigned to India Team 13 (Jaipur, November 2011).  However, with the departure of a colleague, my boss asked that I delay my deployment. Then last September, I was re-assigned to India Team 15 (Coimbatore, February 2012).  Unfortunately this would have conflicted with my wife's end-of-quarter.  Needing to work around the commitments to my business, we were finally able to identify October 2012 as a feasible time in my schedule, and graciously the program coordinator provided me a list of potential countries from which to choose: India, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Senegal.  Previous teams had been assigned to all the other countries except Senegal, and I could not turn down the opportunity to be on this inaugural team.  And so within 30 days, probably without the same fanfare Angelina Jolie would bring, I and my team of fellow IBMers will touch down on what should be an incredible life-changing journey, not only for us, but for the good people of Thiès.


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