An amazing week in Calabar (Nigeria)…
After our first week on the IBM CSC Programme in Calabar, I can say it is amazing.
On Monday we had our security, health and team briefing. All details what to do (and what not to do) were provided by local Calabar officials.
On Tuesday we had the official meeting with the Cross River State Governor in the newly developed Tinapa business center (picture) which is about 20 min outside Calabar city. It was a very informative meeting where CDS, IBM and the Cross River State government departments welcomed us and informed everybody about the programmes. After the meeting my American colleague Lindsey Blumenthal and I went with our client Edak Iwutschuku to her office to go through details how we can support her. Lindsey and I will work with the Cross River State Social Welfare Office to assist its short and long term target. Our main focus will be Change Management and Reporting. We met the entire team of directors reporting into Edak who are our stakeholders.
Our client Edak Iwuchukwu (front) and Ann Oden (CDS Calabar) (back)
Our journey finally brought us to an area in the African rainforest. The area was very nice 
and the health centers faced the same issues as we found already in Calabar City. Iquo showed us as well the home where Mary Slessor (Presbyterian missionary in Nigeria) lived before we visited a second health center. The way back proved again that Nigerian traffic can be bad and the street conditions even worse.
A photo of a "patchwork" family ... :-)
After our first week on the IBM CSC Programme in Calabar, I can say it is amazing.
On Monday we had our security, health and team briefing. All details what to do (and what not to do) were provided by local Calabar officials.On Tuesday we had the official meeting with the Cross River State Governor in the newly developed Tinapa business center (picture) which is about 20 min outside Calabar city. It was a very informative meeting where CDS, IBM and the Cross River State government departments welcomed us and informed everybody about the programmes. After the meeting my American colleague Lindsey Blumenthal and I went with our client Edak Iwutschuku to her office to go through details how we can support her. Lindsey and I will work with the Cross River State Social Welfare Office to assist its short and long term target. Our main focus will be Change Management and Reporting. We met the entire team of directors reporting into Edak who are our stakeholders.
Our client Edak Iwuchukwu (front) and Ann Oden (CDS Calabar) (back)
On Wednesday we had our first “field day”. We visited with Iquo (Director Social Protection) 3 Primary Health Care Centers in Calabar South. All of the visited centers were set up to electronically process and support the new roll out of Project Hope (free health care for children under 5) and Project Comfort (Cash Transfer to poor families to support them and encourage them to send their children to public schools).
It was a very interesting time where we already picked up some issues where Team IBM can assist.
It was a very interesting time where we already picked up some issues where Team IBM can assist.
Picture: Primary Health Center in Calabar South
On Thursday we had an experience which was priceless!!! In the morning we visited one more health center in Calabar south. From there we went for a trip to health centers which were outside Calabar. The journey could be done in about 45 min but due to very very very bad road conditions it took us more than 3 hours to reach our first destination. On the way we experienced w
hat driving a car in Nigeria can mean (“survival of the fittest”). Along the way on very bad streets with big potholes, we saw a lot of children selling food (bananas, garden eggs, snails, boiled eggs, etc etc.).
hat driving a car in Nigeria can mean (“survival of the fittest”). Along the way on very bad streets with big potholes, we saw a lot of children selling food (bananas, garden eggs, snails, boiled eggs, etc etc.). 
Our journey finally brought us to an area in the African rainforest. The area was very nice 
and the health centers faced the same issues as we found already in Calabar City. Iquo showed us as well the home where Mary Slessor (Presbyterian missionary in Nigeria) lived before we visited a second health center. The way back proved again that Nigerian traffic can be bad and the street conditions even worse.On Friday we had an office day where Lindsey and did a briefing on how we can present
our findings to Edak. In the evening we followed an invitation from His Exellency the Govenour of Cross River State (picture). The event was a pre meeting for the official launch of the Christmas 2009 Carnival Season.
On Saturday and Sunday we went to Obuku in the north of Cross River State. With barely any expectations we went for a 6 hours drive (again in Nigerian traffic) and found a breathing and state-of-the-art ranch. We went up by an ultra modern cable car and stayed in nice mountain view houses. On the way to Obuku we stopped in Agbikom where we saw a very nice waterfall and on the way back we stopped at the Afi Monkey resort. Again it was breathtaking and extremely interesting to walk through the African rain forest and see drill monkeys and ch
imps, walk on canopies and experie
nce the humidit
y.
our findings to Edak. In the evening we followed an invitation from His Exellency the Govenour of Cross River State (picture). The event was a pre meeting for the official launch of the Christmas 2009 Carnival Season.On Saturday and Sunday we went to Obuku in the north of Cross River State. With barely any expectations we went for a 6 hours drive (again in Nigerian traffic) and found a breathing and state-of-the-art ranch. We went up by an ultra modern cable car and stayed in nice mountain view houses. On the way to Obuku we stopped in Agbikom where we saw a very nice waterfall and on the way back we stopped at the Afi Monkey resort. Again it was breathtaking and extremely interesting to walk through the African rain forest and see drill monkeys and ch
imps, walk on canopies and experie
nce the humidit
y.Overall for me the first week was extremely interesting and I had time to adjust myself to the Nigerian life. A life in a warm and humid environment with high pollution due to a lot of cars and diesel dri
ven power generators, a life where power cut is normal and therefore everybody has small or big power generators, and a life where everybody is treating us as celebreties while being very friendly.
ven power generators, a life where power cut is normal and therefore everybody has small or big power generators, and a life where everybody is treating us as celebreties while being very friendly.A photo of a "patchwork" family ... :-)
Good to hear from you Hermann and the first week sounds amazing. I am already so nervous and excited - only 6 days to go to take off to Vietnam. Keep us updated :)
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