National Republic Day in Turkey

Happy National Republic Day to my friends in Turkey!  I am looking forward to the festivities this evening.

I will post more after the celebration and fireworks.

"The Republic Day of Turkey is one of the public holidays in Turkey and Northern Cyprus, commemorating the proclamation of the republic in 1923. It lasts 35 hours, starting at 1:00 pm on 28 October.

The holiday commemorates 29 October 1923, when Mustafa Kemal declared that Turkey would be a republic. Turkey had effectively been a republic since 23 April 1920 (the establishment of Grand National Assembly of Turkey), but official recognition of this came only three years later. On 29 October 1923, the name of the nation, Turkey, and its status as a republic was declared. After that, a vote occurred in the Grand National Assembly, and Atatürk was elected as the first President of the Republic of Turkey."

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Diwali Celebration

In addition to the project work, a key part of the CSC program is the cultural experience.  Last week our team celebrated the Hindu festival known as Diwali!

Thank you to Prajyot, Sonal, and Partha for hosting the team and the evening of great fellowship!

Diwali also known as Deepavali and the "festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, Diwali night falls between mid-October and mid-November.

Before Diwali night, people clean, renovate and decorate their homes. On Diwali night, Hindus dress up in new clothes or their best outfit, light up diyas (lamps and candles) inside and outside their home, participate in family puja typically to Lakshmi – the goddess of wealth and prosperity. After puja (prayers), fireworks follow, then a family feast including mithai (sweets), and an exchange of gifts between family members and close friends. Diwali also marks a major shopping period in nations where it is celebrated.

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Turkey 11: Our First Week of the Project

The Turkey 11 Corporate Service Corps projects are focused on the Innovation Agenda in Turkey.  The team is divided into four sub-teams and I am part of sub-team 1.  The Turkey 11 team kicked off our projects on Monday, October 20th.  Each of the teams presented their high level projects to the four host organizations as well as a brief introduction of themselves.

When it was my turn, I said:

Merhaba, Guynayden (Hello, Good Morning)
Benin Admin Frank Henderson (My name is Frank Henderson)
Ben Amerika'dan Gallorym (I am from the United States)

Turkey 11 CSC Team

Introducing myself in Turkish!!!

Sub-team 1:  The focus for my sub-team is to design a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) campaign in order to create strong awareness of STEM education and workforce training throughout Turkey.  We have an international team!!  Prajyot and Deirdre are from India and Karen is from Canada.

Karen, Prajyot, and Deirdre

Prajyot, Frank, Deirdre, and Karen

We were very lucky that our host organization was holding a conference on our CSC topic while we were in Istanbul.  We were able to glean a tremendous amount of information during the STEM conference.

Prajyot

Frank

Karen

Deirdre

The conference was delivered in Turkish so we wore headsets to hear the translation to English.  This was my "UN" moment!! ;)










As a first step to understand the current environment of STEM awareness, education and workforce skills in Turkey, our team conducted multiple interviews across business, academic, government, and NGO constituents.

 

 

I look forward to sharing more information as the project progresses.  I feel very honored to have the opportunity to participate in a project that will have far reaching benefits to Turkey and generations to come.

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Key Facts about Istanbul

Key Facts about Istandbul

§  Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire

§  It is the only city sitting on 2 continents, Europe and Asia

§  Istanbul with over a 14 million population is the largest city and economic heart of Turkey

§  Ranks 1st in Turkey's socioeconomic development

§  Istanbul accounts for more than half of Turkey’s national production and jobs

§  Has an advantage of access to qualified labor

§  Its factories produce textiles, oil products, rubber, metals, leather, chemicals, glass, electronics and automobiles

§  The city is a banking and insurance center

§  Hosts numerous multinational corporations

§  Is an attraction center for new investments 

I look forward to sharing the sites, sounds, and tastes of Istanbul along with information on my assignment while here on my Corporate Services Corps engagement.

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Hello Istandbul!

I arrived in Istanbul on Friday evening, October 17th after a long flight from JFK.

Upon my arrival at the airport, I met up with one of my team mates (Matt) from the US.  We had our first exposure to Istanbul traffic.  For my Atlanta friends, traffic in Istanbul makes Atlanta traffic seem like a cake walk!!

After arriving at the hotel (my new home for the next 5 weeks) I got settled and met the team in the hotel outdoor cafe for dinner and our IBM sponsor Ceyhun (our subteam calls him Papa!) welcomed us to Istanbul!!!

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Corporate Service Corps: Getting Ready to Go!

Seems like yesterday that I submitted my application and found out I had been accepted for the 2014-2015 Corporate Service Corps class.  After waiting a year, I was notified I had been selected to be part of the Turkey 11 team based in Istanbul!

I have spent the past 3 1/2 months preparing for my deployment.  To be gone for 5 weeks, there was a lot to prepare -- learning about Turkey and the knowledge needed to be successful with the engagement, immunizations, travel visa, back up support plan for work, etc!!  And for those of you that know me -- the big question in my mind was how I was going to get all my clothes I needed to take in 2 suitcases!!! :)

As you can see, I almost met my goal! LOL

As the day finally arrived, I was very excited and honestly nervous at the same time.  I had never been away from Isaac and my dog Loretta for that long of a time.  Miss Loretta did not want me to go!!














I left for Istanbul on Thursday night, October 16th and took my first "selfie" ever as I got on the plane!!

I am very special thank you to my family for giving me the opportunity to have this experience and to be away from home for an extended period of time.  I would also like to thank IBM and my team as well for this opportunity.

I look forward to sharing my experience over the next month.  Stay tuned -- the adventure of a lifetime is about to begin!

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