3 More Days in Nigeria

I leave Abuja this Friday night. Part of me can't believe the four weeks are nearly over and another part is so ready for a week of vacation! To all who thought the CSC was like a vacation, think again. Most nights I've returned to my room to finish up on some work or to prepare for the next day. Plus, living in this volatile country the last four weeks has raised my blood pressure a bit, I won't lie.

Sumit and I visited the 16th school today which was two hours south of Abuja, yet still within the boundaries of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). We have now visited each of the six Local Area Councils -- basically, the six counties in FCT.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) Sumit and I will finish preparing for the KidSmart training which we will deliver to about 30 teachers on Thursday. Remi, the IBM Corporate Citizenship manager of West Africa will be helping us. Since the KidSmart early education computer program has been around for nearly a decade, training materials and exercises already exist. This helps us immensely, but we still need to tailor it to the specific needs of the FCT schools and teachers.

On Friday morning, Sumit and I will give our final presentation with recommendations to improve the existing e-learning program to the Chairman and our client who has been supporting us the last four weeks. Our NGO coordinator will also be there in addition to a few IBMers from the Abuja and Lagos offices. We finished the presentation today and are feeling pretty good about it. We have both enjoyed our time working at the Education Board, but have also realized that there is only so much we can help with until we start talking about things that are way beyond the organization's spending limits.

View of Aso ("Victorious") Rock

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