Happiness is living with love, grace & gratitude. Our lives will never be the same after CSC Brazil 17 trip.

Happiness is the experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

Arrived back in Singapore from Brazil on Maundy Thursday to spend the remainder of the Holy Week with family. So here is the rest of my gratitude jar entries in April from Brazil and the last few days in Singapore.

Mon 31 Mar:  Concerted efforts across NGOs for the youths. We met Nunes Conceição (Secretária Executiva do Conselho Estadual dos Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente) from the STDS (Secretariat of workforce and social development for teenagers) in Fortaleza. She was learning to replicate ITEVA’s model to Fortaleza to help combat the drug problems.  Amazed at how NGOs across different cities are open to sharing and helping one another.

Providing a refuge for abused children.  Mareio from David’s Lar Children’s Home had popped by to ITEVA and we were able to meet this gentlemen who helps children from homes who have been abused physically, sexually or mentally by family members who are using drugs, alcohol or involved with gangs.  Grateful that there is a refuge for these souls. May they heal with God’s love.

Tue 1 Apr: Fighting spirit with a big heart for the education of youths. We had the privilege to meet Ms Terezinha Holanda (Secretária Executiva  de Educacao for Aquiraz) Terezinha was the first graduate from her village and devotes her life to fighting for education for the youths despite persecution from politicians and officials. Human spirits like Terezinha makes my heart glow with love and respect for the honorable work they do.

Breaking the cycle of favela life. We met a tiny but dynamic lady called Monica Salim who leads the FACC (Front for Assistance of Children in Need).  She has spent 21 years working with the slums to support adolescents who face death and murders.  She stands firm in the face of death threats to help the 3^rd generation to break the cycle of drugs, prostitution and violence. An angel sent from heaven.

Wed 2 Apr: Stepping into someone else’s shoes.  In a team of 12 persons from 10 countries with different upbringing, culture, age, seniority, role and function, there is bound to be differences in perceptions and opinions.  I am glad that we have a chance to step into one another’s shoes to better understand one another.

Thu 3 Apr: Received into ITEVA’s family. Berna and I were presented with the Certificado of Socia Honoraria with our own Midiacom Polo T-shirt and an ITEVA staff badge by the ITEVA team.  It brought tears to my eyes as I was so touched to have this gesture from the young professionals.  It shows we have been accepted as a family member of ITEVA.

Fri 4 Apr: Re-kindle ties with students of EEEP Alda Facanha. Team CSC Brazil 17 returned to the public school Alda Facanha to present the school with a projector.  The team was so touched by the school visit that we decided to give back to the school, as they have given to us in their enthusiastic response to education and warm reception to our cross-cultural exchange.  This time, I spent more time with my two classes and was happy.

Sat 5 Apr: Missing home & love. As I enjoy the beach time this weekend at Praia du Futuro, I feel blessed that we have the means to support ourselves, health to enjoy ourselves and blessings with a loving family at home.

Sun 6 Apr: Celebrating a spiritual re-birth.  Witnessed our translator Gabriel Almeida and his friend Frank’s baptism at the IBC (Ingreja Batista Central at BC 116, Tenda), also called Central Baptist Church.  It was wonderful to see hands and hearts raised in surrender to Jesus. May their lives be transformed.

Mon 7 Apr: Increasing competitive motivation. We visited the second public school in Aquiraz called EEFM Raimundo Tomaz.  This school was a typical public school with no IT support and the only computer was used in the admin and library.  The students gathered patiently in the sports hall and were as enthusiatics to hear about Berna and I from Turkey and Singapore. We hope we were able to encourage the students to embrace IT and be motivated to study to advance themselves, especially when I shared that there are 76 Singaporeans to 1 Aquiraz student competing for school and jobs.

Tue 8 Apr: Achieving CSC objectives. We met IBM Brazil’s Corporate Service Corp leader Alcely Strutz Barroso and Pyxera's Fabi Moura as they met ITEVA to understand how our CSC project was progressing. We are glad to hear that our Team Brazil 17 had great team work and our Team ITEVA was very productive and have shown not just CSC’s contribution to ITEVA but we were also experiencing the change in perspective that IBM hoped for in the participants.

Wed 9 Apr: State and NGOs collaborate for education. We drove through the flood to reach the Casa do Saber in Aquiraz for Intercambio Cultura, a Culture Exchange with 52 students from 30 schools. Organized by dynamic Terezinha Holanda (I love her!), the students were keen to learn about the social and education system in our countries Turkey and Singapore.  I hope that they were encouraged that school is not free and that both state and NGOs have initiatives to bridge the half day school with IT and technical skills education.

Thu 10 Apr: Open hearts from the Midacom team. It was our last day at ITEVA office as we presented the Business Strategy and IT Plan for Midiacom to the team of youth professionals.  It was a great time of sharing and also a tearful good bye with the team.  Thankful for the warm welcome, openness and love.  I will surely miss all of you!

Fri 11 Apr: All Brazil 17 teams made progress. We had our final CSC Brazil 17 Closing ceremony where each team presented their summary plans.  Our clients also took the chance to offer their appreciation of our efforts.  ITEVA’s Fabio Beneduce and Vanessa Belem with our Translator Gabriel Almeida attended. Fabio was the first to stand up to give a standing ovation of his appreciation. He also treated us to a celebrity chef lunch at Faustino and gave us a lift back to Hotel Luceiros.  This was the last we saw Fabio, Vanessa and Gabriel. I will so miss them.

Sat 12 Apr: Great teamwork with Berna. Unlike the other teams, Berna and I were not able to take time out for shopping, so we went to the Central Market in the morning before our flight out on the last day in Fortaleza. Unfortunately, the hotel gave the wrong address to the taxi driver and we ended up in the convention centre and lost one hour in the to and fro, when we finally got to the central market. Although we had only a couple of hours, we managed to squeeze in some last minute shopping before we leave.  It was good team work from start to end for Berna and I, even in shopping.

Sun 13 Apr: Blessed to be in Iguacu Falls with Mo and Julius. As my original travel companion and back up companion were both unable to travel with me, I was fortunate to have Mohamed from South Africa and Julius Kiss from Slovakia to travel with me to Rio De Janeiro.  Thanks to the boys, we also made it to Iguacu Falls at the Brazil side from airport straight to the falls before heading to the hotel.  The weather was fantastic and we had great views of the fall.

Mon 14 Apr: Brazil and Argentina Iguacu falls in two days. In 3 days, we went through 4 airports and two hotels and went through Iguacu falls at both Brazil’s Foz de Iguacu at at Parque Nacional Cataratas Do Iguacu and Argentina’s Puerto Iguazu at Parque Nacional Iguazu.  We experienced the falls with the boat tour in Brazil but were awed by the grandeur in Argentina. The most productive two-day tour of two countries on both sides of the fall, followed by dinner at Leblon.  Thanks Mo and Julius! 

Tue 15 Apr: Weather clears for my last day in Brazil.  The morning rain meant that a visit to the Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer was not possible. We spent the morning walking through the museum, the aqua duct at Arcos da Lapa, the giant Rio de Janeiro Cathedral, the beautiful steps called “The Great Madness” Convent steps designed by a Chilean artist Escadaria Selaron at Santa Teresa.  As the rain faded, I was able to visit Christ the Redeemer with Christine from our Germany team as it was both our last days and we had to see this landmark before we leave Brazil. The sky cleared enough for us to take our photos before the rain poured again.  We then had a team dinner at Ipanaema before I headed to the airport for my flight home to Singapore.

Wed 16 Apr: Thankful for Mo and Julius to see me off.  I had the most warm farewell from Mo and Julius as they helped me to bring my luggage down to the lobby and gave me their warm hugs before I went into the taxi.  It was a smooth journey to the airport, check in and my flight which was scheduled to leave at 2am but departed at 3:30am.  This flight takes me from Rio de Janeiro to Dubai in 14hours.

Thu 17 Apr: Grateful for safe flight home. After a transit of 4 hours, I transfer from Dubai at 2:45am to another flight to Singapore for another 7 hour 30 minute journey.  I arrive safely in Singapore in the afternoon at almost 4pm into the loving arms of my hubby.  I even managed to attend Maudy Thursday mass at our local parish Our Lady of Perpetual Succour to say my prayer of thanks for wonderful month in Brazil.

Fri 18 Apr: Participate in Good Friday procession. My friends and I met up at the oldest Eurasian church in Singapore – St Joseph’s Church which has the procession for the stations of the cross on Good Friday. Our family Derek, Marian, Andre, Austin and Ryan were participating in the procession.  The altar boys were even captured in the local newspapers as they took Jesus down from the cross for the procession. 

Sat 19 Apr:  Thankful for our friends and financial stability. We had our Club102 Easter and April birthday celebrations at Jeremy and Gennifer’s home.  After having breakfast with hubby, I did the birthday present shopping at Parkway before returning home to go for the party.  Again, I feel blessed that our friends and family are in a safe country with good jobs and salaries to be able to afford home parties and birthday celebrations. I was happy to be with my friends again.

Sun 20 Apr: Appreciative of health and voice. Easter celebration started with lunch at mum’s home. She made baked fish and steamed fish specially for me as I do not take meat.  I am thankful for her special care for me and that the family did not mind that I came late for lunch as I had contracted bad flu, lost my voice and was coughing through the night.  Imagine how life would be without health or a voice.  Learning to treasure what we have.

Cristo Ressuscitou!!! Aleluia, Aleluia, Aleluia!  Feliz Páscoa!!!

Christ Is Risen! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Happy Easter!!!

My Lent gratitude jar is filled to the brim. While Lent 2014 and my CSC Brazil 17 trip is over, I intend to keep this beautiful spirit of gratitude with me.  It has made me more positive and appreciative of the people around me, and perhaps made me a better person.  Thank you for this Lenten challenge and the CSC Brazil 17 opportunity!

Touching story of Ryan. An inspiration to all from the Philippines.

Today, we visited a school EEFM Raimundo Tomaz.  One of the students asked me, “What are the key values that I have learnt in life”.  To which I answered – 1. Have a religion, believe in God and prayers, to be able to trust someone and let go; 2. Follow your heart and believe in yourself.

I remember that my team mate, Ryan (Ruby-Ann Singson) who shared a very touching story about herself.  Ryan was supposed to be part of the IBM Corporate Service Corp Brazil 17 team to Fortaleza but was unfortunately unable to join us.  I would like to share her story, in the hope that she will inspire more people.

Here is the story of Ruby-Ann Singson from the Philippines:

At a young age and just like my 3 elder siblings, I was diagnosed with congenital cataract.  While at grade school, I was often a subject for ridicule because the lens required for my spectacles magnified my eyes.  I was called   different names which eventually toughened me and later on, I learned to defend myself with the only weapon I had and knew then – my skills.  Suddenly, I became more than the “four-eyed” girl they knew. But through high school, I had to tolerate the same behavior and although the support from my family and friends helped me live my life as close to normal as possible. I couldn’t wait to leave my hometown and pursue my studies in Manila (the capital).

When I was at the University, I felt less excluded because the environment allowed for everyone to be who they were and do what they loved to do yet managing to survive in the academic arena. I appreciated the liberty to be my own self and I did not permit my disability to deter me from joining clubs, from participating in socio-cultural activities and from eventually getting a degree. So armed with an additional skill (French language), travel experience and tons of optimism, I was ready to conquer the professional world. 

IBM is the 3^rd multinational company I worked for and though I started my career as a multilingual practitioner, I took on 5 different roles in my 9 years as an IBMer. My responsibilities as Language Development Program Manager, my current role, include management of various projects in the Manila Delivery Center which are designed to enable employees to learn a foreign language (new learner) and/or to enhance their language skills (existing multilingual resources). This is to support the center’s requirement for multilingual resources. I am happy to be in a company that provides venue for skills development and to witness how language skills are acquired, used and mastered is as fulfilling as being able to speak the language myself.

So allow me to share some tips of survival amidst the rapidly transforming work processes and environment. I may not be with you personally today but if you learn a thing or two from these, I would have accomplished the task I set out to do.

1. Don’t apologize for who you are and for what you believe in.

The world is constantly changing and the rise in number of globally-integrated enterprises continuously drives cross-cultural interactions and unlimited sharing of skills. These experiences will be valuable but do not allow them to change who and what you are.  Be open to share your time and knowledge with others but learn to distinguish between demonstrating the values you hold on to from compromising them.  Wherever you’re from and whatever your age, color, disability, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation may be, when you are determined to achieve something in life, you can succeed without losing your identity.

2. Strive to be a better YOU each time.

I agree that we should not rest on our laurels. Let each achievement inspire you to reach the next goal. If you are good at what you are doing now, be better at it next year, and be even better at it the year after. The availability of resources to up-skill oneself is limitless.  Read. Get trained on a skill and be sure to apply what you have learned.  Be gregarious and interact with as many people from around the globe as you can. Do not be afraid to learn from others. Get a mentor to help you - whether in learning a new language and practicing it or in providing guidance on career planning and skills enhancement. Be a mentor or a coach to someone else – it may be an overused cliché but only with constant practice will you become an expert in what you do.

3. Go with the flow but collect pebbles and create your own ripples.

While you may are in a job that you like now, aim to acquire new skills. Ask questions. Challenge the normal. We cannot allow our brains to become stale.  Plan ahead. Anticipate difficulties.  We never know when the next big change will happen but when it does, while the others will still be hoping for the best, you would have already prepared for the worst.  You will never know enough unless you’ve explored the unknown. 

4. Expand your network as early as possible and be gracious at all times.

Who knows, the person you meet at the grocery might just be your next boss! Welcome diversity and celebrate friendships. The ones who stay with you through life’s ups and downs are the friends you’ll keep for a lifetime.

I thank you wholeheartedly for granting me the chance to give something of myself. I wish you all the success as you chase and fulfill your dream.

Thank you Ryan, you inspire me and Brazil 17 team. We missed you and Josie McManus on this Brazil 17 assignment.  But I am sure our paths will cross again!  We know that you have a successful and exciting adventure ahead.  God bless you!

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