The journey from India to India and back again…
It’s Monday evening, and in less than 48 hours, I’ll be starting my journey back to India for a second time. My journey started years ago, in an orphanage in Delhi, India, with the Missionaries of Charity (MOC). I was 8 months old when I was adopted and finally arrived in America…a week before Christmas (12/18). To this day, I still receive a message from my mother in remembrance of that December day at Logan Airport in Boston, MA. My wife celebrates the occasion with an annual “Coming to America” celebration.
However, Wednesday, is when I — along with 17 other IBMer’s from around the world — embark on our Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program in Chandigarh, India. Since 2008, IBM’s Corporate Service Corps program has sent teams to provide pro bono counsel to countries in the developing world that are grappling with issues that intersect business, technology, and society. As part of their assignments, we work with local governments, non-profit civic groups, and small businesses to develop blueprints that touch issues ranging from economic development, energy and transportation, to education and health care.
You can learn more about CSC here: https://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/. Over the next 4 weeks, I’ll be sharing my experiences during my CSC assignment, however I wanted to reflect on how I felt 10 years ago, in traveling back to India for the first time to learn about where I came from and who I was. Arriving in Kolkata, I signed up as a volunteer with the MOC — to help the Sisters in their service to the poorest of the poor. I was quickly assigned to a home for disabled orphaned children (pictures of my time at Daya Dan — One of the Missionaries of Charity Orphanages — below). Not having children myself, knowing no Hindi (my adopted parents are of Irish and Italian/Scottish descent), or having ever worked with those with physical/mental disabilities, I had little understanding of the severe needs these children had, ranging from paralysis to autism.
More importantly, I knew how few children are ever adopted, and children with disabilities have virtually no chance of ever leaving the care of the Sisters. I was certainly challenged in a way I never faced before. After day one, I was unsure if I would be able to go back; both mentally and physically I struggled. But I did go back…and the days became months. This story is much longer and deeper than this space allows, but the three things I learned about myself from this experience that has helped me grow was: 1) there is not a single day or experience that I don’t appreciate, given where my life could have been if not for this wonderful opportunity by my adopted parents and Mother Theresa, 2) no matter what the challenge, I have the ability through hard work and working with others, to amass the capabilities needed, and 3) the importance of service above self.
#IBMCSC #CSCIN42
