Puerto Rico:Social Sabbatical Diary
Just finished 4 weeks of my ‘SAP Social Sabbatical’ and its been a whirlwind of experiences, adventures, discoveries, shared moments and a lifetime of memories.
In case you were wondering what, I am rambling about, SAP Social Sabbatical is one of SAP’s many CSR programs where 12 SAP employees do pro bono consulting work for a period of 4 weeks for 4 different social enterprises. PYXERA a renowned NGO helps SAP in identifying and shortlisting the social enterprise.
I along with two other SAP consultants were fortunate to be one of the chosen few, to work with YEES! an entrepreneurial education startup in Puerto Rico and it has been an experience like no other. During the first week, a colleague of mine said, “We will take back more from this experience than we will give”, truer words have never been spoken.
I thought I was here to help an organization run better, but in turn this experience has helped me become a better individual. In the chaotic hustle, bustle of daily tasks and chores with the self defined boundaries we somewhere forget to challenge ourselves, take risks and enjoy the simple moments. But here I was with a small team of passionate and crazy startup entrepreneurs who were putting their all in, risking their future because their belief in a better tomorrow is bigger than the blanket of a simple, secure and mundane life.
Let me pause here and talk about my customer YEES!. The below words in a way sum up what they do
“You give a man a fish you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”-Maimonides
YEES!’s vision is to help tens and thousands of kids in Puerto Rico from K2–12th develop an entrepreneurial mindset, to increase the potential of them starting their own businesses. They do this through unique study material, courses and games. Now you might wonder what is so great about this. Puerto Rico for the past 10 years has received one setback after another, the lifting of tax embargos which led to multinationals moving out and leaving many unemployed, hurricane Maria which led to multiple businesses closing and approximately 250,000 Puerto Ricans moving to the mainland US. YEES! chairman Carlos Jimenez strongly believes, that for Puerto Rico to become a self-sustaining economy they need to become a start up hub and not one dependent on outside help for generating employment. In their own way, YEES!’s focus on developing this positive mindset and skillset for entrepreneurship is a step towards that goal. I do hope our minor contribution to this amazing journey of YEES! helps them reach new heights.
In case you want to read a bit more about YEES! and the work that they do in Puerto Rico, do visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/yeespr/
The other key contributors to this self discovery were my 11 awesome SAP colleagues from all over the world. These individuals from different backgrounds, nationalities, with their own personal stories and aspirations made me test a lot of limits that I wouldn’t even have though of crossing. My friends who know we would clearly know that I would choose lazing around on the beach over any activity that involves any form of physical activity. But here I was motivated by crazy ideas from the team; going on hikes in a rainforest, kayaking in pitch darkness, walking through abandoned trails in a forest which supposedly has 7 varieties of snakes (information received post the hike!!), walking through caves with bats, ate octopus and the most adventurous of all had to be walking through the multiple aisles of Walgreens and CVS whiling away those beautiful evening hours.
As I head back home to my family, I carry back with me a fistful of experiences, lasting friendships and a lifetime of memories. Thank you to the team at YEES!, my SAP social sabbatical colleagues, PYXERA and the SAP CSR team for making this an experience to remember!
