Easter with the Fam

Toms wife, Cristina, who is a native Porteño (one born in Buenos Aires, meaning “port worker”) has many family members that live in and around the city. We spent Easter or “Pascua,” as it is called here, with Cristina’s family. We spent the day eating pasta, drinking wine and mate and enjoying the company of her aunt, uncle, three cousins and several family friends. Drinking mate tea has been a part of social Argentine culture for 100’s of years and it continues strong today. As my picture so diligently exhibits, mate is LOADED with caffeine. After sharing two cups I thought my heart might explode out of my chest.

The Daily Commute

Each morning, feeling a little like sardines, Steve Tom and I fight the horrible Buenos Aires traffic on Santa Fe Street in a traditional Buenos Aires taxi. The drivers here do not exactly hold a lane or even abide directional standards. They tend to take a “quickest way possible” approach, crossing double lines and into oncoming lanes – and suitably, it seems as though no cabs have seatbelts in the back seat.

Tom Abell and Family

The Senior Manager leading our project assessment was fortunate enough to bring his family with him. His wife, Cristina, is an Argentine ex-pat whose fluent Spanish and knowledge of the city has proven to be invaluable. Tom and Cristina have also brought their two 6 month old twins, Anna and David. They are little angels. The twins are very similar and very different is so many ways. They look very similar to there father Tom but have opposite personalities. David is a very chill baby. He rarely cries, screams or even makes any noise at all. He spends the majority of his time sleeping, drinking or eating - jealous? But every now and then, he’ll get a bit a playful zest and entertain those around him with a gurgling laugh that he makes. I think his tongue might be too big for his mouth. Anna on the other hand, is a born conversationalist. She absolutely loves to be the center of attention and makes it known when she feels endowed to more. As we have been spending the majority of our time in their apartment, she rarely sleeps. She withstands exhaustion while so many people are around to charm and play with. She reminds me very much of my sister Maddy.

Departure and Arrival

Monday afternoon March 17th, I began my long journey at 2PM with a taxi ride to the Lindberg MARTA station. Lugging three enormous bags (1 backpack style computer bag, 1 large duffle and 1 massive rolling luggage) brought back memories of my summer in Cadiz Spain where I mistakenly brought rolling luggage to a multi destination trip. This ended up being a grave mistake as most streets in Spain where unpaved and/or cobble stone. One wheel eventually broke and I had to drag the 70 pound piece of luggage from city to city. Hopefully I will be better prepared this time. Anyways, I got to the airport around 2:45 and promptly made it to my gate in Terminal D for the first leg of my long travel. After connecting in Houston I arrived in Buenos Aires at 11 am local time, 20 hours after my day started in Atlanta. Making it through customs and picking up my luggage was a breeze but I was quickly overwhelmed by the rowdy crowd of thousands waiting on the other side of baggage claim. A strong feeling anxiousness overtook my gut when I faced the boisterous crowd. "How the hell am I supposed to get where I need to go?" After zigging and zagging through the center of the crowd I approached a man holding a sign labeled “Accenture.” There was a good chance I could be pilfering someone else's car service as I expected the sign to say my name or “NetHope." However, the opportunity to get out of the crowded airport proved enticing enough to take the trip with the cabby named Bruno and fortunately it ended up being the right cab. In 15 minutes time, I arrived at my apartment at the corner of Viamonte and Avenue Calloa at 12 noon. The rest of the day was spent gaining bearings of the nearby terrain with my teammates Tom and Steve. Around 9pm I decided I would venture up to the roof top of our building to catch a glimpse of the sunset and downtown Buenos Aires before I called it a night. What a night cap!

Accenture Development Partnership - NETHOPE

Accenture offers an opportunity called the Accenture Development Partnership (ADP). ADP is a not-for-profit group that makes high-quality consulting services available, at greatly reduced costs, to organizations working in the international development sector. Program volunteers, such as myself, typically undertake assignments lasting between three and six months, in locations that range from Vietnam to the Balkans. The consultants accept a 50% cut in salary for the opportunity to live and work abroad with some of the most important global NGOs. Experiences range from medical aid supply chain field work – to experiences such as mine, working with executives across many NGOs. Our assignment is with an NGO called NETHOPE. NETHOPE is a shared service effort that spans 23 member NGOs! Notables such as the International and American Red Cross, World Vision, CARE, and Oxfam are member organizations. The original purpose of NETHOPE was to begin sharing certain information and connectivity technologies and over the past 3 years there have been many quick-wins in sharing satellite communications and field internet capabilities.

Our ADP project team consists of a Senior Manager in the Strategy practice named Tom Abell, a Consultant in our Technology Architecture practice named Steve Gore and myself. Over the next 4 months our goal is to assess opportunities for further shared services across all 23 member organizations in the following functional areas, 1) Connectivity, 2) Collaboration, 3) Service Desk, 4) Supply Chain, 5) Field Training / Learning 6) Special Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation. The first three areas will be 'owned' by Steve as he has a more technical background. The latter three areas are my responsibility. Needless to say, we have a tremendous challenge ahead of us. We will immediately begin executive interviews with CEO, CFO, COO, and CIOs across all 23 member organizations. In addition, an enormous amount of financial data will be gathered from the various NGO deputies and directors. The task and deadline at hand seems insurmountable, but with a little wherewithal and hope I think this could end up being the challenge of a lifetime.

Oh yeah… I need mention – they are moving us to Buenos Aires Argentina for the duration of the assessment.

Hola, me llamo Justin!