Preparation

As the CTO of The IRC, I'm off to visit "the field" for the first time, along with my colleague, Marc Sirkin, the Chief Marketing Officer. It will certainly be an interesting trip. Neither of us really has any idea what we're going to see, or how we're going to react. We're visiting both main country offices (Nairobi and Addis Ababa), and field sites in refugee camps.

It's been a bit of a challenge getting information on what to bring, and how best to prepare myself, but I'm feeling in pretty good shape now, thanks to some key advice from colleagues.

Unlike most trips where packing is done in about an hour, I'm going to set aside a good half-day either Friday or Saturday to lay things out. I'm sure I'll be needing to make a run to a store for some last minute supplies - a good excuse to get some new gear.

At my wife's strong urging, I bought a travel book for both Kenya and Ethiopia so I could familiarize myself a bit more with where I'm going. They both look like extraordinary places. The combination of the country and seeing the work we do will certainly be a potential life-changing experience.