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| SSAfara.Net |
| SSA Showcases Accomplishments at Annual Global Board Meeting |
ID: 16712 |
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 The Schlumberger Spouses
Association (SSA) Showcases Accomplishments at Annual Global Board
Meeting
Yaël Bourgade and Randa
Mazzawi, SSA Global Board,
Schlumberger
Over the years the SSA has worked hard to bring support, friendship and
compassion to spouses/partners and families in their new locations.
This year, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Tunisia,
March 22-26, the Board members discussed their projects for 2010-2011
and the various ways to further their action towards their members.
As a show of their support and appreciation of the SSA’s
efforts, several Schlumberger executives accepted the invitation to
come as speakers during the event and share their own view of the
SSA/SLB partnership.
Created in Paris in 1988/89 from a handful
of members, the association has grown to include 5,000 members in over
100 locations worldwide. Though its structure has changed over the
years the SSA’s mission remains the same: Create a welcoming and
supportive environment to help new and existing members and their
families live well their expatriation. During the second half of 2009,
nearly 1,200 welcoming events were organized including 130 family
events; and for 2010 over 150 HSE training sessions are scheduled.
Randa Mazzawi, Global Coordinator, presented the SSA’s 2010-2011
objectives: First to reinforce support to local
chapters by coaching of local SSA board members; second to bridge the
gap with local Schlumberger sponsors by reinforcing three-way
communication among the SSA Board, SSA Chapters and Schlumberger
managers; and third to simplify the SSA’s message by focusing its
actions through its various communication tools.
HR & HSE Roundtables
As evidence of the support the SSA receives
from Schlumberger, its sponsor, several Schlumberger executives
attended the meeting.
Hinda Gharbi and Dr. Alex Barbey presented
Schlumberger’s current focus points and strategies including historical
and current information on managing Employee and Spouse/Partner health
and safety.
As part of the SSA reinforced HSE focus the
Spouse Reference Number (SRN) was announced. The
SRN is a unique number generated for spouses (similar to the employee
GIN number) which allows eligible mobile spouses to have an individual
and private medical record with International SOS. Previously, spouse
medical records with International SOS were shared with the employee
medical record. “The SRN is an important step
forward for our mobile spouses in terms of privacy of medical
information,” said Tracey McTague, the SSA Program Manager. “The
creation of the SRN now allows eligible spouses to take the Med Track
exam with complete confidence that the results are entirely
confidential. (The aim of the Med Track is to
detect major health issues, which if gone undetected could result in a
hospitalization or emergency medical evacuation from a high health risk
country back to a developed country.)
As part of the ongoing effort to improve
communication between the SSA and HSE, Randa
Mazzawi announced the creation of the SSA HSE Coordinator role at the
local level. Local SSA HSE Coordinator will act as
liaisons between their SSA chapters, SSA Area Coordinators and local
QHSE Management. Additionally, SSA Area Coordinators will be added to
the Emergency Contacts in Quest under Country Security for their major
role to assist QHSE Managers relay information to spouses and families
in emergency situations. Hinda Gharbi fully
supported both initiatives.
“The practice of HSE in Schlumberger took us
through a long journey of awareness, commitment and constant monitoring
of how we can improve our performance,” said Hinda Gharbi. “We have
long understood that HSE should not be confined to the work environment
only and can find a place in our family and community life. By showing
real commitment to HSE, the SSA is helping the Schlumberger families
benefit from the wealth of HSE knowledge we have accumulated over the
years”
Closuring the session, Gabi Apestegui, the
SSA LAM Area Coordinator, was presented with an award in recognition of
her leadership, innovation and commitment in HSE related matters (see
side story).
During the roundtable with HR, SSA
board members restated the importance of communication and cooperation
between Schlumberger and SSA, emphasizing the alignment of SSA values
with Schlumberger’s diversity and inclusiveness related policies.
“As Career Planning and
Staffing Manager my aim is to focus on our employees and their
development in preparation for inevitable future growth in our
business,” said Alexander Nebesny. “I
appreciate the valuable service that the SSA performs in continuing to
welcome spouses and partners as they move to new locations with
Schlumberger. The Spouses Association is a unique
organization that is tremendously important to the well-being of our
employees and their families, offering a true support network around
the world.”
In answer to some of the chapters’ main
concerns, such as finding a way to more quickly obtain contact
information for incoming families, , Vice President of Personnel
Stephanie Cox agreed to “team-up” SSA Area Coordinators with
Schlumberger Regional Services Centers. (RSC) This
regular contact between the SSA and the RSCs will help to keep local
chapters better informed of transferred employees in a timely manner.
To facilitate operations of the SSA as an organization within
Schlumberger, it was also decided that locations where SSA exists
should dedicate office space to the SSA wherever possible.
This session and the AGM were ended by a
ceremony where Schlumberger, through the voices of Stephanie Cox and
Alexander Nebesny, expressed its appreciation to the SSA. Each board
member received a letter signed by Paal Kibsgaard with a personalized
award in recognition of their contribution and willingness to
voluntarily support and lead spouse communities around the world.
Special thanks to Mohamed Kermoud (NAG
GeoMarket Manager) and to Hichem Mansour (Tunisia Country Manager) for
hosting the SSA meeting. Special thanks to Jawida Sdiri (Tunisia
Governmental Affairs Manager), Haifa Mardassi (Tunisia
Marketing Assistant and OFS Seminar Coordinator) and Najla Cherif
(Tunisia IT Operations – Service Delivery), who went out of their way
to ensure that every detail was in place for the board during their
stay in Tunis.
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SSA Latin America Coordinator Receives
Award for Outstanding Leadership in Health and Safety for Schlumberger
Spouses
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Perseverance is the word one hears the most
when talking about Maria Gabriella Apestegui Corvalan. “Gabi,”
as she is known to everyone in the SSA, has been involved with the
Schlumberger Spouses Association Global Board since 2002.
In that time, Gabi helped spouses through
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, was on the frontline of the H1N1 flu
outbreak in Mexico, and is always available to her members during big
and small crises.
Gabi proposed a simple safety contact card
for very young children to carry in their backpacks in case of
emergency. The concept of the cards has been highly
appreciated by Schlumberger LAM Management. Gabi says, “Young children
who cannot read yet may not know how to call for help in an emergency.
This card is simple enough for even the youngest kids to
use.”
Gabi has consistently and persistently
worked to forge relationships with HSE managers so that spouses will
have reliable access to local, current Health and Safety information
from Schlumberger.
Hinda Gharbi, HSE Vice President, presented
Gabi with an award at the SSA Annual Global Board meeting in Tunis this
April. The award, for Outstanding Leadership in
Health and Safety for Schlumberger Spouses and their families, is the
first HSE global recognition award granted to a Schlumberger spouse.
Maria Gabriela Apestegui Corvalan, SSA Latin America Area
Coordinator, receiving the award from Hinda Gharbi, HSE Vice President,
in Tunis, March 2010
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SSA Global Board Members
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Randa
Mazzawi, Global Coordinator, located in Paris. She has been in this
position for a year. She was previously the SSA Europe/Russia Area
Coordinator
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Deysy
Lamas, Ex-officio Global Coordinator, located in Beijing. She has
been in this position for a year. She was previously the Global
Coordinator
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Yaël
Bourgade, Global Communications Coordinator, located in Lagos. She
has been in this position since October 2009. She was previously the
Web Content Editor
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Vidya
Javalagi, SSA Webmaster, located in Doha. She has been in this
position for the last 17 months
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Catherine Richards,
Africa Area Coordinator, located in Luanda. She was elected 7 months
ago for a second term in this role
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Sudakshina
Chakraverty, Asia/Australia Area Coordinator, located in Kuala
Lumpur. She has been in this position for a year. She
was previously the Communications Coordinator for SSA Kuala Lumpur.
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Irina
Herbert, Europe/Russia Area Coordinator, located in
Aberdeen. She has been in this position for a year. She was previously
the SSA Aberdeen Welcome Coordinator
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Gabi Corvalan, Latin
America Area Coordinator, located in Rio. She was elected 4 months ago
for a second term in this role |
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Samar Fawzy, Middle East
Area Coordinator, located in Cairo. She has been in this position for a
year. She was previously the cultural tours Coordinator for SSA Cairo. |
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Vanessa
Wattley, North America Area Coordinator, located in Houston. She
has been in her current position for almost 23 months.
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| Green Newsletter Submissions |
ID: 15838 |
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The
SSA will be
producing a Global Green Newsletter
issue that we
hope will highlight Green programs in
each SSA Area
and give ideas/suggestions on how each of us can conserve our remaining
precious natural resources. What can you and your Local Chapter do to
help? On
the home front: you can write an article chronicling the day to day
things that
you do to conserve resources; send us pictures of your family
participating in
a local Green event; or
get your children involved by
writing a short article or making some sort of original artwork
depicting what
they think can be done to help them inherit a cleaner, less energy
dependant
planet. As a SSA chapter: you can start a campaign to collect items
that are
not recycled often enough (home printer ink cartridges, small kids meal
toys
with dead batteries in them; batteries, etc.) and keep track of the
amount of
materials collected; participate in a local Green activity;
sponsor an
activity to collect information for your chapter members on what types
of
recycling activities are available in your area.
What
ever you decided to do, as part of a family or chapter activity – please take lots of
pictures of
yourselves in action and send them to me at anhaddad@ssafara.net or AHaddadGCC@hotmail.com so
that we can
share your ideas with other chapters around the world. The date of the
actual
newsletter will be released soon, but I want to give you a “heads up”
now to
allow enough time to carry out whatever special projects you dream up.
Please
feel free to send in article or photos whenever you have them ready. As
the
father of the environmental movement and founder of the Sierra Club,
David
Brower once said ~ "We do not inherit the Earth from our fathers, we
are
borrowing it from our children". As always, I look forward to your
submissions.
Anisa.
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| Message from the Global Coordinator |
ID: 15632 |
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Dear friends,
The SSA Global Board recently held its Annual General Meeting in Caracas, Venezuela. We had a very hectic but productive week, during which all of our Area Coordinators exchanged their successes and concerns. Based on those discussions, the Global Board considered ways to improve our organization. We revised and updated the SSA Guidelines and Chapter Start-Up Kit, discussed ongoing and future Health and Safety initiatives for our members (and their families) and other issues of general interest. As the SSA represents all spouses/partners of Schlumberger employees, it is our association and can only succeed with all of our participation. Please help us to keep the SSA growing in a positive direction by doing the following:
- Remember that the SSA is an association of spouses/partners run by spouses/partners, so please let’s open our hearts to live out our mission by including ALL spouses/partners in every SSA chapter without segregating ourselves into groups. Whatever your sex, nationality or your spouse/partner’s (the SLB employee’s) level of seniority – we are all equally welcome to participate in all SSA chapter activities and to serve our fellow members by being elected as a chapter board member. Let’s welcome every member and share in the strengths and experiences that each of us one can contribute to our association.
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Once the new and updated SSA Guidelines are available on SSAfara.net, please take some time to read them. If there is something in the SSA Guidelines that is not clear to you or if there are situations where your chapter is not following the Guidelines, please do not hesitate to contact your Area Coordinator or me to ask for guidance or help.
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Keep in mind that ultimately, for all of us, our family’s health and safety is our own responsibility, so please take advantage of the Health and Safety resources that SLB offers to you. There are lots of important and interesting trainings available for spouses/partners and families, so do not miss the opportunity to participate in them. *If you sign up for a SLB HSE training, please make sure that you actually attend. If you find that you can not attend, contact the event organizer with your regrets as soon as possible.
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o If you are being transferred (and the transfer is official and has been accepted by your spouse/partner), contact your new location before arriving there. Your new chapter’s Welcome Coordinator will be expecting you and can offer support by answering questions you may have prior to leaving your current location. When you get close to your actual move date, please remember to let the Welcome Coordinator know your anticipated arrival date and where you will be staying so that a member of the Welcome Committee can contact you as soon as possible after your arrival.
The Global Board would also like to thank you for your continued patience during the renovation of our website. It is a huge, challenging project, but we are very close to finally being able to enjoy the new SSAfara website.
Remember the doors of all of the members of the Global Board are always open to receive suggestions or answer any questions you may have, so please do not hesitate to contact any of us whenever you need or want to ~ we are only an email or phone call away.
Take care
Deysy
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| Saying Goodbye to Global Board Members |
ID: 16332 |
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Karen Costelloe
SSA Ex-Officio Global Coordinator
Karen winds up three terms in the SSA Global Board as an engaged Africa Area Coordinator, a compassionate Global Coordinator and a diplomatic Ex-Officio. Forever embracing hardship postings, Karen’s spreads compassion everywhere she goes, with a ‘pay it forward’ warmth and ability to create strong team bonds in the SSA, within Schlumberger, and among people in the communities where she lives. Karen was an early supporter for health and safety management for Schlumberger families, spearheading the SSA Passports project and co-authoring a paper for the 2008 Society for Petroleum Engineers Health and Safety Conference in Nice, France. Respected by Schlumberger managers and loved by the spouses, Karen developed formal management guidelines between the SSA and Schlumberger, ensuring sustainability for the SSA within Schlumberger for years to come. Karen is currently based in Yuzhno-Sakhalin.
On behalf of the SSA Global Board and the entire SSA community, we would like to thank you for your hard work and for contributing in the big success our organization has reached.
Read extracts from Karen's letter to the Global Board
Anisa Haddad
SSA Global Communications Coordinator
Anisa has been a long term SSA board member, having held local board roles in the Middle East, then as Middle East Area Coordinator, and finally Global Communications Coordinator. Calling up her unparalleled organization skills, Anisa revamped the SSA Area newsletter to its current popular format as the Wayfarer, introduced the first SSA Green Newsletter and penned the SSA Volunteer Management Handbook. Anisa has recently been accepted to the University of Nottingham MSc in Management Psychology program (I-WHO affiliate), for which we are certain she will perform brilliantly. Anisa is based in Kuala Lumpur.
After being on the SSA Global board for the last four years, you certainly deserve a great rest. It was a big pleasure working with you, as you were always available for all of us. Thanks for all your hard work and support.
Abigail Miguel
SSA Asia Area Coordinator
Abigail took on the role of Asia Area Coordinator from Brunei. The Asia Coordinator role has often been a vacant one, and Abigail was effective at working locally within the Area.
She was able in a short period to help starting the SSA Yokohama and SSA Singapore chapters and giving rebirth to the SSA Labuan chapter. Abigail had some personnel commitments, which obliged her to be away of her position before the end of her term.
We all know that you have been a wonderful asset to the SSA and we do hope you can continue to support the organization in every place you are. You have made many good friends. On behalf of Schlumberger spouses and partners around the world, we are glad to thank you for all the time you have dedicated to help the SSA reaching its goals.
Azza Abdel Aziz
SSA Middle East Area Coordinator
As an Egyptian based in Cairo and the first local Middle East Area Coordinator, Azza brought a unique and fresh perspective to the role and was particularly effective at reaching out to remote locations within Egypt. With a passion for educating young women in outlying locations, Azza quickly stepped into her new role by organizing a Health, Safety and Science Day for spouses and children in Ras Gharib and followed up the successful event with a Youth HSE Injury Prevention session for girls from two Egyptian SEED schools.
Azza also helped to organize the first TTT HSE for Youth Workshop in Cairo. Thanks Azza, for providing your support to the other segments of Schlumberger and helping them achieve their objectives.
Azza makes it look easy to bring together diverse groups of people to a common cause, and is ever enthusiastic about sharing information, organizing events and publishing the results. Azza engenders trust among those with whom she works, has a creative mind, and writes like a poet!
After 2 wonderful and very productive years as the Area Coordinator for your chapters in MEA, you deserve a great rest. Be sure that you will be missed and that you left your signature on all you have done.
Read Azza's kind words
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| True to Its Beginnings |
ID: 16386 |
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Reprinted from the Schlumberger Hub
2009 SSA Global Board
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Randa
Mazzawi, Global Coordinator, located in Paris. Randa was previously
SSA Europe/Russia Area Coordinator and replaces Deysy Lamas whose new
role is announced below. |
| Deysy
Lamas, Ex-officio Global Coordinator, located in Beijing. Deysy
replaces Karen Costelloe who completes her Ex-officio term. |
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Sarah White,
Global Communications Coordinator, located in Calgary. Sarah was
previously the SSA Calgary Coordinator and replaces Anisa Haddad whose
term has ended. |
| Vidya Javalagi, SSA Webmaster,
located in Al Khobar. Vidya replaces Melodie Beveridge who left the
board for personal reasons. Vidya has been in her current role for the
last six months. |
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Catherine
Richards, Africa Area Coordinator, located in Tripoli. Catherine
replaces Silicia Fillacier who was transferred out of the area.
Catherine has been in her current position for over 18 months. |
| Sudakshina
Chakraverty, Asia/Australia Area Coordinator, located in Kuala
Lumpur. Shina was previously the Communications Coordinator for SSA
Kuala Lumpur. She replaces Abigail Miguel who left the board for
personal reasons. |
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Irina
Herbert, Europe/Russia Area Coordinator, located in Aberdeen. Irina
was the SSA Aberdeen Welcome Coordinator until a few months ago and
replaces Randa Mazzawi whose new role is announced above. |
| Gabi Apestegui, Latin America
Area Coordinator, located in Rio. Gabi was previously SSA NAM Area
Coordinator and replaces Danielle Cozier. She has been in her current
position for over a year. |
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Samar Fawzy, Middle East Area
Coordinator, located in Cairo. Samar was previously the cultural tours
Coordinator for SSA Cairo and replaces Azza Abdel Aziz whose term has
ended. |
| Vanessa
Wattley, North America Area Coordinator, located in Houston.
Vanessa replaces Karen Pearson who left the board for personal reasons.
Vanessa has been in her current position for one year. |
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August 14, 2009
Randa Mazzawi, incoming global coordinator of the
Schlumberger Spouses Association, talks about the program’s
accomplishments and objectives.
 The Schlumberger
Spouses Association (SSA)
recently elected five new members to its 2009-2011 Board. Randa
Mazzawi, the new global coordinator, outlines the key achievements of
the organization’s outgoing board and upcoming plans.
The Hub: The SSA was established 20 years ago in Paris. How
has the program evolved since then?
Randa Mazzawi: Twenty years later, the primary
mission of the SSA remains unchanged: To create and maintain a
welcoming and supportive environment for all employees and their
families.
The Hub: What has the
SSA focused on during the last 12 months?
Randa Mazzawi: Safeguarding the health and
safety of employee families remains a priority. SSA members around the
world have completed training courses on First Aid, malaria, H1N1
prevention and defensive driving. Tracey McTague, SSA program manager,
tracks these different initiatives and runs SSA HSE reporting, based on
QUEST entries from around the world. We are grateful to
Schlumberger for extending these courses to spouses and partners—this
shows the company’s real commitment to HSE practices.
But it’s not just spouses and partners who have benefited from
the HSE knowledge accumulated by the company over time. Last year,
Schlumberger Global Citizenship launched the HSE for
Youth program to empower youth in seven focus areas: Injury
Prevention, Personal Security, Road Safety, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Water
and Climate Change. The SSA has collaborated on workshops in Cairo,
West Africa and Mumbai.
Every year, the SSA contributes to several volunteer
initiatives. Some are organized by the local chapters, others by SEED.
For example, we helped the HSE for Youth team organize two Injury
Prevention sessions at two SEED schools in Giza, Egypt, in November
2008.
The Hub: What
objectives have been set for the newly elected Board?
Randa Mazzawi: First of all, we will
complete the projects initiated by the previous Board. These include a
new SSA Web site, which is expected to be released in autumn this year;
a new SSA online store that will enable the various chapters to order
items and reduce shipping costs; and the distribution of the Volunteer
Handbook—a useful guide for the SSA chapters, drawing on the lessons
learned over the past two decades.
Meanwhile, we will be laying out the objectives for the next
two years. These will be discussed with Career Planning and Staffing
Manager Alexander Nebesny in a meeting planned for this coming autumn.
It’s worth mentioning that, in line with Schlumberger’s goals
to reduce discretionary spending at all levels, we are being
cost-conscious. For example, the outgoing Board completed their
official handover of duties to the newly elected members remotely, via
teleconference. It is important that in the current climate unnecessary
costs are removed—but I must stress that welcoming and offering support
to new members does not cost much.
The Hub: As a
Schlumberger spouse, in what way has this program helped you?
Randa Mazzawi: When we first moved to
Paris, my husband was often away travelling and I didn’t know anybody.
At times it was difficult, but I found great support from the SSA. I
knew that, in case of an emergency, I had somebody I could turn to.
Thanks to this program I have crossed paths and established strong
friendships with many different people.
The SSA is part of my life today. I have been an active
volunteer for the past six years and I am thrilled to have been given
the opportunity to be the global coordinator for the next two years—it
will give me the chance to give back what I have received over the
years.
All local and international spouses and partners of
Schlumberger employees are welcome to join the SSA. To find out more
about this program, go to http://www.ssafara.net/.
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