Schlumberger Spouses Association Kuwait Chapter

Schlumberger Spouses Association
Kuwait Chapter
June, 2015
SSA KUWAIT BOARD
Chapter Coordinator: Pia Dey
Verma
Dear Members,
“I can no other answer make but thanks,
ssakuwait@gmail.com
And thanks, and ever thanks.”
Cell: 97725863
William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)
Treasurer: Nadia Usman
nadiabushra@gmail.com
Cell: 98837291
Communications Coordinator:
Aditi Jain
aditimanavjain@gmail.com
Cell: 98026465
Welcome Coordinator:
Consuelo Balcazar
The month of May turned out to be very, very special. And like
Antonio of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night– all I can say is, thanks. Thank
you SSA Kuwait members – for being supportive to all our endeavors.
Your participation in World Culture Day - where you turned up
dressed in your beautiful traditional clothes and with delicious food
from your countries, the Clothes Drive for Charity - where your
generosity touched us and the Annual General Meeting – where your
overwhelming response made sure that the next SSA Board is firmly in
its place and the SSA Kuwait Chapter will grow stronger not just in
numbers but in bonding as well!
welcome.ssakuwait@gmail.com
We welcomed three new members this month – Katalin Bartha, Aritri
Sikdar and Angelica Canas. We hope that their stay in Kuwait will be
comfortable and happy! Our Chapter is now 108 member strong!!
Cell: 69677669
We are also happy to announce the new SSA Board 2015-16:
Website Coordinator: Priti Shah
Chapter Coordinator – Pia Dey Verma
priti.gupta1109@gmail.com
Cell: 60062531
Secretary: Erica Rojas
ericarojas@hotmail.com
Cell: 97405528
Welcome Coordinator – Consuelo Balcazar
Treasurer – Nadia Usman
Activities Coordinator – Aditi Jain
Activities Team Member – Madiha Naseem
Charity Coordinator- Shobhna Saxena
We are still looking for volunteers to the post of Communications Coordinator, HSE Coordinator, Website Coordinator
and Secretary. So if you are interested – do drop us a line at ssakuwait@gmail.com .
We will be taking a break from activities during the summer months when most of us will be travelling but we will
always be an email away! Happy Holidays, Ladies!
Pia Dey Verma
Chapter Coordinator, SSA Kuwait
WORLD CULTURE DAY
As Schlumberger Spouses we travel around the world, meet
different people and get a taste of diverse cultures. It was time for
another in-house event and
we decided to make a
Culture Curry out of it! So
here I decided to host World
Culture Day at one of the
unoccupied villas in my
building with immense
support from rest of the
board members of course.
The guests were
invited to come
dressed in their
traditional
costumes and
bring a dish from
their own country.
Doesn’t that
sound exciting??!
It was indeed ;)
So we had ladies gathering in flying colors and costumes
each more beautiful than the other. Along came the
sumptuous dishes, so many of them that we were spoilt for choice! It was our beautiful
Sabina Mulliaminova’s birthday so we also celebrated it with great fervor. There was also a small game and our dear
friend Alwia Al-Hassan emerged as a winner in that one. The beautiful 100 flag streamer designed by Pia held us all
together. It was an immensely vibrant, energetic and beautiful colorful morning indeed!
-
Aditi Jain
CLOTHES DRIVE FOR CHARITY
The SSA Kuwait organized a Clothes Drive for Charity in collaboration with Operation Hope, Kuwait with the hope of
making a difference. Consuelo Balcazar, Erica Rojas and I offered our homes as drop off points to the members for clothes.
Members rose to the occasion and donated clothes which were carefully sorted out and packed in bags marked as “Men”,
“Women”, “Girl” and “Boy”.
On an early Saturday morning, the
Consuelo, Erica and I carried the donated
clothes to the “Hope House” in
Rumaithiya, where we were joined by
Yoko. The donations were received
joyfully and more so because of the way
they were sorted and marked. Readers
will be happy to know that the Board was
informed that clothes would be sent to
the Sri Lankan embassy shelter!
We are hopeful that we can organize
more of these Charity events in the
future!
- Pia Dey Verma
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014-15
The SSA Kuwait Annual General Meeting 2015 turned out to be the perfect ending to a great year! The chapter created a
bit of history with 43 members attending the AGM. And the
setting was perfect. The Balsamico Restaurant at the Regency
hotel was opened up especially for the SSA members who came
in bright and early on 31st May. After the members had
breakfasted on the scrumptious spread, it was time for some
Chapter business.
The SSA Board thanked everyone for attending the AGM and being
supportive to the Board’s endeavours all year long. Consuelo, the
Welcome Coordinator introduced two new ladies - Katalin Bartha and
Angelica Canas to the Chapter members. The Board also thanked the
six ladies who had been the In House Coffee morning hostess during
2014-15: Lina Tortella, Karla Murillo, Erica Rojas, Maria Gabriela, Zeina
Kanawati and Aditi Jain – and presented tokens of its appreciation and
gratitude to them. It was the turn of the Chapter Coordinator to
acknowledge the tremendous work the Board members have been
doing all year long. The elections for the SSA Board 2015-16 was next
on the agenda and the new board was formed!
-
Pia Dey Verma
THE Li’L SUPERSTARS CLUB
Payel Sen Dey’s daughter Jigeesha’s
achievements in Art & Craft at school.
Where is home?
By Paul Balcazar (son of Consuelo Balcazar)
This is a question that expats ask themselves all the time. Is home the place where you live? Is it where you were
born? Or is home where you lived the longest? It is all subject to interpretation, but I’ve found that it all comes down
to the place where family lives. Yes, I know, it’s a whole other subjective definition that we still haven’t figured out,
but here are my thoughts.
In university, my friends live only a couple of hours away from their families, but for them it seems like they are half
a world away. My parents live in Kuwait, the rest of my family in Ecuador, and I live in Canada—almost literally half a
world away. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for my friends to be a third culture kid, or to actually be far away
from home. For them, having to move every 3 years seems like an exciting adventure. Don’t get me wrong, it is
amazing, but there are a lot of sacrifices that most people don’t think about, the main one being family.
For most people, their immediate family includes—at least—their grandparents, uncles and cousins. Since they don’t
all live with you, then you are always away from home, your family is never united, and you can never settle down in
a place because it won’t feel like home. The only way is to limit that elite group of people that you call your
immediate family to parents, siblings, and pet (of course); you have to make it as compact as possible: the block of
people that move around with you. At least, that’s what I thought before I left Kuwait.
When I finished first year, I was incredibly excited; I thought I would be happy when my boxes were picked up, I had
returned all my keys and I was in a taxi getting finally out of there. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The room full of
boxes made me anxious, the empty walls got me depressed, and when it was all over it was a horrible bitter-sweet
feeling that enraged me; I wanted to be able to enjoy my freedom. That’s when it hit me: that ridiculous dorm room
had become my home.
It didn’t come as a huge surprise because I was already forgetting to lock the bathroom door so I was clearly getting
comfortable, but it was still shocking how much that place meant to me. It’s not about where you are, it’s all about
who you are with, and as it turns out, all those weird people that I call my friends are now my family.
SUMMER COOLERS
GINGERY PEACH COOLER
Ingredients
3 cups ginger ale
1/2 cup peach nectar
2 ripe peaches, thinly
sliced
1 tablespoon grated
fresh ginger
Directions
In a pitcher, combine
the ginger ale, nectar,
peaches, and ginger.
Serve over ice.
FROZEN BLUEBERRY LEMONADE
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 cup lemonade
1/2 cup fresh mint
leaves, plus more for
serving
1/4 cup confectioners’
sugar
Directions
In a blender, puree the
blueberries, lemonade,
mint, confectioners’
sugar, and 3 cups ice
until smooth.
Garnish with mint
sprigs.
PRINCIPLES OF SSA
JUST ARRIVED!!!
Katalin Bartha (Hungary)
Hospitality: To provide hospitality in a low
profile, informal, apolitical manner.
Communication: To communicate effectively
using person-to-person, electronic and written
form as appropriate.
Cooperative behavior: To utilize cooperative
behaviors in line with Schlumberger policies,
operations and spirit.
Friendship: To maintain a friendly and nonbureaucratic approach.
Angelica Canas (Colombia)
Share your stories, experiences,
recipes and reviews (be it of a book you
read recently, a movie you saw, a
restaurant you ate at) with us. We
would also be happy to publish the
achievements and art work of your kids
in our monthly newsletter. Mail them to
ssakuwait@gmail.com.
Goodwill: To encourage goodwill through
community involvement with no commercial gain.
Effectiveness: To continually seek to improve our
effectiveness within the Schlumberger community
worldwide through
SpouseConnect, www.ssafara.net, GeoMarket
magazines, Area and Chapter newsletters.
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KUWAIT’
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Newsletter Editor/ Communications Co-ordinator- Aditi Jain