The Salvation Army opened the Patvērums Childrens Day Centre in March 2002 to provide a safe environment for underprivileged children from the local community in Riga.
Friday, November 24, 2006
IT'S ALL OFF
13:00 and we're all at the centre! Kitchen is spotless, the eating places are clean etc etc and we get a phone call to say they can't come :-( You can imagine our response!
So we need to rearrange it for next week. Not the start we'd hoped! Thanks if you prayed and I'll let you know when the next planned inspection is!
Yesterday Inese and I went and registered Patverums kitchen! This might not sound that amazing but it now means that next week an inspector will come to the kitchen, see how we are working and tell us what needs to be done to get it up to official standard.
Also we decided that because the kitchen is used by more than just the centre we are asking for it to be registered as a Salvation Army kitchen so this alone could cause some confusion as people find it difficult to understand that there are many different parts to the army but all come under it!! So we'll see!
We were all quite nervous about it and although we have some ideas as to what they will be looking for, when an inspector come anything is possible!
Today we need to phone to arrange the visit so when I know I'll post the date so that you can pray!
Today blog entries are like buses - none for ages and then 3 turn up!!!!
I've been meaning to write this entry for a while but for some reasons haven’t and in some ways it might not be necessary but anyway...
For those of you that read this and don't know I (Zoe - centre leader!) am pregnant and due in April so that means as of March I will go on maternity leave. On top of that Graeme and my contract with The Salvation Army finishes in September 07 and after a lot of thought we have decided not to renew it but to return to the UK.
So that means that Patverums is going to be handed over to a new leader next spring!!
This has always been our intention as we know it is not right for us to remain the leaders forever. With Graeme leaving the centre last January it was the start of us withdrawing from the centre.
I told the staff about a month ago and to be honest I'm not sure what there thoughts are about it! It's not been spoken about, well not in front of me anyway! The children have no idea about us leaving and it will hopefully stay like that for a while yet.
My biggest task now is to get the centre registered before I finish. Today we have phoned about getting the kitchen inspected so next week we need to go along and make a formal request and then the ball will definitely start rolling!
So that's what's happening with us at the moment. Lots’ going on around us and in the middle the centre continues to run as usual!
News is still a bit vague but it looks like this week the mum has taken herself and the 2 children out of the crisis centre early and have gone back to their old flat! She's not been happy there for a while so we are not that surprise she has left.
We are of course worried about them as the dad has been in contact with the family during the past weeks and so there is always the danger that he will return to the family home. The mum is starting to change her mind about the criminal charges against her husband and even though the charges cannot be dropped if she withdraws her statement the verdict could be very different.
We have heard that she has found a new flat but we don't know any more information about that yet.
This is the frustrating part of our work as it is possible that after all the help and support the mum has been given within a few months she could (we pray of course that she wont) but could be back in the same situation again.
So not the best of news but that's where we are with them at the moment!
Last week we had the first parents group since the beginning of the summer! It's not that we'd forgotten about it but Dace used to lead the group so with her leaving in July, all the usual summer activities and having a new member of staff start this autumn we have been a bit slow in restarting it!
But we sent out invitations to everyone and hoped and prayed that at least one parent would come! More than one came, in fact 4 came! Vineta led the group and by the smile on her face really enjoyed it!! They had a great evening and I'm so pleased to see them meeting again!
They plan to come together again in a few weeks so we hope and pray the second meeting will go as well as the first!
I cannot believe it's a month since I last wrote an entry! I'd be surprised if anyone is still checking this site but for those of you that are, thanks and here's what's been happen!
In many ways it's been a quiet month. The children are back to school and settling into their new classes’. Autumn seems to have been and gone as we had snow on Thursday and unlike the normal first snow it's still falling!
Numbers at the centre have been fairly low due to seasonal colds and different family situations; it's a shame when there aren't so many children as it's not as easy to run the different groups and activities. But 2 weeks ago a small group went bowling and had a great time. This week we will be celebrating Lacplesa day (Lacplesa was a Latvian hero and there are legends about him). We've done many different autumn crafts and last week the children were able to turn themselves into superheroes! We took photos of them all in superhero poses and then they used the picture to create a personal superhero. It's been interesting to see the different powers they have given themselves.
Last week Inese restarted the prayer time. 2 parents attended and she spent 2 hours with them talking and praying. This week, after many months we are having a parent groups meeting again. We have sent invitations to all parents and hope that the weather won’t put them off attending on Thursday.
As far as family situations are concerned the family I last wrote about is still in the crisis centre. The mother is finding it hard to live there but we're pleased she is sticking with it. The children are attending school every day and coming to Patverums a few times a week. The daughter is receiving counselling which we are very pleased about. The mum has got a job and the court proceeding against her husband is continuing. The biggest problem they now face is where to live. We discovered last week that because they are in a crisis centre they have now been taken off the waiting list for social housing! We cannot see the logic to this at all as at the end of 6 months the family will probably have no where to live as they are already being taken to court regarding their old flat for not paying rent. The family still has 4 and a half months but at the moment it's hard to see what will happen.
Last week one of our boys was in hospital with tonsillitis. He now comes only occasionally to the centre but the week he was taken in to hospital he came most days and it was good to see that when he needed a warm place to be and some company he felt he could come to us. He is now home.
We are still treading the road to official status! Last month we were able to get a fire alarm system fitted and apart from a few small things we are almost ready to get everything checked and stamped by the fire department. Next we are focuses on the kitchen and next week we are planning to invite the agency that deals with kitchens to come in and tell what needs to be done. We've tried to get some things organised before their visit so that when they do give us the long list we will be ready to do some of them straight away!
Well, I think that's it's for now and I will try not to leave it quite so long between entries next time!
