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.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Staff troubles again!
Today we had some bad news. Simona who we offered the social worker job to came in and told us she was now unable to take the job! This is because she is still studying and this spring needs to do a 3 month work placement, the plan was that she'd be able to do it at Patverums but the university has told her she cannot do it at a day centre so she can't work for us and do a work placement!!
This has hit us rather had as in just over 6 weeks I go on maternity leave and so the focus was meant to be on finding my replacement not trying to find 2 new staff members!
I'm talking with Inese and Vineta tomorrow in our small group to ask them if they will be applying. I'm a little nervous about it as I sense their concern about the whole staffing situation at the moment and I don't want to come across too desperate!
This is becoming a concern for me and I don't want to leave the centre in a bad way so we'd all appreciate your prayers! Thanks
This weekend Inese and Vineta will be joining other members and staff of TSA in Latvia on a Design for Life course.
I am so pleased that they are going as the weekend is excellent (I went on it last year) and I think both of them will gain a lot from it. The idea of the conference is to spend time thinking about what it is God has planned for your life. You hear some good Biblical teaching, spend time in small groups where you think about your life so far, what gifts you have and sharing thoughts and ideas that God is giving you throughout the weekend. There are also times of prayer and worship plus much much more!
For Vineta I think this is the first time she will have been on such a weekend so I'm really praying this will be a special time for her as she develops in her faith. Inese is a mature Christian and I know that at the moment she is really searching for what it is God wants her to do.
I'd appreciate it if you could share a thought and prayer for them this weekend.
Thursday - we all tried not to be nervous during the morning but we knew it was going to be a big day - the inspection at 14:00 and then the interview at 15:30. I came downstairs at 13:30, one of our families was finishing their showers and Inese and I got ready to go to collect the inspector. I really felt the need to pray so with a hairdryer going on in the background we quickly came together as a staff and prayed that this day would go well and that God would be in control.
About a minute later there was an enormous bang from upstairs. I ran up to see what it was and found our main door to the outside yard off its hinges!!! This is not the first time it's happened, it's very windy at the moment and the wind can take it right off. So after a bit of shouting (I have to confess) we understood there was nothing we could do and went to the car with Inese only to discover that the school next door were having some work done on their playground and there was a trench right across the exit to our car park! I was not best pleased! We told the workmen we needed to get out and was there anything they could do. Thankfully they could and within 5 minutes they had find a section so we could drive out! We wont talk about any of the many safety rules we all probably broke.
I have to say I was not feeling optimistic about how the rest of the afternoon was going to go at this point!
We collected the inspector on time (miracle in Riga traffic these days!) and brought her back to the centre. She then started to walk around asking us questions about who came to the centre, numbers, what we did with the children etc etc. So far so good! She went into the wash room again asked a few questions, then moved on. Next we went upstairs to see where the children eat and where the kitchen is. Then she asked the question I've been dreading for 5 years! 'Where are your toilets?' Now to fill you in we have been told by various people over the years that we couldn't become official because we only have one toilet. So the question was asked and in my mind I thought 'well, here we go! It could all end now!' She was told it was back downstairs in the centre. 'Ok' she says and we carry on up the stairs!?!
We talked about the use of the rooms, how the kitchen is now registered in TSA's name and all was ok. We explained there are some more toilets on the first floor (UK Ground floor) that staff can use and that was fine. At this point she had not given us any recommendations just asked questions. It was very strange. She then started to finish up and I just couldn't get my head around it that she's not asked to see health book, nothing about changing the laundry areas, getting hand dryers fitted etc etc. So in the I had to ask if there was anything we needed to do! 'No' was her reply!!! Honestly my mouth dropped! 'OK', I said 'Thank you' and 'Can we offer you a lift back!?'
In the car she did say that if in the future we are able to move location so that there is more natural light coming into the rooms that would be good but that this was a suggestion not a requirement. I told her that this is something we have in our long term plans and that was fine!
So by 15:10 we were back at Patverums and we all had a grin on our faces!
Then came the interview and I was on a high! The lady came and we had a good interview together. She (Simona) was able to answer the questions well - my questions in English and Vineta's in Latvian (bonus points)!! She's a 3rd year students studying to be a social pedagogue and is a Christian. Afterwards I sat with Ilga, our director of social work, and agreed to offer her the job!! She has to give a months notice to her current work but can start mid February. It's her first job in social work up until now she's just done work to support her studies so I'm pleased that we will be able to give this experience.
UNBELIEVABLE!!! GOD IS AMAZING!
Friday - it was hard to follow the day before, I think we were all still riding on the wave of Thursday! It was Lilita's last day. We (the staff and I) had our Friday small group in my flat before the centre opened as always. We are almost at the end of 'Purpose Driven Life' and the last few weeks our conversations have gone really well. Everyone is making contributions and I can see the real value of the group.
It was obviously hard for Lilita, but thankfully quite a few children came throughout the day as they can often stay away on a staff's last day. We had cake & drinks together and gave her our leaving card and present. She was sorry to leave but you can tell she feels happy with her decision to move which is good.
So that was the week! It's not always like that, thank goodness! We are now short staffed for a month but it's not the first time and we'll be fine. We have set ourselves a goal to have all the official statues documents finished by the time Simona starts. This is possible as it's only really the kitchen documents to complete now.
Thank you for your prayers, as you can tell they've not been wasted! Here's to this week, may it be calm!!
When this week began we knew it was going to be a busy and fairly stressful one but it's only Wednesday and I think all of the staff are in serious need of some chocolate!!
Monday - 3 of us set off to buy the new kitchen equipment we need to pass the inspection. So we jump on a tram and off we went. Found the place without too much hassle and then we slowly went around the shop collecting all the items we need only to be told that you aren't meant to collect the items but tell one of the staff the things you want and they make an order. So we put it all back and start again!! We managed to find all but one item - fridge thermometers (they are proving hard to find!). I leave Lilita and Vineta to finish up as I needed to head back to the house so Graeme could go to a meeting. Not too bad but when I phone down a little later to see how it went they had problems with paying for it (we pay through the bank) and it's now Wednesday and still we don't have the correct papers from them so we can pay and get our things delivered!
Tuesday - I had our monthly leaders meeting all day. That went fine, downstairs they had a 'normal' day but 2 of the boys decided to make it interesting and really play up so much so that they lost all their 100 points and wont be in for the rest of the week!!
Wednesday - The day that none of us were looking for to as we had the final agencies inspection booked! The sanitary agency!! We've been sorting out and cleaning the centre throughout the week or so(it was in need of a good tidy!) We all had a rather stressful morning worrying about it and then I came down to the centre to discover that instead of coming at 2pm as arranged she'd had a free slot at 12pm and so came then instead even though she knew our working hours are 1-8pm!!! Argh!! We were not best pleased! So we've rearranged it for tomorrow, again at 2pm.
Then to put the cherry on top one of our mum's arrives at the centre very upset as her 2 children had left school early and she couldn't find them anywhere. Thankfully after about an hour and a few phone calls we discovered they'd gone back to the crisis centre and were fine!
So...that's our week so far! Tomorrow we have the inspection (hopefully) and Vineta and I are interviewing our one and only applicant for Lilita's job. That's at 3.30pm EET and then Friday is Lilita's last day. I'll let you know how it goes!
We hope you have all had a great Christmas and New Year! We have been busy over the past few weeks as other than national holidays the centre has been open.
We had a wonderful Christmas party, a total of 39 people attended and I think it's safe to say it was one of the best for a few years! We laughed a lot while playing various party games, some tradition some not so! Irena did a great job with the food and the play went really well. I have to confess I was pleased it was such a success with it being our last one!
And now it's 2007! It’s going to be a year of many changes for the centre, although only the staff know that at the moment. Lilita leaves a week tomorrow and finally today we have had our first serious applicant. We are hoping to interview her on Thursday next week. Also next week we will have our 3rd agency come to inspect the centre. This time it is from the Sanitary and Health Agency. It's a bit of an unknown, some people have told us horror stories, other are telling us as long as they get paid each year that's all their interested in so...I'm not holding my breath either way and we'll wait to see what happens on Wednesday at 14:00. I'll let you know!
As for the children they seem to have had a good Christmas, this week they are still off school so enjoying the end of their holidays. They have taken the news of Lilita leaving fairly well, some are now more interested in who will replace her!! Tonight she is leading her first and last parents group. We have been really pleased with the numbers that have been attending recently so hopefully tonight will be just as good, we've had a few parents who haven't been for a very long time say they might come which would be a great start to the New Year.
So once again, Happy New Year from all of us at Patverums!
