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 02, 2007
Viss notiek!
Tik sen nekas nav rakstīts un varbūt liekas, kas notiek Patvērumā? Viss notiek! Beidzot darbs ir iegājis normalās sliedēs! Mums ir 2 nu jau patstāvīgi darbinieki, divi praktikanti un vakar darbu uzsāka 1 brīvprātīgais darbinieks, kas ir meitene Elīna no Holandes un būs ar mums kopā līdz pat janvārim! Tad nu arī varam turpināt un plānot savu darbu ar jauniem spēkiem, jauniem cilvēkiem un jaunām idejām. Pats jaukākais ir tas, ka esam saņēmuši atbalstu no ASV divām meitenēm - Kristīnei un Katjai - zobu breketēm. Un šodien Kristīnei tiek uzliktas šīs breketes un pēc divām nedēļām arī Katjai. Viņas ir īstas drosminieces, jo tam bija nepieciešami biedējoši sagatavošanas darbi sāpīgi un netik sapīgi, īpaši jau Katjai. Aicinu Jūs lūgt par meitenēm, lai visām šīm ciešanām būtu pārsteidzoši rezultāti!
Sveiki, vēlos jums pastāstīt par izmaiņām, kas notiek "Patvērumā"! Kā jau Zoe iepriekš rakstīja, ka Vineta un Natālija ir aizgājušas no "Patvēruma" un pēdējo nedēļu laikā, nodarbojos ar jaunu darbinieku meklēšanu. Šaodien darbu uzsāk Mārīte, kas ir nakts auklīte PA Leontīnes Gorškas bērnu majā Agenskalnā, papildus viņa strādās "Patvērumā" un tas ir tikai pagaidām, kamēr mēs atradīsim sociālo darbinieku. Mārīte pēc izglītības ir bioloģijas skolotāja. Nākošnedēļ ir plānots, ka darbu uzsāks sociālais pedagogs (vēl studē) Kristīne. Zīmīgi, ka pēc intervijas, kas notika pagājušo nedēļu, nedēļas nogalē satikāmies kādās rekolekcijās, tas bija ļoti jauki un esmu pateicīga Dievam, par to kā Viņš mūs īstajā laikā un ar īstajiem cilvēkiem saved kopā!
Vēlos, jūs aicināt aizlūgt par kādu ģimeni, kas pārdzīvo puaudžu krīzi. Kristaps kurš "Patvērumā" atrodas kopš pirmās dienas ir sadumpojies un aizbēdzis no mājām un jau otro nakti nakšņo pie draugiem vai uz ielas, viņa vecāki par to ir ļoti norūpējušies un ļoti pārdzīvo notikušo, un ir izmisuši!
Paldies, jau iepriekš par jūsu aizlūgumiem un atbalstu, lai Dievs visus jūs bagātīgi svētī!
I know I'm on maternity leave and so shouldn't really know what's going on downstairs but this afternoon I had a chat with Inese and she could do with your prayers as both Vineta and Natalija have handed in their notice.
Vineta's been with us for over a year and has been a great team member. Natalija joined us just before I finished but seeing her around the place she seems to have been doing a good job. Both are leaving for higher paid jobs - a common problem!
They finish in August which gives Inese some time to find their replacements but I'd appreciate your prayers for her as I know it can be hard to deal with staff changes, especially 2 at once.
Thanks!
PS I'm not sure if anyone's still checking this but if you are good news (well I think so)! Inese is hoping to keep up the blog once we've gone. It will probably be mostly in Latvian but she said she'll try and put some things in English plus photos which we all will be able to enjoy!
From the title you might be able to guess that..... we are now OFFICIAL!!
Yes, yesterday Inese and I went to sign for the official document that says that Patverums Children's Day Centre is officially recognised by the state as a social service provider!
The document was already framed and will now take pride of place on the office wall.
As we drove back from the department we talked about the last 9 months, all the work that's gone into this process and that now Inese can concentrate on other things! With the summer programme now needing attention it's great to know that it's all done.
So, it's like an end of an era for me now as it was my goal to get this status before we leave. I now feel that I am able to leave the centre knowing that it's in good hands and all is as it should be.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and interest in getting the status, we've really needed them and have appreciated it and if I can I'd ask you not to stop!! ;-)
Last Thursday Patverums had the privilege of hosting the British Ambassador Ian Bond as well as members of the British Chamber of Commerce Latvia for the presentation of a donation raised at the charity Burns Night back in February.
It was a great couple hours and everyone did a brilliant job. Graeme planned the visit and lead the proceeding through and he, together with Inese, got everything ready for the afternoon. My job was to turn up on time and to meet the Ambassador, do the Patverums tour and receive the cheque!
It was a real honour to be part of it all. The children were great and looking around the room I felt humbled by what God has done through us and the centre over the past 5 years. The Ambassador spoke thanking The Salvation Army for the work that we do worldwide saying that 'The Salvation Army is light in dark places'. Our Regional Commander Goren Larsson replied thanking him and the BCCL for their comments and generosity of their donation and commitment to the us.
Just to keep you up to date today I went down to the Academic Office and collected THE piece of paper we've been waiting for for over a month! This now means that we can hand in all the many documents for the official status next week :-) Hurray!!!
Inese will have to do this on her own as I am now longer free because (for those of you that haven't heard) I gave birth to Abigail Evie Smith on Saturday 21st April at 11.07pm EET!
For more info and some pictures go to Graeme's blog. There's a link further down the page.
For those of you that might still be checking the blog I thought I'd post a small update to let you know how things have been over the past month.
Now obviously I don't know all as I'm on maternity leave now but I do have my sources!!
Firstly we've had our first kitchen inspection. It went well, the inspector was very good and although there were a few things that were not up to full standard she advised Inese as to what needed to be done and was able to answer a few questions about some of the required documents we need to have in place but have been struggling with. We're all really pleased to get the first one out of the way!
Secondly the official status as been on hold for the past month as we've been waiting for one document to arrive (it's actually a transcript for my degree which was suddenly needed!!) but thankfully it arrived this morning :-) So tomorrow I will take it to the academic office to get it authenticated and then we need to wait again for 2 weeks before we can finally hand in all the papers. It might be that Inese will need to hand it in without me which is a shame but I know we will all be relieved when it's all done!!
Obviously I'm not up to date on the day to day life of the centre but from seeing Inese and the staff as well as the children around the house they all seem fine! There are a few difficult family situations going on right now, one of them is the on going problem with the family that has been in and out of the crisis centre. I know the staff are working hard with the family and social services to try and stabilize where they are living and what the mother's plans are for her children as right now they are moving between home, friends and even their father's flat. Your thoughts and prayers for them all would be appreciated.
Next month we will be having the visit of the British Ambassador in a handing over ceremony of the money raised by the Burn's night back in February. I'm being allowed to be involved with this! Graeme is actually organising it so between the 2 of us, Inese and the outside organisers we hope to put together an afternoon to remember! I will post pictures and let you know how it goes!
Well, I think that's it, especially as I shouldn't really be working but it's hard to separate myself completely from the centre's work! Thanks for to those of you that continue to be interested in the centre and are keeping it in your thoughts and prayers.
On Friday we celebrated Patverums 5th birthday. Inese, Vineta, Natalija, Irena and I spent a lot of the week planning, shopping and preparing for the big day.
So Friday came...
Unfortunately it was the Friday that Natalija had to go to university so we were short staffed, although she was able to come in for a couple of hours before her afternoon lectures started. This meant that the 4 of us were a little stretched but we were finished just in time. I was putting cucumber sticks onto the plates as our guests were walking up the stairs!!
The afternoon and evening went really well. We had 69 people attend. This was made up by most of our regular children and teenagers that attend the centre, some of their families, some 'past' children, current staff and some 'past' staff and volunteers. Also Sarah from Riga 1 came, Evie from the Training centre and a number of people from Headquarters and PABA joined us. We were also privileged to have Commissioner Ros Poke (Sweden and Latvia Territory) with us while she visited the Region.
We started with the 'official' bit! Chris (our assistant Regional Commander) spoke, saying thanks and goodbye to Graeme and I. It was one of the parts of the day I was least looking forward to but it went well. Then she welcomed Inese as the new leader which was great to witness. Ilga (director of social work and one of our first members of staff) said a few words and then it was left to me to finish up! As always there were lots of flowers and a few presents too :-)
With that done it was time for food!!
As part of our celebrations we invited a guy called Stuart from Riga 1 corps to 'entertain' the children. He is involved in evangelistic programs and is especially good at entertaining and presenting the Gospel to families and young people. He did a great job and as you will see from future pictures everyone really enjoyed the 'show'!
After this we moved from the cafe area into Riga 1's main hall where we had a bouncy castle for the rest of the day. It was a hit!! This isn't the first time we've hired one but as it's been a while for most of our children it was a first at Patverums. Alongside this we had various games and quizzes such as 'count the number of sweets in the jar', 'apple bobbing', & 'the '5' quiz'.
Of course we had birthday cake, in fact we had 2, and we all spent the rest of the evening playing and talking together. By 7.15pm everyone was gone, leaving Inese, Vineta, Inga (former member of staff) and myself to clean up. By 8pm we were done and ready to go home!
It was a really special day and one I wont ever forget! God blessed us once again with a wonderful day and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!!
posted by Patverums Childrens Day Centre @ 5:54 pm
