We’ve taken the work plan and the strategic action plan out of the drawer and looked at it, point by point, to check how many of the plans have been completed and what remains to be done.
We have achieved a lot during the past six months. In January the Foundation had only just gained its legal status, and now our taller (= activities club) is up and running and meets several afternoons per week, with 6 participants and an enthusiastic group leader. And since June the doors of our community home (‘casa hogar’) have officially been open. The Ruach Foundation in the meantime has employed 6 paid part-and full time employees for the office, the activities club and the community home. So we are in a good position to make more progress!
The Board
These achievements would not have been possible without the dedicated Board who meet fortnightly. The agendas of these meetings are always crowded. Of course not everything is running smoothly all the time and people differ in motivation and dedication, but overall I am pleased with how faithful the Board members attend meetings and participate in activities. Everyone has a chance to contribute to the project. We are growing as a team in making our plans and organizing the activities.
Amazement
Last Thursday afternoon the Board had another meeting. One of the agenda items was “Personal Evaluation”: how do individual members of the Board feel about the developments in the project and the progress? Although of course e.g. in meetings we sense how people function and how they feel in their roles, it is good to provide an opportunity to everyone to explicitly express their feelings and views.
The most common feeling was one of amazement at the amount that we have achieved so far, and how smooth the process had been. What a reward for all the energy and time that we have invested in tasks that came our way, to which we had to respond! The sheer number of tasks once felt like an impossibly steep mountain to climb, but they have been done. We were unanimous in our gratitude for how it has gone .
Looking forward
We also realize that a new phase is ahead of us. Our emphasis is now on working with Yenny and Melina, our new home assistants (acompañantes) on teambuilding and sensitizing them to people with intellectual disabilities and their needs, in order to be ready to welcome our candidate-residents Daniel and Loyda into our home. That will be a huge challenge and who knows what will come our way. We will only succeed if we go for it together, and are in this together. May we count on your moral and possibly financial support?