Ali Weeks 7 and 8
Mon 20th Oct. Today I started painting the window frames and burglar bars at the primary school. Plus proving the teachers their computer lessons. Today I taught them how to create and design tables which will put them in good stead when they come to write their lesson plans. I was also asked if I would read the stories to the grade 0 class, which I happily obliged, however they had me read “The Gruffalo” and “I don’t like peas” for what seemed like the millionth time! But they loved it so it made it worthwhile
Tues 21st Oct. Today was Ropa’s birthday and she bought in a delicious cake for everyone to celebrate with. I continued with the window painting, tested the teachers on their ‘inserting tables’ ability and did the boys swimming run. Whilst they were swimming Leeshy has been learning the Highway Code for her provisional licence, so I thought it would be fun for her to take a mock theory test on my iPad. Needless to say she failed as the driving rules and regulations are a lot stricter in the UK than in Zim plus they don’t have motorways or snow! So all in all a good effort with 76% me thinks!!!!
Weds 22nd Oct. Today was Michaella’s birthday and we had another cake, this time a Little Mermaid one, plus ice cream, crisps and sweets and tiaras for the girls so we had a party after lunch. All of the children loved the music and were singing and dancing away to it! I also finished off painting the outside window frames and burglar bar and French doors, next week will be the inside!
Thur 23rd Oct. Admin time! Today at One Central I reviewed the job descriptions, made a few adjustments to them and then typed them into a new template as we only had hard copies of them. I then created a team structure chart which I’m very impressed with even if I say so myself! Sean also wants to be able to takedown and track the electricity and water meter reading, so I created and excel spreadsheet for this along with the formulas to calculate the kilowatts used and the cumulative figure. After so long not using a laptop my eyes were popping out my head by the end of the day……how easy it is to forget my old life hahaha!!!!
Fri 24th Oct. Today I went through the job descriptions and team structure with Thandie. I created a template for staff appraisals, then went to work on sprucing up the ‘Mission, Goals, Values’ PowerPoint presentation Sean had created. I had 2 slides left to complete at the end of the day which I was lacking inspiration for, luckily it started to spit and after being caught in the storm last week I felt this was sign to leave them until next week and head for home incase the heavens opened again!
Take care,
Ali xx
Mon 27th Oct – half term. Day off today however I did design the Graduation Certificate during the power cut fingers crossed the staff like it
Tues 28th Oct. Back to painting the remaining windows at the primary school. I also held the computer lessons and was very proud of all of them as they had remembered most of what I had been teaching them before half term and they had also been practising over the break. I also did the boys swimming run in the afternoon and upon returning we had another birthday cakeas it was Tino’s birthday.
Weds 29th Oct. Today I finished off painting the outside of the windows and burglar bars. In the afternoon Pru & I had a brainstorming session on fee charging using a couple for different options looking at all income and expenditure and forecasting profit/loss. This was then presented to Greg in the evening over Skype and a favourable decision was made.
Thurs 30th Oct. Return to One Central where I had a very exciting day. When I arrived Sean said he had a big task for me for the next 2 days…..setting up the food bank. I jumped at the opportunity. First off I designed the currency we would use. These unit vouchers would be used in exchange for food and clothing. I then created the price list for items in stock. Then in the afternoon I sorted out all the donations received so far into mens, ladies, children, trousers, t shirts, tops, jackets etc. this is something totally new for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it…roll on tomorrow
Fri 31st Oct. At One Central Jackie, Thandie and I had a brainstorming session on how to tackle the admin needed for the smooth running of the site. We discussed methods we would use and decided on our priorities for the next few weeks. This was a very fruitful and positive meeting. I then continued with my tasks needed to set up the food bank. With the help of Debbie we made some make-shift selves and table plus some ‘display cabinets’ using anything and everything we could find in the leftovers from the hall renovations. We then bought over all of the donations and placed them and displayed them in the ‘shop’. Despite no budget I think we achieved a great look! I then printed out the money, stamped and serialised them and created an issuing register to prevent fraud.
There won’t be a blog next week as I am off to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park for a well earned rest and to see some
Thanks!
Ali xx