Life in Romania
This is a continuation of a series of posts detailing a typical day in Romania at our Beauty from Ashes Center for Orphan Girls. In our last post I described how our orphan girls work at a small greeting card business we have recently started …
12:15 p.m. – It’s lunch time and I am hungry! Whenever I come downstairs from my office I am sure to be met by a myriad of voices pulling me one way or another. I don’t mind. It’s actually quite nice and an advantage of working at home. I am able to spend time with the girls, the staff, and my wife! Most of the time we’re just one big happy family.
I have written about Eva, our housemother, and Diana, who heads up our card making, in previous posts. By now Andreea has arrived. Andreea (pictured to the right with Mandinita) is our Beauty from Ashes Director, Office Manager, Psychologist, and a whole lot more all rolled into one! The girls are thrilled to see her and jump up to greet her almost every day.
To be honest, I am glad to see her also because there is usually a lot of work to be done! On Mondays we have staff meeting. Here we read the Bible, pray, go over problems, discuss the girls, and strategize about future plans.
I have gotten better at delegating in recent years and I usually delegate to Andreea. She then delegates to those under her. Over time we have created a system that works very fluidly and efficiently. Andreea’s input has contributed significantly to this. I’ll write a little bit more about Andreea’s work day in the next post.
As I eat lunch I observe the greeting card making process and see how we can improve efficiency. I help the girls with their homework. I field questions from all sides. I interact with everyone, trying to encourage and correct when it’s necessary.
1:00 p.m. – Back upstairs for more work!
To be continued…