Employee leadership

With Filipino employees, independent thinking cannot often be assumed, as is the case with a Swiss employee with the same education - why this is so, we don't know exactly, but respect for authority and unquestioningly following what they say certainly has something to do with it, as well as an education that is more focused on rote learning than logical thinking. We are constantly trying to find the balance between delegating tasks to our employees and allowing them to make their own decisions, or telling them what to do. Keno is still struggling a bit with the financial responsibility because he is now managing the accounting: there was a point where he wanted to go back to his social worker position, but this is not possible because the social worker could not take over Keno's job. In our opinion, Keno is doing a great job and expects too much from himself - it also takes time for him to grow into his role as a supervisor. We still don't know exactly what to expect from the new social worker. Despite her education as a high school English teacher, she still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of language skills. She should not only be able to write a coherent protocol, but also describe a situation in writing when we are not on site. Another task is accompanying medical cases (children or parents of Batulong children) to the hospital or doctor. There, she should ask the right questions and understand the diagnosis and treatment in order to pass this information on to us and explain it to the patient again if necessary. Unfortunately, some doctors make quite bizarre statements (e.g., Keno should not eat meat for a month with a diagnosis of costochondritis, or when asked about generics, the doctor says they are not as effective as brand-name medications. We are also concerned about the recommendations of the doctor in relation to Diana's diabetes) and our employees may not understand why we contradict the doctor's statements after googling it - keyword "gods in white coats".

In recent years, we have almost forgotten how demanding it is to introduce new employees. One goal is to have almost all Batulong information accessible online, moving away from the "books" where our employees write things down, to lists on Dropbox. This is also to ensure that in case of an employee's illness, all important information remains accessible. But of course, it is also for Mäge and me to see what is going on when we are not on site.

Our project with schizophrenic Marivic has started off fairly well after some initial uncertainties: the woman comes for meals twice a week and can otherwise move around freely as long as she doesn't steal or disturb others. She now receives an injection every two weeks to reduce her aggressiveness. Hopefully, this will give her some more freedom at home. We are waiting for a place for her in the home run by nuns, but unfortunately, it is already beyond its capacity and there is no waiting list.

The foundation board meeting took place at the end of the week. The day before, Jelyn (volunteer staff) and Tonton (Thata's nephew) canceled via text messages to Keno and Thata. We requested an email with an official cancellation from Tonton and then he was able to arrange to still come. Unfortunately, sometimes one has to apply some "pressure" even if it goes against our principles, then something suddenly works. We also appreciate Tonton's participation and he is very nice, so we were happy about his attendance. The meeting took place on the upper floor of the small Italian restaurant in the street where our hotel is located. The dinner after the meeting was delicious and everyone was happy.

In the past few weeks, we have taken in several new Batulong children: the teachers then write a list of what the children need, and sometimes there are unusual things on the list like soap or a toothbrush. We asked and the girl actually doesn't have her own toothbrush. We will start a toothbrush distribution action again...

The new children are still quite uncertain, but they are very happy about all the school materials they receive and the meals at our center.