The Game Plan

So, just under four weeks left here in South Africa. The original plan held another three months, at the least, so to suddenly be limited to four weeks to wrap up everything I’ve been working on seems a little constrictive. It basically breaks down into 2 sections, closing up shop at the Care Center and tying things up nicely with HOPE. This week and next will be in Hawston at the center, and then the final two weeks will be in Cape Town working from the Hope Main office.

Now, like I mentioned in the previous post, the decision to leave in July was finalized around June 1^st, so I have had a little time to get started on the care center work. The largest project I have undertaken is writing down everything I handle at the center. When Martin passed away in January, I took over a number of his responsibilities that he either had instructed me on how to do, I figured out by asking others, or through trial and error. When a temporary nursing coordinator was hired, I retained responsibility for a number of those tasks, especially the administrative ones. A few more were added once the front office all abandoned ship at the same time. Between that, and the fact that I tried to digitalize and update a fair number of procedures done, especially on the day to day administrative side of things, we end up with a decent chunk of tasks that only I really know how to do. The challenge is taking all of that, and creating user friendly guides for people who 1) may not have the greatest grasp on technology 2) learned English as a second language 3) may not have me around to ask questions to (hopefully anyone who comes to the center, either as an administrator or nursing coordinator, will be able to utilize these guides, even years down the road). Once I have created these guides, I will begin the training of practically everyone left on how to do the tasks. Sr. Barlow, the current nursing coordinator, will receive the training since realistically, most of it should be done by her. Robin, an intern the center acquired around February who has been working in the office, will receive the training because Sr. Barlow stands a pretty decent chance of not grasping all the technology fully (she came out of retirement for this post) and will thus either require help or will pass some of the responsibilities to her. And then Edison, the former part-time finical person who has stepped up (been thrust into) the position of practically running the center from an administrative stand point, will receive it because he is the one who will most likely understand how to do everything and also I believe that everyone in an organization should have at least a general idea of how to handle others work, in case that person(s) decide to just up and leave without passing on how to handle various situation (*cough* I’m still a little bitter *cough*). I will also, if time can be arranged, have a refresher course with all the carers on the physio training I gave them.

The last two weeks will be spent in Cape Town, where I will wrap up a few things at the main office. The biggest thing I will try to work on is HOPE Africa’s new Website. Back in March HOPE gained another Intern from Germany name Thomas as well. One of his focuses was social media and our online presence. He started a push for a new (or at least updated) HOPE website. I ended up being paired with him towards the end of his month and a half here when it became apparent that it would take more time to get the website close to finished. My work in this regard will be very similar to what I am doing at the center. My first goal will to be getting the website as close to finished as possible. The second goal will be creating a series of guides on how to edit the website, as well as creating a social media plan for HOPE to follow for a period of time around the new website launch as well as general guides on how to utilize our social media presence. These guides will then be passed on to various HOPE personnel along with training on how to use them. These are all areas that I have little knowledge and only slight experience with, so it has been/will continue to be an interesting challenge.

So, as I enter the home stretch, I find myself both eagerly anticipating my departure, and dreading all the work I need to accomplish before then.

 Also, as a side note, a requirement of this year of service is this blog you are currently reading. We are asked to write at least two posts a month for our time here. If you look back at my blog you will clearly see I have fallen a bit behind. This blog will make post number 6 since February, meaning that I am at least two short of where I should be (better than the 6 short I was just over a week ago. I mean, I posted only two blogs between February and June. What is wrong with me?). That number is not taking into account the total number I should be at right now for the entire year, let alone the number I would be responsible for in I was here for the entire time. So, with that in mind, I will attempt to make up for my past slackerdness (I’m making it a word) and reach the promised 24 posts before (and maybe a little after) I leave Cape Town. That means for the next 4-6 weeks you all will be receiving a ton of new blog posts to entertain you. Just in time for the summer boredom. These posts will range from silly topics to serious reflections on my work, experience, life, etc. both here in South Africa as well as in general. So tune in regularly to be (hopefully) entertained.