Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Six CEF staff now!

How quickly this seemed to have happened that we went from having one part time staff, to three part timers ........ to six full time staff!! In 2012 we took on our first part time staff member, now we have six full time staff!


I feel very blessed this has been possible. This gradual increase in staff has also meant we have been able to gradually grow.

Growth for us has meant growing the number of girls we have been able to help to receive an education in our sponsorship program, but it has also meant an increase in the care and support we can give them.

We have about 250 students in school at present, most in our sponsorship program and some in the scholarship program. We will probably take on 5 new students in term 2 in our sponsorship program and 20 in our scholarship program. That is gradual growth for us.


The support we could provide when there was only one part time staff member and myself, was minimal. As the staffing grew we could provide more support and more care. We started with a Water Safety Day when we had three part time staff. Now we have added a scholarship program to the Water Safety Day, plus Life Skills Workshops, Girls to Women Workshops, Tet Food Parcels, Clothing support, medical support, food support, bikes for the students to get to school, literacy encouragement,  mentoring and the occasional microloan.

Staffing is crucial to be able to carry out our education work and support our students and families. But the funding for staffing and for the programs is also crucial, otherwise there is no support, no care, and no education for the students.


Thank you so much to all who help us with our work in so many different ways - from sharing posts to get funding for programs, finding sponsors, raising money, and for donating for staffing and equipment, taking on sponsorships and scholarships, selling chocolates, putting out brochures at work, being on the board, being an adviser, or being a partner for CEF.

Thank you!!! 

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Mentoring training

This week all of us at CEF had mentoring training with staff, Skye and Giang, from Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, an amazing organization based in Ha Noi that has both a sponsorship program and an Anti Human Trafficking Program. They have many years of experience of mentoring children and families with very difficult situations. They work with many street children, both children who have been sent to work in the cities, and end up working on the streets, or they have run away and are working on the streets. Many are abused and used. What they do for these children is amazing.

So when I wanted us all to learn more mentoring skills I thought of them and all of their experience.

The sessions with Skye and Giang, were filled with compassion, were so practical and down to earth, so useful, as well as thought-provoking. Now the CEF staff and I feel very inspired, and will be meeting and thinking about what to update on our interview and home visit questionnaires and how to rephrase some of our questions, so we can find out more about our families and their needs and can therefore support them more in the ways they need.