You Asked What I Do?

You asked what I do?

And I replied, "same job just a differenct view from my window."

It's year end and I find myself saying, it has to be spent by the end of the month.

Today I revised the 2009-2010 staff salary grid and prepared contracts for next fiscal year for 16 staff. Performance reviews were actually completed and submitted by supervisors in a timely manner. While preparing contracts, I'm asked to authorize this month's salary payments for all staff.

On my desk sit a policy folder, a budget comparison print out for the past month, reporting guidelines for the Canadian Food Grains Bank, job descriptions and empty water glasses.

Today it is 35 C in my office and I remember my corner office at Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, where at times I'm sure it came close to this temperature when the air conditioning failed to work on hot summer days and there were no windows to open, or in the cold of winter when the heat failed to circulate to other offices.
The air con in my current office also fails to function properly today and again I'm reminded, "same job just a different view from the window."

Tomorrow I need to respond to the emails I did not have time for today and make revisions to the data base.

On Saturday I visited the PVG youth centre and talked with the MCC Project Assistant to learn more about their work with children and youth. They talked about strategies to support youth staying in school.

Next week I will work with the accountant to identify the budget account numbers we will use next year.

On the weekend a group will meet to talk about developing a culturally appropriate curriculum for teaching conflict transformation.

Next month I will travel back to Tha Thom to support staff in finding appropriate office space and when we return we will have a 1.5 day staff meeting/training, including how to incorporate family violence protocols into integrated programming.

Yesterday I met to clarify roles and responsibilities of staff in leadership. We also talked about monitoring and evaluation and reports needed throughout the year.

Friday staff will eat lunch together prepared for us at the office (a definite advantage!!) and then I will go to a network meeting.

This is what I do, as I look out at the housing complex next door.