I'm Done!

 

I started last fall, and finished last week. I’ve visited all 10 of our VOH centers, most of them for a full week in each and conducted in-depth reviews and audits. As part of it, I:

• Conducted 10 ground site inspections of the grounds, for their safety, cleanliness and appearance
• Held  82 1-1 interviews with program leaders, including school Heads, health clinic nurses, feeding program leads, discipleship pastors, child safeguarding officers, special program leads such as the Save-a-Life center or the Champions' Club for disabled children, VOH administrator and directors and more! I even had a sit down with the chair of every the local board for every center!
• Led 42 focus groups with 392 children, separated by age and gender to get their perspective on things, and
• Oversaw 97 Functional Literacy Assessment Tests (FLAT) a UN tool to score the levels of functional literacy for children 11-12 years old.

Lastly, I reviewed and spot-checked hundreds of child records, school records, health files and even employee files and reviewed countless number of documents and resources!

And then, when I got back in Tanzania, I had to analyze all the information, interviews and findings and put them into individual audit reports.

Can you see why I'm tired?  I’m exhausted!!! But I'm exhilarated too!
 
It’s been an honor to be able to use my experience to develop an audit with several elements, execute it with excellence (I hope!) and use my deep “fact finding” nature to go deep and discover new things. I really felt in my element and that He was using me to better the work of VOH! 

The Executive Director wrote me a note recently and said, "I know this has been a lot of work, but well worth it." He went on to thank me for developing the audit process and reports and said, "the impact of this will be long lasting and the children will benefit." Knowing all the effort will help VOH and the children, made it all worth it.  

Sure, I found a few things that can be tweaked and improved, mostly on paperwork and processes. I will be working with each other centers in the upcoming months to do follow-up and ensure the recommendations are considered and addressed.
 
But I mostly found proof that VOH is truly having an amazing impact on the lives of vulnerable children. The is my biggest take away. The focus groups with the children were the highlight of the audit week. They shared the reality of their family situations (many of whom have lost one or both parents), the gratitude they have for being part of VOH and their hopes they have for their futures. It brought such joy to my heart.

THANK YOU for being a part of this ministry with me. Because of your prayers and support, I was able to do this important work. I said "I'm done" but really, it's just the beginning. We are committed to continue to refine an already great ministry, so that even more children's lives can be changed.

MY PRAYER REQUEST
My prayer request this month is that as the reports are reviewed with the directors, that they will be open to receive feedback, eager to implement any improvements needed, so as Sergio, the Executive Director said, VOH will become (even) better. (italics mine) and that they will sense a joy of the great things He is doing in and through them.

Many blessings,
Jeanette