September 2, 2008

The good news first! We have been approved to continue our work here by the Ministry of Justice for three more years. It’s a difficult process with a lot of red tape that only took us about four months. Not bad.

Now, we have already been approved by the DPPA (a wonderful easy branch of this process and the secretary has great style to add to that); then we have to get approval that I am indeed qualified for my position (okay don’t say anything here); then take it to TWELVE places to get my signature verified. Next, on to the process of getting signatures of approval from the city and the Kebele (similar to district) then all we have left to do is get our evaluation of our past performance and our permission to accomplish our new goals. This should easily be done soon enough to start the whole process again in three years. So just in case some of you are wondering why I haven’t sent personal emails.

We’ve made the decision to only graduate eight of our students. It was a hard decision because the one year program should be acceptable but I don’t feel that the rest are really ready to move on and our only goal is that they be prepared to start a new life with the skills and income they need.

Most of our problem has been staff. We had an unqualified (or just plain lazy) sewing trainer and our project coordinator left when requested to justify a questionable financial transaction. So….. it really was not the fault of the students. I’ve been working night and day (literally) to develop our new program with all the loop holes closed and a system to watch for any fallout as we go.

Our eight graduated are exceptional!!!! The women graduating are all earning 200% more than we expected. They were head-hunted from our Beauty School. Hm……. I wonder if my own bias might have come into account here. Oops!

Our literacy program has also been great and we are expanding it to include ethics, history, math, and more. The ladies have a very busy day but I’m a believer that work is good for everyone.

I’m so excited! My daughter Melanie is coming tomorrow. She will be the first from my family to see the Trampled Rose. She will be teaching at the Beauty School and I’m sure we can squeeze in lots of fun.

I miss you!