Staff Update May 2008
I recently visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a huge country slap bang in the middle of Africa with the equator running through it. It is incredibly poor – the area I was in has no public healthcare, no public schools, no mains electricity, and no running water. The government provides nothing for free – you pay to go to school, to see the doctor and if you are poor (which most people are – average income £120 per year) then you go without. That’s why 20% of those born will die before they are 5 years old and the life expectancy is 47.
When I’m faced with such different experiences it forces me to ask what things are important to me and what things I think are important to Options. When our comforts are stripped away what is most important?
Well I guess first and foremost it is relationships. The organisation I was working with have a staff meeting every morning at 7.30am. Frequently staff will in a very ordinary fashion mention the death of a loved one – it is such an ordinary aspect of life. The DR Congo is also described as Africa’s most dangerous country – with a huge United Nations peace-keeping force. Each building, including private homes and colleges, are guarded by gun carrying private guards. So at times you do wonder if you’ll see loved ones again. When I apply those experiences to Options what becomes clearer is the sheer importance of our work in helping people we support to build friendships and to get a bit more love in their lives. The Inclusion Co-ordinators and the teams they are working with have made some good early progress on this. But they have also faced apathy and lack of interest – so we need to push ahead with this. Team Leaders have recently spent 2 days with John O’Brien discussing just how that can be done and it will be the focus of this autumn’s Event. Herb Lovett asks of someone with a disability “if they die tomorrow would anyone other than family and paid staff, care?” Increasingly we can say yes, there are some friends who would care, but it could be so many more. And for some people we support it might still sadly be “No”.
Second when I see how much we all have in the UK it strikes me that we are a terrible bunch of whingers and complainers. It is so easy to complain about what we don’t have and to forget those who have much less. It is time we reclaimed an optimism and a focus on the things that matter, and a gratefulness for the fantastic things we have. One of the exercises we use in training calls it “developing an attitude of gratitude”. Yes we absolutely have things to improve and get right (that’s part of the purpose of the Development Plan) but we equally need to recognise so many good things that we have. The Congolese government spends about £4 per person per year on healthcare, the UK government £700 on healthcare for each of us, and over £50,000 on most people we support. Let’s develop an attitude of gratitude.
There are a number of changes in Options that I also wanted to bring you up-to-date with. Rolf Groth has stepped down from the Development Manager role and is looking instead at monitoring and implementation of change. Ann Burke has been promoted to a Development Manager role. Gemma Homan as been appointed as a Special Projects Lead to take responsibility for some major projects we have under way and are planning – some driven by the requirements of our regulators and some by our desire to improve.
The financial climate we work in is increasingly tough with several purchasers – Liverpool Social Services, Wirral Supporting People Team, and Liverpool Supporting People Team all giving no uplift (the curse of the Year of Culture) and so staff pay rises for 2008/9 are uncertain at the moment. We had hoped to give 4.5% made up of the incremental rise and inflationary rise. Again as soon as a decision is made I will let you know.
One thing that crosses all countries boundaries is football.
I was constantly bumping into Tranmere fans (only joking). The guys there are mad about football. Life is a funny thing – people there live with one set of clothes, in a hut built with mud and a straw roof, yet they know all about Liverpool FC. It looks like two things at least cross all cultures and country boundaries – football and love.
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Richard