Carmen is one of our home care assistants. When she joined us two years ago, she had experience in caring for an elderly ill lady, but none with people with intellectual limitations. Nonetheless she felt drawn to working for us. Since she joined us she has gained a lot of experience, she has grown as a professional, and she feels that her personal life is enriched through the joy of working for Ruach.
Carmen has a farmer’s background. Her parents still live in the rural areas. She enjoys looking after plants. She helps our core member Manuel with watering and looking after his plants every day. She also started selling plants to people who pass through our street.
The plant sale small scheme
The pictures show Manuel filling plastic yoghurt tubs, painted by participants of the activities club, with soil. The soil is donated by a friend who runs a garden centre. Whatever we do, we try to involve other people, while it also reduces our costs.
Carmen sells the plants for 25 eurocents. The profit goes into a ‘cosy-meal-together’ piggy bank. The money is used once in two months for a special meal at our community home for all staff working there. We decide jointly what the meal will be, but it always is a level up from our ‘standard fare’. It’s also special because we have time to meet each other in a different more informal way: after the meal we stay on for more chat or a game over a cup of tea or coffee before getting back to work. Everybody appreciates this quality time.
Together
These get-togethers are often ‘seed-planting ground’ for new ideas which we can follow up on at our formal meetings at the beginning of each working day. We make good use of everybody’s talents that way. It is the small things that matter, and jointly carrying through ideas is so satisfying. Our next special meal in November is already planned!