All Women.

This week the work at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been filled with hard, manual labor!  And I mean, not wimpy tasks, but what some might call a mans job.  I helped my manager put up a fence, like one of those silver chain fences, not easy. (Thank goodness for the rachets)  I built a shelf, with cubby holes, helped put up wall decorations, almost moved a small shed (keyword, almost) hauled old shelves out of a classroom, put up a shade tarp to cover a little sandy area that reminded me much of the movie holes and used a screwdriver and hammer babyproof a classroom.

A man's job, pffff.   Five remarkable women have been hard at work putting together a childcare center that is going to be built, decorated and designed with love.  TLC.  For the last month the IRC's First Things First department has been working hard to fill out licensing applications, restructure their curriculum for adults, put in place a more structured center for infants and toddlers and make the program the best in the U.S. or at least San Diego.  

The adult First Things First program is in place to teach refugee parents to learn English.  It starts with the very basics, like how to hold a pencil, what a piece of paper is, moving on to the alphabet and slowly but surely short phrases.  The program is phenomenal!  To make it even better there is a childcare supplement.  The parents can drop their children off while they attend school, that way their children are in a safe zone learning English basics and being looked after by the best staff evaaa!

Next week is our licensing inspection which is why this week has been filled with the real stuff.  Good, hard, labor.  And lots of laughs, giggles, stories, and sweaty women working together to complete the first things first.