Mean aunty. It is how the dorm mom and I refer to ourselves on the days when the girls require firm discipline and/or the days that our patience runs very thin. This weekend mean aunty came out. Because the girls have been on holiday and staff has been sick and I live here with them and therefore have little means of escape I have been run down this week. I am stressed and exhausted and have not had a day to rest in...golly...awhile.
So when I was informed on Sunday that the 100 rolls of yarn that I bought on Saturday for the girls crocheting was gone from the office I. Was. Mad. This is after 30 strands of beads went missing the day before. I gathered the girls and was basically like "Um, what the heck? Where did all the freaking yarn go?" I got a few rolls back, but with the exception of a few most of the girls didn't really give a hoot.
I was fuming. It was the first time in a veeeery long time that I have been this angry. So I locked myself a way for a little while and simmered down. After some encouragement from the dorm dad I gathered the girls together and explained the situation. That I was upset. That 400ssp (about $100) of materials had gone missing in a day and that is completely unacceptable. I gave them 5 minutes to turn in the missing materials or no one gets any new craft supplies this week. Five minutes later I looked in the box and wanted to cry. There was one roll of thread.
Two of the older girls wanted to look through the girls bags and the dorm. I'd already gotten opinions on this from other staff and its an ok thing to do, so we did. A few more rolls, but still many missing things. I felt defeated. So now I have to be mean aunty and not give anyone any craft supplies. Punishment. I hate this part. So it's the ones who did nothing wrong and the ones who took still have their things hoarded somewhere. But what else can I do? And I am such a softie. And just want to believe the best about all of them. Individually I'd look at each one and think, "No, no...couldn't be this one." But it was someone. Gah!
Sunday night the dorm dad was still very upset about the whole thing--the girls stealing and lying. He wanted to cancel the trip the next day to take the girls hiking unless the yarn was returned. So he took it upon himself to talk with the girls and try to get the yarn back. I stayed in my room because I felt like I had said my piece. Twenty minutes later one of the girls comes to get me.
I walked in the room where everyone was and there were angry girls, shell-shocked looking dorm parents, yarn everywhere, and Mary, the South Sudanese lady who also lives here and works with the girls, screaming. I take it in for a moment and then Mary looks at me and in front of all the girls starts yelling at me. I have never been rebuked like this before. For me allowing the girls to waste like this and giving them more and how they can't take care of anything. [Most of the yarn was what each girl had been hoarding from when the Norwegian lady was here teaching them how to crochet.] But I stood there and took it, because what else can you do? And after several more moments of contention with all the girls and everyone I took alllll of the yarn into my room and we called it a night.
So now I have yarnpocalypse going on in my room. At least 700 rolls of yarn in there, because at present there is no other secure place to keep it. So the girls will be without for at least the next few days while I work out a whole new system of storage and how to control the supplies. I don't like being mean aunty, but this has given me a unique opportunity to start from square one and devise a new plan of action. And it gives me a few days of relative peace without being bombarded constantly for new supplies. Silver lining.
So when I was informed on Sunday that the 100 rolls of yarn that I bought on Saturday for the girls crocheting was gone from the office I. Was. Mad. This is after 30 strands of beads went missing the day before. I gathered the girls and was basically like "Um, what the heck? Where did all the freaking yarn go?" I got a few rolls back, but with the exception of a few most of the girls didn't really give a hoot.
I was fuming. It was the first time in a veeeery long time that I have been this angry. So I locked myself a way for a little while and simmered down. After some encouragement from the dorm dad I gathered the girls together and explained the situation. That I was upset. That 400ssp (about $100) of materials had gone missing in a day and that is completely unacceptable. I gave them 5 minutes to turn in the missing materials or no one gets any new craft supplies this week. Five minutes later I looked in the box and wanted to cry. There was one roll of thread.
Two of the older girls wanted to look through the girls bags and the dorm. I'd already gotten opinions on this from other staff and its an ok thing to do, so we did. A few more rolls, but still many missing things. I felt defeated. So now I have to be mean aunty and not give anyone any craft supplies. Punishment. I hate this part. So it's the ones who did nothing wrong and the ones who took still have their things hoarded somewhere. But what else can I do? And I am such a softie. And just want to believe the best about all of them. Individually I'd look at each one and think, "No, no...couldn't be this one." But it was someone. Gah!
Sunday night the dorm dad was still very upset about the whole thing--the girls stealing and lying. He wanted to cancel the trip the next day to take the girls hiking unless the yarn was returned. So he took it upon himself to talk with the girls and try to get the yarn back. I stayed in my room because I felt like I had said my piece. Twenty minutes later one of the girls comes to get me.
I walked in the room where everyone was and there were angry girls, shell-shocked looking dorm parents, yarn everywhere, and Mary, the South Sudanese lady who also lives here and works with the girls, screaming. I take it in for a moment and then Mary looks at me and in front of all the girls starts yelling at me. I have never been rebuked like this before. For me allowing the girls to waste like this and giving them more and how they can't take care of anything. [Most of the yarn was what each girl had been hoarding from when the Norwegian lady was here teaching them how to crochet.] But I stood there and took it, because what else can you do? And after several more moments of contention with all the girls and everyone I took alllll of the yarn into my room and we called it a night.
So now I have yarnpocalypse going on in my room. At least 700 rolls of yarn in there, because at present there is no other secure place to keep it. So the girls will be without for at least the next few days while I work out a whole new system of storage and how to control the supplies. I don't like being mean aunty, but this has given me a unique opportunity to start from square one and devise a new plan of action. And it gives me a few days of relative peace without being bombarded constantly for new supplies. Silver lining.
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