Nicole's First Referral: Mission Completed!
For those of you who may be wondering who ‘Nicole’ is, that would be me! Hello! I am the new intern at Operation Orphan and I am so excited for the year ahead.
For a little bit of context, I am currently a psychology student at NTU and have been given the opportunity to work at Operation Orphan for my placement year. I am so grateful to be accepted as a member of the team and I cannot wait to get stuck into the brilliant world of Operation Orphan!
Here’s a photo of me from my first week at Operation Orphan!
These past few weeks have been filled with easing into the dynamic and routine of Operation Orphan, from learning how to scan paperwork to sorting through boxes of donations, I have definitely learnt a lot and I still have so much I need to learn.
However, due to the inevitably tight and full schedule, I unfortunately had a few missed opportunities of going out on referrals… but that all changed last week when I set out on a quest with Matt and Aaron to successfully complete my first ever ‘Forget-Me-Notts’ referral!
This particular referral requested the installation of a bunk bed for a little boy and girl. As much as I was looking forward to finally going out on my first referral with the Installation and Logistics Team, I was also slightly nervous as, I hate to admit it, but I have never installed anything in my life. Despite my lack of experience with installation, I kept an open mind and did what I could to assist Matt and Aaron.
Once we arrived at the location, we were greeted by the social worker, alongside the family, and were welcomed into the home. We immediately got down to business and started working through the instruction manual to set up the bunk bed for the kids. As you can see, I was given the honor of handling the power drill with Matt beside me being very supportive.
After a few broken bolts, accidentally installing the top half of the bunk bed at the bottom, and what felt like 5 hours, I can confidently say that I now have experience of installing a bunk bed! Although we came across a few problems, we were very happy with the results and we couldn’t wait to show the finished product to the family!
As you can see, we provided them with some colorful and fun bed sheets, two brand new mattresses alongside some new pillows, two of our infamous knitted blankets, a few stuffed toys and some toiletry packs for the family. The little girl happily chose this pink, butterfly-print bed set, whereas the boy chose a lovely frog-themed bed set. Overall, the family were delighted by the end results, the kids were ecstatic with their new bed, and we drove back to the office feeling accomplished.
