Meet Naomy. With a gorgeous singing voice and bright smile, this intelligent, talented mother of two children – teenagers – has been our Program Director for almost three years now. She joined us from the collaborative organization, Chab Dai, where she spent four years serving as their Project Manager.
Naomy is the oversight for Foster Care, Kinship Care, Emergency Care, Church Partnership, and ABLE Program. The main roles of her work include: management and making decisions for placements of children into families. She also works to train and develop the skills of our staff. Her desire is that each member to be able to multiply their knowledge, understanding clearly their responsibilities and roles. The greater vision is to, not only have proficient staff, but a team who truly loves their job and the people with whom they work.
She said that many people do not fully understand the situation in Cambodia and how many children need families. Person by person what we do impacts the nation. Naomy keeps this in mind as she works.
What Makes It Worth It
When asked what her favorite part of her job is, she laughed and said, “Only one thing to choose?”
With so many highlights to recall, she said she really likes doing assessments to help match families with children, then seeing the fruit of those decisions when a bond is made.
“I love seeing families and children bond. I love when a child calls their [foster or kinship] parent ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad.’ Seeing them gain siblings. Seeing them start to attend school. Kids who had nothing before, now have hope.”
Naomy also is an advocate of children getting a good education. Part of what we do at CIF is help families send their children to school. Watching them learn and grow in education, not only changes families, it impacts communities.
The job is not without its struggles. As our staff and reach in Cambodia grows so do the challenges. Through it all, we learn and adapt. Noamy pointed out how through new and difficult circumstances CIF has been able to network with more organizations and people within the Cambodian government. There is more communication going on between CIF and them now. We have more contacts, and that’s a good thing.
CIF is grateful for leaders like Naomy, a woman who loves her job and the families we serve.