A day in the life of Chab Dai directors around the globe – with or without coffee? By Frida Westerling, Chab Dai Intern
Yeng (Cambodia Director) says his habit of drinking coffee started at Chab Dai.
When I ask Yeng about his workday and say, “It all starts with a coffee, right?” he smiles and begins telling me about his day not mentioning coffee even once.
Yeng wakes up at 4.30 a.m., goes for a run (!), helps his kids get ready for school and goes off to work. Being the Country Director, Yeng has a lot of work in his hands. He’s working with local donors, the government, Chab Dai members as well as helping with provincial prevention projects. After work he studies until 8 p.m. and in the evening he helps his wife with her business. When Yeng started working at Chab Dai he wasn’t a coffee drinker. According to his colleagues he now sometimes has two coffees in the mornings. I don’t blame him.
Working at Chab Dai further encouraged Julia (Canada Director) to continue her coffee habits.
Julia was already a coffee drinker when she started working at Chab Dai and she’s still going strong, imbibing this poisonous drink. Her naturopathe is telling her to quit but she always finds herself having coffee after struggling without it for a couple of days. When Julia and her husband started working with Chab Dai heconsequently became a coffee drinker.
After her morning cup of coffee, Julia keeps up-to-date with the human trafficking situation in Canada, networking and doing contractual work. Her work entails meeting a lot of people and introducing them to Chab Dai.
Helen (International Director & Founder) has always been a coffee lover herself, and is passing on her ‘coffee-loving-legacy’ at Chab Dai!
Waking up to 60+ e-mails a day and numerous meetings and visitors a week, Helen and coffee are practically one. As Founder of Chab Dai, Helen spends a lot of her time discussing, talking and brainstorming with people with oh so often a cup of coffee in her hands.
“Relationships come first. It’s where we’re able to make a difference. It means, I guess, my days might look chaotic from the outside," Helen says. Her role is also to ensure the well-being of the expatriate staff in US, Canada & the UK, and supporting their direct projects.
Part of Helens daily framework is looking strategically on the impact our work is having in the future. “We need to have big dreams and big visions and if something seems impossible, we strive creatively to bring about change”, she adds.
About her staff’s relationship with coffee she says with a laugh: “It’s my legacy to the staff. I guess it’s one of the less positive aspects of my influence on them.”
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