Positive News
Good day,
This is our 7th week working from home because of COVID-19.
The lockdown on Curaçao has been extended by 2 weeks. This means that until May 11 there is a curfew and “plachi di dia” (depending on your license plate you are allowed on the road, which is twice a week). Some measurements are annulled , for example, the restaurants are allowed to do take-out and delivery again and the Hardware stores are allowed to open, taking the social distancing into account. 2 new cases have been added, which brings the total of the corona cases on Curaçao to 16 and the total number of still active corona cases is currently 3.
The exemption we requested for the employees has been approved!! Therefore, this week everyone could bring their production to the factory and pick up new stock for new production. Everyone is very happy with that. This way they remain productive and we can replenish the stock for the positive future.
The first online workshop for the painters was a success. They could indicate what they want to learn. Some feel they need to practice painting houses and others would like to learn to paint plants and birds. Because the painters were very interested in the course, it will be continued in the coming week.
Through these online painting courses another idea was born namely online Chichi painting workshops for customers. We will then send a white Chichi and paint to the customers and as soon as they have everything at home, an appointment can be made to paint the Chichi together with one of our employees. At the moment we work out the operational details of this idea and our employees are being trained for this.
The translation of the website into Spanish and Papiamento has started. This is a positive consequence of the corona crisis because it will enable us to reach a larger target group.
Every week, Chata still gives various webinars. Serena recently followed a webinar: keep in contact with your team. As a result, we now regularly see an app in the whatsapp group asking how we feel. You can then respond with a colored dot to show how you feel. It is of course important that everyone remains motivated. Everyone deals with the situation differently; one loves working from home and is very good at it. And the other is distracted too quickly and cannot get into the work process or get depressed from sitting at home. It is of course Serena’s task to maintain the positive flow and to watch over everyone’s well-being.
We are still waiting for financial support from the government. We hear positive messages, so we expect to receive this soon. This will give us some more room to continue the business.
Hopefully next week I will come with more positive news …..
Regards,
Hermien Visscher
Office manager Serena’s Art Factory
