So lucky to have a vegetarian husband who still likes to grill:
Another group blew balloons and noise makers:
And these girls took a fabulous photo with me:
Mom and Stephen came for a visit
I live in another country. I haven’t seen my family in over a year and a half. I’ve been living sans electricity, cheese, and makeup. I wash my clothes in a creek and ride the 70 miles/6-10 hour journey to Aishalton in the open back of Bedford trucks. I live further away from Georgetown, the capital and only major city in Guyana than any other volunteers. When mom said she wanted to come for a visit, I was so excited. But, also quite terrified. “Visiting” Aishalton would not be easy, and especially not in a two week time frame.
So, in my newly acquired desire to be organized, I began meticulously planning our trip. After landing in Georgetown, stay in a decent hotel with a pool, so they can enjoy ‘the tropics’. Come down to region 9 slowly, with a few nights stay in a lovely eco-jungle lodge, Iwokrama. Once reaching Lethem, take a hired vehicle to Aishalton for a few days. Then, leave in another vehicle – back to Lethem, back to Georgetown. It seemed like the best plan of action. I had spreadsheets, calendars, and documents with all the information written down – phone numbers, addresses, transportation times, hotel bookings.
Then they arrived! Seeing mom and Stephen in Guyana made my heart just soar.
My family!
Experiencing the travel I adore, the areas of the world I love to see and live in. Ahhhhh… and after so much time. Well, they were a bit less than thrilled; they were getting off a long overnight flight and a couple of layovers. So, to the nice hotel with a pool we went. We talked and ate and slept and swim. We talked about what I was missing back home, what their first impressions were of Guyana, what we would do with the suitcases full of stuff for us that my mom brought.
Soon it was time to leave cushy Georgetown hotel with its hot water and A/C. Plans dissolved – transformed from organized to haphazard. Of course, I expected this. I knew plenty things would go wrong. I knew they were visiting a Peace Corps Volunteer in a country with hardly any tourism or infrastructure to support travelling. I knew a few things wouldn’t turn out as I had planned.
So, after our flight to Iwokrama, in Guyana’s interior, didn’t work out, and the bus didn’t run on the dates we needed, we finally worked out a plan B, plan C, and plan D. We went to Iwokrama on an overnight bus – left Georgetown at 8pm, arrived and 6am the next morning. And first on our itinerary? A ‘robust’ hike to the top of Turtle Mountain at 8am. Which, we all somehow managed to complete like troopers. It was a beautiful view – many, many miles of untouched rainforest. (Which, Guyana just might have the largest stretch of unspoiled rainforest in the world!) Here we are looking a bit more chipper than we really were. After some night time caimen (crocodile) spotting and some good meals, we crashed into bed for a long night.
On the Essequibo in the rainforest:
Mom on top of Turtle Mountain with the forest behind:
Stephen on Turtle Mountain:
I cannot really explain all the things that went wrong next. Suffice it to say, transportation has been our biggest challenge in Guyana; much more so than the lack of vegetables, cultural awkwardness, or no electricity. So, a number of arranged transportation options fell through, leaving us stranded here and there in Guyana’s interior. Finally we reached Lethem and had to stay a night longer than planned in a hotel. The next day, we set off for Aishalton.
Now, rainy season is supposed to end in August, but we’ve still been having storms every few days and the roads and rivers are still wet and high. So, what should’ve been a 5-6 hour trip in a comfortable hired vehicle, was actually a 10 hour trip complete with crossing the river on the pontoon. Stephen and Chris helped push it across the water!
We left Lethem and noon and reached Aishalton at 10pm. 70 miles. 10 hours. Stuck in the water, vehicle breaking down, no dinner. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been sponsoring a young adult training course in Aishalton since July. The course is designed to help prevent young people from being trafficked. Human trafficking is a problem in Guyana, particularly for the vulnerable Amerindian populations. I am working with a local staff, Renata, to train 12 young people during an 8 week course. The course will run repeatedly for different groups for almost two years. We are hoping to train over 90 youths in our region. In the course, young people are learning a variety of skills: professional skills, business skills, time management, job skills, computer skills, and language skills (Wapishana and Portuguese). They are also learning about their rights: human rights, indigenous people’s rights, labor rights, and about self-reflection, confidence, and public speaking.
Here are a number of fun projects we are working on during the course:
Bow and arrow shooting
Making a resume and bringing it to a practice ‘job interview’
Group presentations about power and rights
Typing speed competitions
Writing short stories in Wapishana
Weaving local palms into baskets
Setting up an email account and learning to chat
Making a plan for a small business and learning to keep its ‘accounts’
Learning Amerindian history
We are currently in our third course, we have 11 trainees, they are pictured below.
This particular group consists mainly of youth from other villages, so they only knew a few other people when they came. They were a little hesitant at first, but after the first two weeks, their personalities are starting to shine and friendships are blooming. The course demands quite a bit of group and partner work, unlike school here. For many, it is the first time they are learning their own history, their rights, and their potential. It has been a very rewarding project for me to work with. Not only have my own computer skills and time management improved, so has my own self-understanding. In addition, the course provides such immediate and visible improvement in people’s lives. This, in my experience, is not a customary occurrence in development work. So, to go along with the thankful theme, I am thankful to be working with this course and for its impact on the young people.
Every year Thanksgiving comes, and with it comes the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, casseroles, and pies. Everyone says they are thankful for loved ones and their good fortune. We eat and watch football (well, in my family, we went to hockey games). We pile into bed, feeling content and warm.
This year, I’ll work all day – training young adults on the computer, reading books to children, dancing with ladies. There will be no turkey, no hockey game, no big family expressly giving thanks. Late tonight, Chris and I will eat rice and beans yet again. Nonetheless, like last year, in a lovely coincidence, I’ll spend Thanksgiving with Native Americans – Amerindians, as we say in South America. I’ll still be giving thanks for the bounty of the rainy season – our ‘summer’ – as ground provisions, bananas, and fruits are currently plentiful. And, as a personal exercise, I decided to make an articulated effort at ‘giving thanks’. So, here are the things I am thankful for this year:
1. Bananas. I used to hate bananas, now I cherish them. They are the one plentiful fruit in Aishalton.
2. Rain. Rain used to mean I had to carry an umbrella and got to wear my super cute rain boots. Now, it means we have water to drink and to clean with. It makes the earth green, waters the crops, and my personal favorite – cools the air.
3. Friends. My friends here really aren’t other 26 year olds freshly married and decorating their homes. They are 30 year old women struggling with drunken husbands, 40 year old women trying to get a date, 50 year old women with 4 year olds, and 18 year olds with crushes. I love that friendships here are not bound by age and status.
4. Brick oven pizza. After 2 weeks of rice, beans, and potatoes, we give in and treat ourselves. Chris has made us a brick oven on our porch. And in it, we can make pizza! Milk-powder cheese, tomato paste sauce, onions, and garlic never tasted so good!
5. Children. Mind you they do drive me crazy some…most of the time. But they are so inspiring, so full of promise, and so darn cute.
6. Indigenous peoples. After living with Amerindians, I am really grateful for their gracious lifestyles. They live with the land, preserve the forests, and grow their own food. The world would be a better place if more people lived like them.
7. Aerobics. For the past 4 months, I have been meeting with a group of ladies twice a week to dance, exercise, and talk about healthy living. I had no idea how much the ladies would enjoy it, how much it would help them, or help much it would renew me.
8. Children’s books. Who doesn’t love them – wonderful stories with beautiful illustrations, bringing smiles to children, along with literacy skills!
9. Faith. In a world as wrought with problems as our own, it is faith and hope in a better tomorrow that keep me going.
10. Normal colored Friday. No black Friday pressuring me to run out and spend money on plastic junk molded into various shapes that I just don't need. No holiday shopping season encouraging gross overconsumption. Hallelujah.
Thanks.
I am so very proud of our dance and exercise group: “Happy Dancers”, they named themselves. We just performed at August Games, the local week-long celebration of culture and sport. For 3 weeks, we practiced most afternoons, mastering fairly complex choreography to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” song.
Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon about 20 of us meet for an hour, some young ladies still in secondary school, a number of teachers, some farmers, and several grannies! We alternate between the two local bar/shops – utilizing their dance/catering halls. I crank up music that they love – Brazillian forro, Akon, Caribbean soca, and some reggae for cool down. We dance a crazy mix of aerobics that I make up on the spot, try to complete a rousing set of pushups, crunches, and lounges, and sometimes attempt a little yoga or breathing exercise. We go home feeling warm and energetic. Amazingly, they come back to do it again!
We have been going strong since the beginning of June; some ladies have even come to EVERY class. I knew this would have been a very fun project for me, but I didn’t start it right away because I was afraid the local women would be too busy to come. Most local women are farmers and get plenty of exercise walking miles to their farm in the bush, farming, making farine and cassava bread – their local staples – which are quite labor intensive, hauling water, and maintaining their gardens and animals. But in May, I talked to other volunteers in Amerindian villages who were successfully starting exercise groups and I was inspired. So, I came back, put up some posters and many women came out.
In addition to our exercise, we share a health tip with each meeting – might be about weight loss, nutrition, or stress relief. A few weeks after I shared the importance of drinking water, especially clean water, I had several ladies share that they were no longer having headaches! Soon, we plan to start addressing gender and women’s issues.
Back to “Waka Waka.” We were asked to share a dance for August Games. The other villages were coming with their sport teams and traditional games competitors for the week. We danced in the opening ceremony alongside a number of traditional Wapishana and Wai Wai (tribes) dances, songs, and skits. Our dance was based on the choreography from the video and our aerobics. We had movement all over the stage, partner dancing, flying fabric, and a moving circle – fairly different from the traditional dances. The ladies did a great job making my crazy choreography a success! I was so nervous when the time came – would everyone remember where to go on the stage, how many times to walk back forth, or how the dance ends? But, throughout the dance, I looked around and saw the ladies smiling, dancing, and really having fun. I even looked into the audience and saw the same. When the song finished and we all raised our hands, I waited for the normal half-hearted clap Aishalton audiences tend to give performances. But, my eyes found our chief in the front row and I heard him: “YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” and I saw him jump up and cheer with the audience. We were so happy to walk off to a proper roar. I heard the MC compliment and congratulate us, and I collapsed into a hug with my dancers. We were asked to do at another concert during August Games, so we danced a few night later. With one performance behind us already, we danced even better! Check out the pictures, courtesy of James.
