Visiting Aishalton - Part Two

After an intensive few days from Roanoke > New York > Georgetown > Iwokrama > Lethem > Road to Aishalton, we finally reached around 10pm Friday. That left us with only 4 days in Aishalton. Chris and I felt really good about sharing where we live, our work, and our experiences with family. It was nice to have someone see the well where we pull our water from, to eat the pizza we made in our little brick oven, and to meet our neighbors, coworkers, and friends. It was funny to watch them washing their clothes in the creek and see mom teaching 10 kids how to play Spoons, the card game. Honestly, we just had a good time together and completely forgot to take out the camera. I realize now that was a mistake. How nice it would have been to have a momento – a snapshot of mom in the creek, or Stephen with his new friend, Dell, or all of us eating dinner for our neighbor’s birthday. Whoops.

On the other hand, I have been thinking about cameras and photographs. And, I think they can really remove you a layer from a situation. A camera keeps you (on some level) from experiencing the moment and puts into documenting mode. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be. So, I am sorry I don’t have more pictures to share. But, I am a little glad I just enjoyed my time with mom and Stephen without being too worried about documenting it for all to see.

When it was time to leave Aishalton, there was more disaster. As I’ve said, transportation here is… Awful. Terrible. No good. Very bad. All I’ll say is that mom and I were sitting inside an old vehicle that no longer worked, which was being taken back to Lethem inside of a gigantic Bedford. So, we faced out the back in old vehicle seats. And then the rain started. Our little old vehicle offered some protection, but there was no back window, so we got wet. Bless Stephen, who was standing in the back of the Bedford, and got soaked. Then, the river was high and we couldn’t cross. It was a long day and a long night. It was expensive and uncomfortable, but we got ourselves back to Georgetown in time for mom and Stephen to make their flight.

Did they have a ‘good’ time? I think you’ll have to ask them. Are they glad they came? I’m sure of it. They saw a part of the world few Americans see. They got see their amazing daughter and son in law. They also go a bit more of an adventure than we had planned on. When I tell people how crazy the trip went they say “Oh, but look at all the stories they can tell.” Ugh…. A bit like telling someone who’s been through a horrible experience that “It all works out for the best.” Not exactly untruth, but not exactly the most relevant response. All I can say is, Thanks to mom and Stephen for coming. Thanks for putting up with all the mishaps and not once complaining and not once getting stressed out. It was great to have you here. Excited to see you when we get home. J

Nursery School Kitchen

The Nursery School (grades Pre-K and Kindergarten) have about 70 students, many of whom walk over a mile to come to school each morning - some several miles! So, the nursery school has been building a kitchen for the last several years, a little bit at a time, so that they can prepare snacks for the students to have each day. Within the last months, they were able to secure a grant to finish the building and now the students are being fed!

Nursery students are my favorite! Here they are, eating their snack.

Some of the nursery boys on the outside slide:

I'm 26!

Last Sunday (21 Nov 2010), I turned 26! It was a fun day. I am so thankful to have a husband who, despite being a vegetarian, loves to grill. So, we BBQ'ed chicken and beef, I made a coffee-flavored cake, and we chowed down. My favorite guest:

So lucky to have a vegetarian husband who still likes to grill:

The ladies sang me happy birthday, 3 choruses long, Guyana style:

Another group blew balloons and noise makers:

And these girls took a fabulous photo with me:

Visiting Guyana

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.

They were absolute troopers. I had warned them about everything, so they came prepared. Stephen loved it as an adventure and mom it is the ultimate - she doesn't stress, she doesn't mind the heat, she can eat the crazy new food. I'll finish the trip from Aishalton and back to Georgetown in a next post. Thanks to mom and Stephen for making the trip! Love you both.

New project!

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.

Thanksgiving

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. 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.

Giving Thanks

I've been travelling alot (Mom and Stephen came!) and internet has been rough here in Aishalton, so the blog was neglected. Here's my New Year's Resolution to revive it.

Thanks again

to all who donated and helped spread the word. I really appreciate it! I was able to pick up the check and go shopping! It was too much fun. To buy lovely children's literature, supplies for the teachers, and some learning games: Splendid good time! Now, my supplies are sitting in Lethem, waiting to be transferred to Aishalton. You see, the rainy season still hasn't really quit, and we are just waiting for the river to go down for vehicles to cross. Then, I'll get my goods!

So, even though Thanksgiving won't be much this year - we'll probably eat rice and beans late tonight, I realize how much I have to be thankful for!

Love!