Christmas in Guyana 2015

Well it’s pretty amazing that another Christmas is rolling our way. My neighbors here in Guyana are getting ready as they do every year by washing or replacing all the curtains in their houses (aka. blinds), washing rugs and plastic flower displays. They are also decorating artificial trees and stringing lights. Christmas carols are blasting from mini-buses, homes, and street corners.

And the baking, oh the baking. In my Styrofoam box that I receive from my neighbor, will be a selection of traditional Guyanese sweets. These may or may not include black cake, sponge cake, cassava cake with raisons, mitai, vermicelli, gulab jamun, pine tart, sweet rice, sugar cake, parsad, sarnie, Kesar peda, vanilla fudge. Hmm, I can’t wait.

At Cornelia Ida Primary, the kids are sizzling with anticipation in hopes that Christmas vacation soon will be here. Each class performs in the Christmas program which was kept blessedly short this year. Teachers record the test scores for first term on the following day and then it’s party time!! Students dress up in their finest.  Mothers bring foods for a feast, and after everyone has had their fill, it’s outside for dancing. A disc jockey is hired and throughout lunch he entertains with the traditional Christmas carols but soon it’s disco city with, “Shake Your Bum Bum.”  Those kids can shake not only their bum bums but everything that’s attached to those bum bums. It brought a smile to my face, no actually I was giggling out loud, to watch their moves and interpretations.

We send the kids home after half day on Friday, and then it’s time for the teachers to party and feast. Every gathering I’ve ever attended in Guyana has the following menu: chicken (fixed in various ways, but usually barbequed or curried), cook-up (rice with bits of carrot, corn, onions, and whatever you want to throw in), potato salad, macaroni and cheese, lettuce w/cucumbers. So this year I’m bringing mango salsa with chips. I’ll see if anyone eats it. My Guyanese friends, not all, but a huge majority are reluctant to try different foods from what they are so accustomed to eating. Indian weddings are a little different. They serve seven curries (pumpkin, bolange & eddoes, potato & chana, calaloo, dal, mango) on a leaf that looks like a giant lily pad and is called puri leaf. If you prefer to have your mouth on fire then you can add achar, a hot pepper sauce that most Hindi and Guyanese embrace like candy.

So really Christmas is no different here than in a vast majority of places: feasting, drinking, and dancing, the universal language.

Star of Wonder

Library tree made from student gift drawings

Notice the 10ft. high speakers in the background

 

Where in the world is Santa ?

Back to School, 2015

It's back to school in Guyana after a two month break. School opened on August 31, but I started a week early to get the library ready to receive students. The pigeons had been busy over the break and I was met with wide swaths of pigeon poop covering a good portion of the library floor. Fortunately I had covered most, but not all, of the targeted areas with cardboard, so cleaning was only minimally disgusting.

With the help of Phillip, a graduating student, we washed the ceiling beams, painted the floor, unpacked the books, hung my latest pigeon repelling weapons and labeled shelves with signs that the students may or may not heed. 

Still I was not ready for the students on day one, or day two, or day three of school. The steady stream of students inquiring at the door did not help to speed up the process, but finally on Thursday of the first week, the Cornelia Ida Primary Library was open for business. It truly is rewarding for me to see the students embrace the books and the space with so much enthusiasm.

Also I am continuing to work with small groups of struggling readers in Grades 3, 4, and 6. Over the break, I created several games to use in reinforcing letters and words and keep the students focused. I wouldn't say that we play all the time, but the students do ask "to play the games" every time. 

Pigeon destruction

DVD's hung from broken umbrella frame in hopes to drive off the pigeons.

Phillip sanding the floor

Before we painted.

After we painted

Is the library open yet?

Is the library open yet?

Hey, is the library open yet?

Any chance the library is open?

Open yet?

Finally open!!!

Jonathon

Last Week of School at Cornelia Ida Primary

I banished the students from the library so that I could pack up the books and dismantle all the trimmings in preparation for a good cleaning come the end of August. The kids gathered at the door to watch and ask me a million times if they could come into the library, could they help me pack up the books, when could they borrow books again? I am thrilled that they feel so comfortable and actually desire my company, but I have to admit it gets exhausting sometimes answering the same questions over and over. Now though, it’s only been 2 days since the close of school, and already I miss those smiling faces.

Graduation was a six hour affair. I couldn’t believe how well behaved 85 grade 6 students could be sitting in gowns on hard benches for that length of time. I myself, had to vacate to the office sofa to refresh and kick off my shoes. I returned from time to time to make my presentation of awards and watch the dance performances. After six hours, I was happy to take my box of roti and curried chicken and limp home to my hammock and shower.

Me looking like a giant next to small teachers all in green.

Naomi, 3rd from left (PCV at Queenstown Primary). They went with black and white.

Miss Dacia and myself modeling graduation garb.

Helper

Gloria sells snacks on school grounds in Snackette below.

Not a book left on the shelf.

Proud recipients of graduation certificate.

He's # 1

Certificates of Appreciation to my Library Aides

A Trek to Paradise

Saturday dawned cloudy, then sprinkled, then bright sunshine, then heavy rain, then sunshine. That’s the weather conditions that accompanied our walk to Mashabo Village, Guyana. This idyllic Amerindian Village greeted us after a six mile walk on road and trails that wound along the Ikuraka Lake and between flooded rice fields. It’s puzzling to me to see Palm trees growing in water. We saw colorful butterflies (one as big as my hand), birds of all varieties (I wish I could identify), and lots of pesky ants (red, black, brown, big and miniscule), but no large mammals. Maybe that’s a good thing since I was looking up Mashabo Village on the internet and read that not very long ago, in March, a jaguar was killed in the village after devouring 14 dogs and several chickens. They called it a ferocious feline probably because it instilled fear in the residents after so many animals went missing. The villagers set a trap and were successful in catching and then killing the big cat.

To get to the beginning of the trail to Moshabo I boarded a mini-bus, then speedboat, then hired car. After a picnic lunch along the shores of Lake Ikuka, we hired a villager’s boat to transport us back across the lake to a waiting hired car who tried his very best to get us to the 4pm ferry in Sopanam to return us home. But it was not meant to be, and we ended up taking another speed boat which is faster but 3X as costly as the ferry. But this is what is so great about living in a country as opposed to visiting as a tourist. We can enjoy all the splendors of this great land without a tour company. We are on our own and figuring it all out. 

How cute can a boy and his mom be? Chase and Heidi Gorishek

The trekers

Local resident gathering wood.

Local  resident undercover!