St. Theresa Primary Mural

Greetings once again from Anna Catherina, Guyana. Due to life circumstances I have not been able to blog, but that doesn’t mean things have not been happening, especially in Berbice, where another PC volunteer, Lindsey Daugherty, organized an event at her school. Students, teachers, community members and PCV’s painted environmental, health, and well-being messages on the front of St. Theresa Primary School building. I was so excited to be a part of this undertaking, so I travelled the 2 ½ hours in bus and hired car on a questionable Saturday morning. Questionable, because it looked like rain, and felt like rain when it actually started falling. But as the good luck caiman was with us, there were enough periods of clearing to add a considerable number of squares to the mural that had been in progress over the past week.

Many Guyanese families showed up to add their heartfelt messages. I had a blast collaborating with fellow PCVs Katrina and Matt Kongirst on two blocks that tried to portray the philosophy of our Environmental Working Group. Other volunteers helped with paint distribution and clean-up. The school staff was there offering assistance in any way they could including snacks for hungry participants.

This shows how successful some PCVs have been in bringing to life Goal II and Goal III of our mission here in Guyana, that of promoting a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served, and promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

"Love" in any language.

Patty Ryan always helping.

"

Lindsey, successful PCV

Mashramani

This week is a time of festivities building up to Mashramani, the annual event that celebrates Guyana as a newly formed Republic since 1970. Monday, Feb. 23 is the actual date and that day will be crazy with parades, costumes, dancing, and of course drinking and eating. There is no school on that day and Tuesday will probably be a slow day for all.

Part of the festivities include a cultural day at CI Primary where each grade adopts a culture that has contributed to the flavor of Guyana. The US is not the only melting pot, here in Guyana there is a blending of Amerindians, Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Europeans, Chinese, and Portuguese. I joined with the Afro-Guyanese 6^th graders and tried to find something in my wardrobe that resembled their dress. I asked my neighbor Didi to tie the wrap around my head with a fabric I had cut from one of my long dresses, but she could only do so much as I cut it too narrow. That's when I remembered the outfit that Mahim from Mali had made for me, but I could only pack so much and that was not one of the items I chose to bring. The wrap on my head only lasted til after lunch anyway because I was sweating even more profusely than I usually do.

European Display

Portuguese

Amerindian Hut

Indo-Guyanese

Very African looking!

Suriname for New Years

Now that I've recovered from the tedious bus ride, I can show you a little taste of Suriname. We boarded the ferry in Guyana that crosses the Corentyne River and emerged on the Suriname side. We then travelled through countryside and farmland on civilized roads (one made entirely of bricks)to the capital city of Paramaribo where celebrations for the New Year were in full swing. People started partying in the streets early on New Years Eve morning and our PCV group was happy to join the festivities .

Paramaribo is a clean modern yet quaint city. After full capacity crowds in the streets, there was a goodly amount of trash left in their wake, but at 10:00 pm establishments started sweeping and cleaning the streets, and by morning, there was little evidence of the craziness that was had. Music was everywhere, as were long snake like casings of firecrackers exploding throughout the day.

On New Years Day, we took a boat ride out to the dolphin habitat (the ocean) to view pods of these small mammals frollicing in the also brown waters of Suriname Atlantic. Then I celebrated my birthday with a plate of prawns, and a surprise birthday cake accompanyied by a song and hugs from my PCV associates. It was enough to bring me to tears.

Snake of firecrackers

The head of the snake

Fellow PC travelers

This is what the street looked like all day on Dec. 31

Whew! We need a brake. Patty Ryan and I

OK so we had a few glasses of wine!

You can just see the dolphin fins.

Not my meal! But pretty!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

  

Saturday on the compound.

Construction workers are building a new cement walkway to the houses in the back of the compound. They laid out a strip of sand and mixed it with bags of cement and small rocks. I asked where their revolving cement mixer was and they showed me how they turn their shovels to mix it all up, and of course then they add water. They are also building a shower room and washtub area (for doing laundry). They do work in the hot sun and I don't think they take siestas here. All the manual laborers are toting six packs.

Saturday was cleaning day in the compound. I sweep and mop out my place. The neighbors, Didi and her daughters, were also cleaning and they had all their figurines laid out on a pallet outside. This brought back memories of my Saturdays as a child when it was my job to dust my mom's Hummel collection. That's when I swore I would not be collecting dust bunnies of any sort, and she had no where the number of ceramic idols and collectibles as Didi.

Old Resources!!

After school, in the CI Primary Library, it's coloring time. These kids love to color, even 30 year old coloring book pages. My sister, Charlene, sent me a coloring book that belonged to my niece, Beth, 30 years ago. Who would have thought it would serve as entertainment in Guyana in 2014.

Also the popular check-outs here are all the Disney tales; Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Lion King, The Little Mermaid, even Bambi. The boys especially like Goosebumps and I've gotten many requests for the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

The hanging baubles seem to be acting as a deterrent, keeping the pigeons at bay except in one corner right over the door. I've even hung origami parrots, hoping that the competition will drive the pigeons to other roosting grounds, but they are not life size, they look more like parakeets. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the centipede that woke me at 5 am this morning with a painful bite to my middle finger. This is the third centipede that I've captured in my house since arriving in July. They are fairly compliant when presented with an empty tin can. Evidently they are drawn to dark places, but they quickly realize their mistake so I have to slap a plastic top on to prevent them from doing an about-

face. They are fast. Of course, who wouldn't be with 100 legs. The can enables me to dump the dangerous villains and then immediately chop, chop them in half. But here's the really unsettling part, at least for me. Four hours later, I returned home to take some benedryl (After the initial throbbing, redness, pain, my hand swelled and the PC nurse advised), and half of that wormy critter was still wiggling outside in the rain. Besides cockroaches, centipedes will probably survive the holocaust.

Magnificent Kaieteur Falls

The day was sunny. The clouds were stacked like cotton ball sculptures. We flew over miles of pristine jungle, untouched by man and one could only imagine the wildlife that abounded under that vibrant canopy. There's an airstrip, a welcome house and a very basic guest house on the grounds near the falls. We were few in number, three small planes of 13 passengers each. Our plane was all PCV's. The mountain that is topped by Kaieteur Falls also goes by the name of “Oh My God”, because that is what so many say when they come upon the first viewing point.

Golden Rocket Frog (probably only about an inch tall)

Giant Tank Bromeliad

The guide books say it is one of the longest single drop waterfalls in the world. I thought the volumn was a bit thin, probably because it is the dry season in Guyana, but it is amazing to see the gentle meandering Potaro River roar with fury as it spills over the sharp jagged cliffs.

The guide told us that if we were to hang around at dusk or wake at dawn by the falls, we could see thousands of swifts soaring and diving in the mist of the falls. Sadly we had to depart before dusk. We were able to photograph the golden rocket frog who lives his entire life in the giant tank Bromeliad and also the Cock-Of-the-Rock, which flew off before I could focus my lens.

No litter, easy hike to catch several angles of the falls, and a chance to get a close-up view of the falls from the plane, both coming and going.