A Year In Guyana

A blog following my journey from fundraising, to training, to teaching in Guyana with Project Trust

[celinesyearinguyana]

4th January, 2018

In Mabaruma, we woke at 4:30am to catch the 7am plane, which, of course, left at 12pm. We spent a couple days in Georgetown meeting the other vols, gorging on yoghurt and salads and attempting to sort out our visas so that we would actually be able to re-enter Guyana from Suriname. Eventually the issues were temporarily resolved, so with 12 of us packed into a minibus we drove to the Surinamese ferry crossing, where we faced visa problems yet again. Paddy, Amy and I then temporarily misplaced our passports, which turned out to be a non-issue as Nick, our unreliable yet entertaining driver decided to smuggle us onto the ferry under the seats (we were assured this was legal as we did have tickets and visas – don’t worry Mum). After the ferry crossing and another long drive we arrived in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname and rolled up to our huge AirB&B house. Over the next couple of weeks, we went around the markets, visited monuments, created a huge Christmas dinner (I highly recommend farine and bread sauce), spent New Year’s Eve at a street party in the pouring rain, lost people far too regularly, visited a palm tree plantation and spent a couple days liming at hotel pools. I also broke my phone and lost all of my photos, so all of these are borrowed from Chrissie and Oscar (ty babes)

[celinesyearinguyana]

17th December, 2017

Before we went to Suriname, we visited the PTVs in Mabaruma, Finley and Jake. We were only there for a day but we managed to fit in a hike, tried pine tarts for the first time, haggled a free bottle of El Dorado 5 year (the rum of choice in Guyana), hacked apart a fish for what was eventually a very nice curry and stargazed in the road. The journey from Matthew’s Ridge to Mabaruma should have taken 3 hours, but due to “just now” timing, it took 29. Completely worth it.

[celinesyearinguyana]

A summary and an explanation

23rd April, 2018

As you may have noticed, I haven’t kept this blog updated regularly, or even at all since Christmas. This has been down to two main reasons, and to be truthful during the first term it was because Emily and I were struggling. We’d been warned before we came to Matthew’s Ridge about the miners passing through the village, and because of this we were probably overly cautious, especially as most men in the village are associated with mining in some way. Along with this, Matthew’s Ridge has never had volunteers in the school before, and it felt as though the community had no idea how to treat us. We were given little respect by students, and little respect by the men. We were referred to as “white gyals” rather than our names. Anyway, as I say, this led to a lack of motivation and a general feeling of hopelessness in our Christmas term. Although I still have good memories from then, there’s no doubt that it was tough. For the Christmas holidays, all 14 of the Guyana vols met up in Georgetown and travelled to Paramaribo, Suriname, where we spent 2 weeks. Hearing everyone’s stories about their projects evoked a little bit of envy, sure, but mainly made me all the more determined to enjoy the remainder of my time in Matthew’s Ridge. And now to the second reason I haven’t updated my blog: since Christmas, I’ve been far too busy! It’s difficult to sum up everything that’s happened, but I think a list will give me the best chance. Prepare yourself, this might be long. • I became the Grade 7 and 8 Agricultural science teacher due to a misunderstanding involving the head of secondary and some gardening • Emily and I celebrated our international day for Project Trust (I’ll go into more detail about this later) • We played Phagwah (the Guyanese equivalent of Holi) with John Fraser from PT who was on his country coordinator visit • I’ve been working with my Grade 10s on their Integrated Science SBAs (kind of like coursework, except I have to make their experiments up) • We celebrated Mashramani with a school float parade and a hell of a lot of glitter • Emily somehow managed to blag her way onto the Mathematics subject committee for Region 1, resulting in a funky sounding boat trip through the mangroves to Mabaruma • I worked with a pupil on a dramatic poem and got to see her perform at Port Kaituma • We were taught by some of the aunties of the village to make all sorts of Guyanese food (dhal, roti, curry, bake, fry fish, plantain chips, pine tarts, salara etc) • I painted a banner for a Valentine’s Day fish fry and bingo night in return for a tray of freshly baked pine tarts • We taught some of my Grade 7s to bake British cakes and biscuits • We’ve experienced Amerindian fishing techniques, which pretty much consists of walking through Pakera Pools and grabbing fish out of the mud • I’ve been consistently in the midst of organising Grade 7 tours, registers and medical ailments as their form teacher • Brought up a 3-week-old puppy (so far this has resulted in chewed hammocks and a huge increase in our household rice consumption). Emily has now taken to chasing away the macaw that faces off the puppy every morning. • On multiple occasions I’ve protected hummingbirds trapped in the school building from secondary boys with violent tendencies and brooms in their hands • Went on Easter holidays to Lethem and Sand Creek Rodeo in Region 9 and spent a spontaneous couple of hours in Brazil • Recently we’ve spent a lot of our spare time helping Grade 9s out with their National Grade 9 projects • Baked hot cross buns for Grade 7 and Grade 8 for their last day of Easter term – they’ve been plaguing me to make more ever since • I organised Grade 7’s cake sale to raise money for paint for their desks and benches (although Emily and I ended up doing all the actual baking too) • The secondary department got a new building for Grades 9, 10 and 11, meaning that only Grade 7 and 8 are in the old building now. Somehow, this hasn’t helped the noise level.

I’ll attempt to get some more blog posts up about the bigger events, and hopefully some photos too. Sorry for the lack of communication for 5 months, especially to those who helped me so much in my fundraising. I really am appreciating my time out here, and the thought of less than 3 months left in Matthew’s Ridge is genuinely upsetting. I’m determined to make the most of the little time I have left here.

[celinesyearinguyana]

13th November, 2017 Halloo !! Matthew's Ridge is fine and dandy, and insect-ridden as always. I am now very well acquainted with the hospital; since the first week in MR when I got a throat infection, I've had to take 3 of my Grade 7 students up to have smears and check for malaria. I was shocked when I was first asked to do it, but it seems to be a fairly regular occurrence to get malaria here (different cultures ay?). Luckily it's a nice, jungly walk up a nice, jungly hill to the hospital, so it's also a walk Emily and I do for fun sometimes. Last weekend we set out on the hospital walk, and before we'd turned up the dirt track to the hospital (or road if you'd prefer), we passed a couple groups of our Grade 10 and 11 pupils - one of whom took it upon himself to take us to the pools in a completely different direction. We'd been to the pools before, but only briefly as they were mostly empty and it was getting dark. This time however, it was gorgeous!! The water was glittering and reflecting the rainforest amazingly. Unfortunately, in typical Celine fashion I'd lost my phone so didn't take any photos, but we've already got plans to go again. Teaching is utterly fab now. Despite my shaky start which involved more than a little bit of culture shock and lack of confidence, I am now fully embracing the teacher life - even if we occasionally seem to be living the lives of 40 year olds. To quote Emily, "Since when did quarter past nine become a late night?" We don't have a lot of choice really, as we're entirely responsible for teaching Integrated Science in the secondary department - in fact Emily is the only Human and Social Biology teacher in the school !! It's lovely knowing that we're needed however, and although I sometimes end up teaching/supervising 3 classes at once, it just gives me more entertainment from the pupils. We've also adapted to Guyanese food now (meaning we've learnt to correctly portion rice), and it especially helps that we cook 2/3 of our own meals now and have access to vegetables! (Still a sad lack of fruit though). I'll probably write a blog later in the year on Guyanese food, but I hope this has been a good - if brief - overview of November so far. See ya in Dec for another post hopefully !! :-)

[celinesyearinguyana]

15th October, 2017

Since my last post we’ve been incredibly busy with schoolwork - paperwork for teachers is very thorough. Despite this, things have just kept on improving. Every day we feel more at home in Matthew’s Ridge, in walking to the shop for veg, liming in our hammocks (our favourite activity), and in teaching. I’ve fully started to settle into teaching, and getting to know my pupils more. I now teach 9 classes in Integrated Science, English, Reading and Tables, as well as being the Grade 7 form teacher. At any time of the day, calls of “Miss Celine! Miss Emily!” can be heard from all directions - even from the other side of the room whilst we’re teaching. The pupils often try distracting us in lessons to get less work, usually something along the lines of “Miss, you skin hot”, or “Miss, you know Akon?“Even without this, the classes can be pretty challenging to teach. The whole secondary department (120 pupils) is in one room, which has a corrugated metal roof. When it rains (which it does a surprising amount for the dry season), it’s very heavy and extremely loud. Making your voice heard becomes an impossible task, so writing on the blackboards is the only solution - when we have chalk that is. These challenges have only made it more rewarding. Although I spend a lot of my day trying to locate pupils and break up fights between others, seeing progress in just one student’s work can make my day. Last Saturday we left the village to go to Arakaka’s Amerindian Heritage Festival with Miss Lexy, another teacher. The apparent 20 minute journey took 1 ½ hours, and a combination of massively bumpy roads and being squashed into a speaker resulted in a good few bruises the next day. The festival left us happy from the Amerindian singing and dancing, confused at Guyanese humour in the comedy sketches, and our eyes streaming from the pepperpot (a traditional Amerindian dish). We arrived back in MR at 4am, bruised, muddy, delirious from the lack of sleep and sticky from the pepperpot I’d thrown over myself, but beaming. I have 16 midterm tests to write for next week, so for now I’ll get back to that.

[celinesyearinguyana]

16th September, 2017 

We've now lived in Matthew's Ridge for one week! Every day we're being introduced to new experiences - from doing exercise in a tropical rainstorm and getting drenched, to trying to sleep at night with cicadas and loud reggae songs to compete with. The amount of people I've met in a week seems crazy, and they're all just as welcoming as when we first arrived. It hasn't all been plain sailing however; during the first couple of days teaching I struggled with lesson planning - especially as we have roughly one 20 year old textbook to work from for each subject. After 5 days of teaching, I seem to be getting the hang of it (Emily, of course, is a natural). The secondary department only opened last January, and before we arrived there were only two teachers teaching secondary - that's five classes, from Grade 7-11. Even with Emily and I we're always a teacher short, but it's a big improvement from the previous arrangements. Generally, I am thoroughly enjoying teaching - mostly, the pupils work hard - but I've had a few hiccups that I wouldn't necessarily have had in a UK classroom. For instance, my second time teaching Grade 8 was delayed for 20 minutes as a pupil had brought a huge stick insect in on his shoulder, and insisted that it was his pet, which the rest of the class found hilarious. I also haven't taught a full day yet, as it's athletics season, and my house (Diamond) takes me out of lessons every day to train. 

Today we travelled to Port Kaituma and then Canal Bank, to support the girls under 13 cricket match against Sebai School. Unfortunately Matthew's Ridge lost, but the journey was worth it simply for the views. To get there we had a 2 hour ride through the rainforest in the back of a truck, and then a 20 minute river boat ride which passed Amerindian villages. We ended up being delayed in Port Kaituma for an hour or two because of heavy rain, but the drivers soon decided to set off anyway. Emily and I ended up hanging off the edge of an overcrowded truck, with bin bags over our heads and mud splattered over every inch of visible skin - we arrived back covered in bruises and mud but grinning from ear to ear. We're adjusting to life here pretty well (we've even started to get used to the relaxed attitude towards time!), and the community are showing their gratitude in all sorts of ways - mostly via the medium of free cooked food. Thank you to everyone who helped me get here - I promise you, it was worth it!

[celinesyearinguyana]

10th September, 2017 

Emily and I have finally made it to Matthew's Ridge after being delayed in Georgetown for a week or so. Whilst we waited to go to our projects, we helped out in David Rose Primary School for children with special educational needs with the New Amsterdam boys. I helped with the nursery kids (5/6 year olds), where they were learning colours and names, whilst Emily helped the Grade 1s learn about shapes. I'm glad we were delayed to leave, as we wouldn't have experienced David Rose otherwise. Kala, our country rep, came with us to Matthew's Ridge as she hasn't visited in over 30 years. After getting lost at the airport twice, we made it onto our 7 seater plane, where Emily sat next to the pilot (I've never seen her look so happy) and experienced an incredible hour long flight. When we arrived, we were greeted by a few of the locals and our HM, and were driven through the lush jungle towards Matthew's Ridge. Our accommodation is right next to the nursery school, and a two minute walk from the primary school where we'll be teaching. On our first day we were introduced to the doctors, police and teachers at our school, and others from the community who worked for hours to complete our accommodation and sort out our water supply and electricity. The community is extremely welcoming, and we begin teaching tomorrow (although we're not yet sure who or what we're teaching - only that it's secondary level). We've mostly been spending our time wandering around the village and visiting new people; we've already discovered some amazing viewpoints over the rainforest. As you may have noticed, this is being posted almost a month after it was written - unfortunately that's down to the unreliable/expensive data, but it's all part of the experience I guess!

[celinesyearinguyana]

28th August, 2017

We’ve been in Georgetown for around a week now, and despite having to sort out our visas and go through training with Guyana’s Ministry of Education, we’ve still managed to have a fab time. The biggest difference between the UK and Guyana for me has, so far, been the humidity (closely followed by the heat) - which is why our trip to the blackwater creek was so welcome (goosebumps are now a novelty). Aside from the paperwork, we’ve been acclimatising, meeting new people and preparing to leave for our projects. So far there’s been no further update on when I leave for Matthew’s Ridge - or even how I’ll be getting there - but this is in typical Guyanese fashion, and gives Emily and I more time to buy the things we need anyway. I know this update is short, but I’ll be sure to post again when I find out more :-)

[celinesyearinguyana]

22nd August, 2017

Here it is: after over a year of waiting, tomorrow I fly from Gatwick to Barbados, and then to Ogle, Guyana. The past few weeks have been absolutely packed full of last-minute errands, shopping for hastily remembered essentials (who needs anti-malarials anyway?) and final goodbyes - most of which were surprisingly uneventful, as it hasn't quite hit me that I'm leaving for a whole 12 months.

To anyone who donated, offered support, or even just put up with my incessant ramblings about Guyana, I want to thank you. Although I can't guarantee regular blog posts (very little is known about our new project, but we're guessing there's not much electricity), I can promise that I will update it when I get the chance, and even try to upload some photos if you're lucky. Once again, thank you to absolutely everyone who made this possible, and I'll see you all in a year !!

[celinesyearinguyana]

Project update!

21st August, 2017

I've just realised that I'd forgotten to update my blog on the changes that occurred a couple of weeks ago, so I'll update you now. Due to changes implemented by Guyana's Ministry of Education, the majority of Guyana volunteers have been re-partnered and relocated to elsewhere in the country. This means that my project is not Sawariwau as I had thought, but Matthew's Ridge Primary School in Region 1. This is decidedly different to my original project due to A) it being in the jungle rather than the savannah, and B) it being a primary school rather than secondary as I was trained for. I've also got a new partner called Emily, but luckily we get on well! The changes were quite sudden (and resulted in me panic-buying over a thousand stickers), but I'm sure the experience will be incredible no matter the circumstances. True to form, I’ve left my packing to the very last minute, so for now I’ll get back to that!

[celinesyearinguyana]

8th July, 2017

On 30th June I travelled up to Oban (and then the Isle of Coll) for my training course. It was one of the most intense weeks of my life, yet I cried with laughter more times than I can count.

I met a couple of other volunteers in the hostel on the night before we travelled to Coll, so we grabbed some food and started playing cards. As the night went on, more and more volunteers joined our group until it seemed like I was the only person who hadn’t met their partner yet. The next morning a massive, tired group of us boarded the ferry to Coll - and just as I was starting to think I was going on a solo mission to Guyana, I met my partner - Kirstie! She’s a lovely girl from Edinburgh, and I think PT have done well in matching us up.

On arrival to Coll, we were immediately given paperwork to fill in throughout the week, and then given various talks and workshops throughout the day. Each day included almost 8 hours of training with regards to teaching, culture shock, insurance etc; it was exhausting but necessary. We were also given more information about our individual projects, as well as our departure dates - so I can now officially say that I am leaving the UK on 23rd August!

Despite the mountains of paperwork we needed to complete, as a group we managed to visit the beach almost every day, climb the highest point on Coll twice, and watch vivid sunsets whilst swimming in the sea.

Of course the week ended with a ceilidh, albeit a slightly tipsy one - I ended up with a black eye due to some confusion during the dance. Then for some reason a few of us decided that rather than going to sleep we would climb Ben Hogh at 4am - still in our ceilidh clothes - which caused a bit of grogginess in the morning to say the least. Despite the injuries, it was an amazing end to an incredible week, and I am so excited to start my new (temporary) life in Guyana!

[celinesyearinguyana]

23rd June, 2017

One of the first things I did after receiving confirmation of my selection was to make my leaflets. These have been lifesavers in saving me time explaining my year abroad, and because they look professional I think they encouraged a lot more people to donate. 

[celinesyearinguyana]

Project placement emails!

7th May, 2017

I’ve waited for months and they’re finally here! A couple of days ago I received the email telling me which project I’ve been chosen for... 

Sawariwau in Guyana!

It’s a primary and secondary school in southern Guyana, pretty close to the Brazilian border and is surrounded by Savannah and grassland. The excitement to go is definitely kicking in now. There’s more info on Sawariwau on my page: https://celinesyearinguyana.tumblr.com/sawariwau and the PT website: https://projecttrust.org.uk/guyana-gap-year/swariwau/

[celinesyearinguyana]

How to promote your year abroad 101

[celinesyearinguyana]

6th May, 2017

I’ve got to admit, I’m very late in posting this... I held a bake sale in school on 29th March, which ended up raising another £92.34 due to the sheer amount of cakes I made (and the fab helpers of course). After the sale, it was decided that it would be a good idea to spread the word about my year - and my friends had the brilliant idea of doing this by sprinting around the school with the Guyanese flag (video to follow). 

[celinesyearinguyana]

26th February, 2017

Despite the miserable, wet weather, last night the quiz went ahead. The evening was thoroughly entertaining (shout out to the teams We Thought This Was Speed Dating and Lost In Pelynt), and (I hope) everyone left content and full of cake. I’d like to give a massive thank you to everyone who came and donated, and a particularly large thank you to my dad for taking over as coffee-maker, my mum for baking so many cakes with very little time, and to Liz and Roger for helping with so much of the organisation. 

I also received a few extra donations from people who couldn’t make it last night and in the end my total was £251.02, meaning I’m now over halfway through my fundraising! 

On an extra note, I probably won’t be posting much for a couple of months as exams are looming, but I’ll post if anything noteworthy happens!

[celinesyearinguyana]

25th February, 2017

This was my first stage of fundraising, and it turned out to be quite successful! I haven’t added up the total as I’m still receiving tubes 7 months later, but I’ve definitely got a few hundred pounds from this alone. Aside from gathering change, Silver Smarties raised awareness for my year and actually resulted in a lot of people donating notes as well as coins.

It’s small and reasonably easy to do for a fundraising activity, but I’d recommend it to any volunteers who need help with getting started with the process.

P.S. this is a small snapshot of the tubes - I actually gave out 90(ish).