History of the World, Part III

You’ve seen Part I I by Mel Brooks, the trailer for Part II, here’s part III, “Jews in Guyana.”

Before coming to Guyana I did a search on Jews in Guyana and all I could find was an article saying how “the last Jew in Guyana” was moved to a Jewish cemetery in Suriname by her children as she requested because there was no Jewish cemetery here, let alone a Jewish cemetery (which I think I found when I was in Paramaribo). So after slightly more research, checking out stats for the country in the World Fact Book, I concluded that I would most likely be the only Jew in Guyana (except maybe another token Jewish Peace Corps volunteer). However, one of the staff members introduced me to a woman named Shaleema that works as a janitor in the office telling me that she was Jewish too, yet I was quite skeptical once she told me that she was a Guyanese. I finally was able to meet her last August and after talking with her she invited me to come along with her to the “Jewish Cultural Center.” Not calling it a synagogue/shul/temple along with her asking me “so how long have you been Jewish?” (to which I responded, “about 25 years now. What about you?”) made me kind of skeptical. Maybe it’s some off shoot of Christianity (there are a ton of different churches here so it wouldn’t surprise me) or maybe this is just one big “lost in translation” moment. Either way I told her I would definitely like to come along the next time I'm free in town; which until this past weekend had been never. Since I was in town all week working in the Peace Corps office on training for Guy 26 and had the following weekend free I asked her again if I could come along to the “Jewish Cultural Center” with her this weekend to which she was excited that I asked.

We talked briefly about it as she asked me if in America there were many “Jewish Cultural Centers” and if we also “have the drums” or the “Hebrew songs.” I told her that yes we also have Hebrew songs and prayers but no drums and there are probably thousands of synagogues across the country, which she really looked stunned when I told her that, maybe more stunned than I was when I found out there was just one cultural center in Guyana. She talked about how they celebrate holidays like Yom Kippur, the Festival of Booths, and the Sabbath, but when I asked her if she was going to celebrate Purim because it was coming up she didn’t know what that holiday was.  I really had no idea what to expect but kept an open mind.

We met at noon at Stabroek market and caught a bus down. As we approached the street she told me that they already started. I asked her how she knew (as everything runs late in Guyana) and she told me she could hear the drums. As we approached the building I could see men dressed in African attire guarding each door with large hand carved wooden staffs. I was escorted through a separate entrance and led to a seat while Shaleema was led through another entrance. There was no mechitza but men sat on the left side of the center isle and women on the right. The room was small holding about 60 or so members with just shy of a dozen drummers up front playing an assortment of drums. Everyone was in African garb. I felt like I was transported back to Ghana. The way the drums beat, the dress, and the way everyone danced and clapped felt straight out of West Africa. All the men wore large crocheted kippahs, similar in style to what Muslim men wear, or wrapped up their dreadlocks (plenty of men and women have their hair locked). Everyone men, women, and babies wore tsit-tsit. And when I say tsit-tsit I don’t mean a tallis, but instead pinned blue yarn to the corners of their garments. The rabbi, who they called Cohen, wore white cotton African garb and a necklace that was a wooden or bone replica of either the breastplate the priests would wear in the temple, or the Ten Commandments. It was only about 4”x6” so I couldn’t make it out exactly, but I’m betting it’s the former. Some of the prayers were in Hebrew but I was thrown off a bit by how they said it. I’m thrown off when I go to other (like reform) services and there are different tunes but can generally follow along. The same thing happened here but exaggerated. One big difference was that they pronounced  יהוה like its spelled, “Yahowa.” And they said “Ya” a lot, which coupled with different tunes, really more like African chants with the drumming, really threw me for a loop. So I’m pretty sure that the prayers were the same, but since it’s been a few months since I’ve read the prayers I’m still left wondering if they're the same or different; either way they’re real  similar. There was a Torah service (along with prayers before and after each reading) that was first read in Hebrew then English, followed by an English Haftora. But no Torah, they read out of a printed Tanakh book and used a projector so others could follow along if they didn’t bring their own Tanakh (where these books came from I have no idea). Throughout the service as well as personal interactions people used “Ivrit” to replace English words and phrases like: Slicha (excuse me), toda raba (thank you), bivakasha (please), tov (good), and yeladim (children) to list a few.

There was a break around 3 for lunch and they resumed around 4 and went until about 7. And you thought services were long in the states! There was a typical sermon and the sisterhood showed a power point to educate the congregation on topics relevant to their needs. That day was about chewing gum, how it’s artificial along with alternatives to achieve fresh breath through natural methods. I thought that was particularly cool to see additional education for the congregation based on their needs. That’s something I haven’t seen at all at any of the other church services I’ve attended. At the conclusion of the service one of the announcements was about how the congregation would have a tent for Mashramani and they would be selling KOSHER and vegetarian food. I was shocked. I was honestly expecting them to say Halaal (or just vegetarian food) as almost all stores and restaurants around Guyana sell Halaal meat/food and I've seen nothing that’s kosher (granted I also haven’t been looking).

I know growing up I’ve heard of Jews in Ethiopia as well as Israel's Operation Magic Carpet but Jews from Africa I’ve thought of more as a myth, like a unicorn; I’ll believe it when I see it. But this congregation really surprised me. The Judaism they practice seems as if it stems from an African tribe that never had contact with the rest of the global Jewish community after the diaspora. Several times I caught myself thinking “hey they’re reading this wrong,” or “they’re doing this wrong.” Then I had an Ethnic Studies realization that what they’re practicing isn’t wrong, it’s just different. What makes the Eurocentric version of Judaism today any more right than what they're doing? And once I had that little epiphany the rest of the service just made sense. There’s still a WHOLE LOT that I don’t know about the congregation (how they formed, who they are as individuals, how does their practice influence their lives, how do they celebrate the holidays, how did the Cohen get from the Bronx to Georgetown, and so much more) but I’d definitely like to find out. Who knows, you might just find me in my West African clothes, large wooden star, and large knit kippah next time I'm in town.

A Reminder of America

Happy New Year! Yes, it’s been some time since my last blog post but I thought y’all might enjoy a couple of guest posts for a little; getting to see what it’s like from someone who doesn’t live here all the time, writing from a pair of fresh eyes. But still it’s been about a month now since Kaylie has gone back to the states and I'm sure some of you have just been counting the days awaiting another blog post from myself. “What has been going on down there!?” you might have found yourself asking. Well pretty much right as Kaylie left I was hit with an onslaught of things all at once which is why this post is more of a catch up after the fact because I haven’t had much time to sit down and write.

“So what are all these things that you could be busy with? I thought you spent your days relaxing in a hammock, eating fresh bananas off your farm, and when you have a chance swing over to the local school to teach a class or two.” Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to catch as much hammock time reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis as I would like, but hopefully soon I’ll be able to catch up on it.

First off the end of January marks the end of Peace Corps’ trimester for reporting. That means that (every four months) I compile a larger-than-I’d-like report on everything that I've been doing. This includes everything from what my site is like, any new partners/connections I've made, how I'm doing and how Peace Corps can best assist me, and the most time consuming part is entering all activities that I've lead or been a part of. But entering the activities are more than just a quick description of what happened. I need to include the number of people involved/attended broken down by age groups and sex along with which objectives and indicators the program matched based off of the EH!PICC Framework. The one nice part of doing all this work every four months is that it will make all my paperwork and reports at the end of service that much easier because I can pull the information off of these trimester reports. But the reports don’t stop there! Recently the HM at the secondary school that I teach HFLE (Health and Family Life Education) at asked me to start submitting monthly reports on what I'm teaching. So I had to send in my report for the classes I taught this January. During a quick break from all my computer work out to our veranda for some water, I was joking with my host mom, Verna, saying that I felt like I was back in America. It’s been quite some time since I've sat at the computer for hours upon hours typing reports/papers. I really felt like I was back in the states working and not tropical Guyana.

If it was just those two things I would be fine. However on January 25^th there was a protest in Linden so Peace Corps decided to evacuate me, my site mate, and the volunteers in Linden and bring us out to Georgetown. At first, this might seem a bit drastic of a decision; however about a year ago there was a protest that lasted about two months long with a total city shut down so the decision to pull us out was not without merit. I would have been safe in site, per se, but could have been stuck there if the protest became something bigger as Linden is my gateway to the rest of the country. Imagine receiving a call at 8:20 am, 5 minutes  before you’re about to begin work telling you to go home, pack up for an indefinite amount of time (plan for ~3 weeks) but take everything of importance in case you’re never able to return home and be ready to leave in a few hours. Well that was the call I got on Friday the 24^th. So that was definitely a shock. Something I've become aware of since serving in the Peace Corps is that I'm quite a minimalist. I packed up my necessary things: passports, legal documents, money, computer, clothes, etc. all in my backpacking backpack (or “haversack” as they say here). But being a diabetic, I also had to pack up all of my supplies and insulin so I had an additional box of stuff that I had to lug out of site. But I’ll be honest, I’m kind of upset that the protest didn’t really last longer than a day, I was getting excited for an “e-vacation” in town for a bit. A/C, showers, and wifi are a nice thing once in a while.

In reality though, I was planning on leaving site that Sunday for a jam packed three days of meetings at the office from Monday to Wednesday. I’m on two committees/task forces, one of which I know I've mentioned, GAD (Gender And Development) which is responsible for organizing Camp GLOW, and VAC (Volunteer Advisory Council); essentially the “student body” wing of the Peace Corps where myself along with five others (3 from each group) meet with all of staff to problem solve and relay messages back to fellow volunteers. Both VAC and GAD had meetings with staff these three days and held their own meetings throughout this period. It was a crazy few days, but very productive.

Once I was back in site, Wednesday night, I had only two days before I was back out to Linden. GAD has wanted to organize a boy’s camp to parallel Camp GLOW for girls. The volunteers in Linden organized the first Camp BRO (Brothers Reaching Others). So it was a VERY crazy/stressful/hectic/fun/eye-opening weekend with close to 80 boys ages 11-15 met for the weekend for a two day camp. During the camp I was responsible for co-leading sessions on sexual health and mental and emotional stress, which if you’ve seen the latest Camp GLOW video, we also did paintballing as part of this session. And what better a way to finish camp than grabbing a few beers with the rest of the PCVs who helped out that weekend and heading to a local bar to watch a pirated stream of the Super bowl! I know what you’re all thinking, and yes, I will be on the lookout for Super bowl XLVIII Denver Broncos Champions t-shirts and other apparel; let me know if you’d like one.

Then back to site, but no hammock time as yet. Between finishing my trimester report, monthly report, I am part of a “tools development working group” along with four other members of Guy 25 and Peace Corps staff. Through this group we work on, develop, and test various tools in the field to help other PCVs with their own work. This is aimed to make reporting to various indicators within our job frameworks easier, but also help with various activities in our communities. For instance, I’m working on a tool to measure Positive identity and self esteem

(SSI YD-001-A / PDI HE-211: # of children/youths, out of the total number of children the Volunteer/partner worked with, who described or displayed three or more of their own personal strengths or assets as evidence of improved sense of self-esteem or self-worth).

In one of my HFLE classes I created an “activity” that along with the lesson itself, guides the students to help them identify their developing sense of “self,” values, roles they play in life, and things they excel in. So I've been working on developing this tool to better assist other PCVs in reporting to the same indicator on the framework by using this tool.

Something else I’m excited about is helping my friend at site get into this program. I found out about an opportunity hosted by the US Department of State and ESPNW called the Global Sports Mentoring Program, where 20 women from around the globe are paired with various female executives from US sports organizations and spend a month in the states with them learning business and management skills in the sports field. Only 2 women from each country, i.e. Guyana, are nominated and I’m hoping that my friend will be one of the women chosen. In order to apply, in addition to basic biographical information, she needed to submit her CV (curriculum vitae). That wouldn’t be that hard if we lived in the states, but here a CV is such a foreign concept. So it took some time to sit down with her and explain how all the little things she does and takes for granted, or doesn’t realize she does, has applicable value to include on a CV. She started off saying how she “doesn’t do much;” just goes to church and works in her shop turned into a full page, explaining all the skills gained from just working in her shop (e.g. accounting, organizing, marketing, sales, managing/supervising, budgeting, etc.). I’m really excited to hear how she does as it sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

This next week I’ll spend working in the Peace Corps office for an entire week working alongside staff and two other members of my group to revise the training program for the upcoming Guy 26’s arrival this May. And to kick off my time in town, VAC will be representing Peace Corps at S4's event in town "One Billion Rising"

One Billion Rising began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that one in three women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls! On Friday February 14, the S4 Foundation will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women and men across the world as we express outrage, demand change, strike, dance and rise in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

I’m really excited for this event to see everyone that comes and to represent Peace Corps at our own booth at the event.

Alright, I need a break from the computer. I’m off to wash about 60 eggs that my host niece just picked.

Pictures from Trinidad & Tobago

Argyle Falls

View from Fort King George

David in the jail cell at Fort King George

Power outlets in the cells not used for prisoners since the 1800s?

What it really looks like in Guyana: the long-awaited pictures

David's host niece, Makayla

David's host sister, Michelle

Picking okra with David's host mom, Verna

David's living room 

David's Kitchen

Cutting down a banana tree

Most of David's the classes David teaches are held in a large room with 5 different classes of students separated only by chalkboards.  David often takes the kids out to the bleachers to teach his class, as it is far more conducive to learning than in the cramped room.  

Collecting eggs in the backyard

Wakes in Guyana typically consist of dominoes playing, card games, and alcohol.

Spending time with Peace Corps volunteers on the Guyana coast 

The newborn baby nephew at David's original host family's house in Timehri.

A gift from David's Timehri family: Authentic Amerindian Jewelry!

The savannah near Kwakwani

Old Year’s Night in Suriname

We ventured out of Kwakwani to celebrate New Year’s Eve (called Old Year’s Night here) in the neighboring country of Suriname.  On December 31^st, after over 13 hours of travel on several different busses, we met up with a group of about 12 other Peace Corps volunteers near the country border and took a 25-minute ferry to Suriname.  After my experience on Christmas, I decided to go into this trip with absolutely no expectations- which definitely proved to be the right move, because the night was nothing like any New Year’s Eve I had ever before experienced.

The group had been told that tons of people would be celebrating Old Year’s all over on the streets of downtown Paramaribo (The capital of Suriname).  Much to our surprise, by the time we made it to Paramaribo around 8:30 p.m., it seemed as though the festivities had already ended.  All of the shops were closed and the only people on the streets were the people cleaning up the evidence (tons of beer bottles and confetti) of a huge party that had occurred on the streets before our arrival.

We later found out that the way Old Year’s actually works in Suriname is that people celebrate all day, go home around 8pm to get ready to go to Church at midnight, and then go out again to celebrate around 1 a.m.  We kept ourselves entertained at the hotel for a few hours and ended up hanging out at the roof top swimming pool just before midnight.  Unlike in the states, there are no laws in Suriname regulating fireworks, so it was pretty cool watching the fireworks being set off all over the city.  In fact, we got to watch the coolest fireworks show I have ever seen from the roof of the hotel.  This particular firework show lasted probably 20 minutes and the fireworks were being launched in the parking lot immediately next to the hotel, so we were literally eye-level with the colorful bursts.  I don’t know how safe it was for us to be so close to fireworks, but it was an absolutely incredible experience! 

We spent New Year’s Day in Suriname as well, though the only place open was a McDonalds across the street from the hotel. Going into this restaurant with a group of Peace Corps volunteers who haven’t eaten American fast food since beginning their service in Guyana was hilarious.  I’ve never seen anyone get so excited about the prospect of eating a Big Mac and French fries.   Other than McDonalds, we walked around the downtown area and tried to see what we could of the city.  While we really didn’t get to do much exploring because the city was shut down, it was fun to spend time with the other volunteers.  Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to Suriname because it gave me an opportunity to get to know the people with whom David is spending two years in Guyana.

On the ferry to Suriname

Christmas in Guyana

Christmas is a BIG deal here.  From what I understand, the Christmas festivities started about couple of weeks before I arrived. It began with something similar to similar to our idea of “spring cleaning” in which David’s family did a thorough scrubbing of their entire house.  When I arrived, all of the furniture was stacked in a corner of the main room and covered with sheets. 

A few days before Christmas, the neighborhood community put on a Christmas show complete with a nativity skit, tree lighting, singing, dancing, and Santa Claus giving out gifts to all of the children in the village.  David played Joseph in the nativity skit, and he of course did a great job.  In fact, he was the only person in the entire skit to remember his lines! 

The day before Christmas was spent putting the house back together, putting down new floors (the floors here are kind of like wallpaper- big sheets of decorative plastic that they tape to the ground), hanging new drapes, and cooking. 

There are two special dishes made for Christmas—Pepper Pot and Black Cake.  David describes Pepper Pot as the Guyanese version of tsimmus.  It is essentially a huge pot of meat stew that is cooked for an extended period of time until the meat is tender and juicy. I unfortunately had a hard time consuming this dish, as I went to the butcher to pick up the meat with David’s host sister, and was fairly overwhelmed by the lack of sanitation of it all.  (I’m sure it was just fine to eat, but I am squeamish about eating meat that has been sitting out 90-degree temperatures for extended periods of time).  Unsurprisingly, this didn’t stop David from consuming hoards of the dish for days.  Black cake is the second special food cooked for Christmas, and is essentially a dark fruitcake made with candied fruits, cherries, 5 finger, other rum-soaked fruits, more rum, burnt sugar and malt drink.  As with all of the food here, there is LOTS of sugar in all of it.

With all of the work put into decoration of the house and preparation of the food, I expected that the extended family would come together on Christmas day to celebrate.  Oddly enough, Christmas day was the most laid back and uneventful day of my entire time here.  No one came over, and the immediate family sat inside watching old Christmas movies and eating here and there (meals here are not eaten together here, everyone just makes up a plate of food when they’re hungry).  Though it was nothing like I expected, I actually really enjoyed the day relaxing and hanging out with David’s host family.

Setting up for the nativity skit

The Christmas show

Santa giving gifts to the children

Kaylie's First 2 Weeks

I have experienced so many great things during my first two weeks here in Guyana that I cannot possibly fit into a blog post, so I’ve decided to highlight some of the things that have stood out most during my first couple of weeks in Guyana.

 David’s host family: David’s host family is absolutely amazing.  David lives with a host mom (Verna), 2 host siblings (Mikey & Michelle), and a 6-year-old host niece (Michelle’s daughter, Makayla). The family is absolutely amazing—they are so welcoming and friendly, and I feel so comfortable and at home here.  I’ve spent a lot of my time here playing with Makayla and her friends/cousins who are constantly over at the house. 

 The language barrier: In theory, the language spoken here in Guyana is English.  In practice, the language actually spoken here is called Creolese—a mumbled, altered, and highly distorted version of what we consider “English.”  The weirdest part of this language barrier is that the people here can understand just about everything I say, but I understand almost nothing.  This results in many awkward interactions in which I have to ask people to repeat things over and over, and even then I don’t fully understand what is being said.  David is helping me out by explaining common phrases, ways certain pronouns are utilized (and others not at all), etc.  I’ve found that kids are the best to learn from because they’re much more willing to repeat things and speak more slowly for me, so I’m spending lots of time learning from Makayla and her friends.  Every day I understand the people here more and more, but the language barrier has been one of the most difficult parts of immersing myself into the culture and community here in Guyana.

 Guyanese Funerals: A man in David's site passed away a week ago, and I had the opportunity to experience a funeral here. David warned me ahead of time that funerals here are much different than in the states, but despite his warnings, the funeral experience was quite jarring.  While the service itself is not unlike the ones stateside (prayers, eulogies, etc.), the way that the family of the deceased acts during the service is quite different from what I’m used to.  (David has confirmed that the funeral I attended is an accurate depiction of all of the funerals he has attended throughout his 9 months here in Guyana—he’s been to dozens).  Many times throughout the service and internment, the daughters, wife, and several mistresses of the deceased broke out into hysterics—they were literally screaming and crying at the top of their lungs, thrashing around and running to the casket.  The women even went so far as to try to take the body out of the casket so it wouldn’t be buried.  In no way do I mean to discredit the family’s grief, I simply find the exaggerated display of sorry to be an interesting contrast to the funerals to which I’m accustomed.

The stars:  I never really realized how much I loved looking at stars until I came here.  The lack of light pollution here really makes for unbelievable views of the night sky.  I really wish I could take a picture of what I’m talking about to share with you all, because I cannot put into words how unbelievably gorgeous the stars are here.

A few other interesting things to note:

•  “Just now” means anytime between the recent past and some time in the near future.  The most common way it is used is to describe something that will be done soon (i.e. I’ll come home just now).
•  When I meet people and tell them I’m from the states, they often try to impress me with their knowledge of the USA by telling me that there are 52 states (and insisting that I am incorrect when I correct them and tell them that there are 50).  I have yet to come across someone who can tell me what the 51^st and 52^nd states are (I’ve even asked if they’re referring to Puerto Rico and Guam, but they say no).
• The popular music here is a mixture of reggae, soca, dance hall, chutney, gospel, and a collection of 80s and 90s music from people like Whitney Houston, Michel Bolton, Michael Jackson, etc.