So a lot has happened since the last post. I left off with tomorrow I'd be going on a boat trip down river. That actually happened and it was awesome. We traveled down the Demerara River about an hour south of where I'm living. I was with the three medical staff in my health center as well as two other trainees that are assigned to the health center with me. I had assumed we'd just be helping out with routine tasks that we normally do in clinic, just at a remote site. However as soon as we got there I was in for a surprise. We docked at the primary school in the community and began carrying in supplies. Once everything was taken off the boat and into the school, the students were shuffled around a bit to make a space for a make shift clinic. The school is just one big room with a blackboard in the center to separate two different "classrooms," one older class and one younger class. Since it's the primary school it serves students ranging from first to sixth grade. However there were really only about 40 children (at most) in total. So all the students combined together on one side of the room (in one "classroom") and the makeshift clinic was held on the other side of the room. Once we dropped off the supplies the head master asked us (me and the two other trainees) what our role/job was in the clinic. We explained that we were with the PC and were working with the clinic. So right away he asked if we could do a health talk/presentation for all the students. We were caught off guard a bit, but since we had been preparing one presentation for the school in our community later that day we said yes. So while the doctor and nurses set up the clinic we went over to the other side and did the presentation. We taught the students how to wash their hands and we played Simon says (They call it Old Grady says) with hand washing motions. The best part was after we had finished the presentation and had gone to work with the clinic; we could hear the students outside on their break singing the ABC song (we taught them to sing their ABC's while they wash their hands). So we went over to the windows and saw them practicing washing their hands and singing their ABC's. It was really great to see what we taught them stick, especially seeing them correct each other if they forgot a certain step. After the health presentation the head master pulled the three of us aside and wanted to know if we could come back to do a workshop with the community. He outlined several topics he thought the community could really benefit from. In addition to coming back to lead a health workshop, he really wanted us to help train the teens in the community to be able to facilitate additional health sessions after we leave so the community continues to learn. That blew us out of the water. When we went in thinking we'd help out with screening patients to being asked to come back to help train peer educators really was the first time that I felt an impact was made. Seeing all the children so excited when we got there and having fun outside just practicing washing their hands really struck a chord. That day was probably my first "high" of service.
Part of training involves planning and executing a community health program. So me and the other two trainees that I've been working with agreed that going back to the river community to facilitate a day workshop would be a great idea. We met with the head master when he was on his way back from Georgetown to plan out the logistics of the workshop and develop an agenda for the day for which topics we would include. We had been working on this workshop in our off time outside of training to try and make this happen. Unfortunately due to timing and funding issue we have to scrap the workshop. So we are putting together a packet of materials for the head master so he can facilitate the sessions we were going to run.
On top of planning for that workshop we've done another school presentation, a workshop with the staff in the health center, and I've had to plan and present a presentation by myself during training. So these past few weeks have been anything but relaxing. And this is still on top of the training schedule of learning sessions and clinic sessions.
This week we'll find out what sites we're assigned to/where in the country we're going. So FINALLY you'll be able to sleep at night knowing where in the country I'll be. It's only been 6 months. We go to Georgetown this weekend and meet our counterpart (a Guyanese who I'll be working alongside for the next two years) at a conference for a few days, then we'll move to our new site and stay with the new family for a few days before returning back to the community I'm currently in to finish the last month of training. Assuming I make it through, I'll swear in as a volunteer on July 3rd, and officially move to my new site on the fourth.
Here's to the latest comments:
I live on a compound with two houses (currently in the process of building a third) so there's quite a few people in my family from just over a year old to I'm assuming in the 70's; it's a multigenerational family spanning from a great-grandma to great-grandchildren with three siblings in in my immediate family.
Remember that Guyana is in the Caribbean (they were the founders of Caricom (Caribbean Community) similar to the EU) so my family speaks Creolese; it's based off English. The best way to describe it is if you moved to another part of the states where all they spoke was slang. Yes its English based, but just because you hear the words doesn't mean you'd understand anything they'd say or know the meaning of the words. So in essence it's a foreign language. The tricky part of language courses through the PC in Guyana, is that Creolese is a constantly changing and evolving language without any grammatical rules or structure so it's a challenge for PC to train their volunteers in the language (unlike teaching Spanish, French, Swahili, etc.). It's best learned through experience, and being in country for almost a month and a half and I'm only starting to understand it.
The food is both familiar and new at the same time. It's a combination of Indian influences like roti and curry with local foods and ways of preparing foods like calalloo and egg balls. Whereas in the states we have certain foods reserved for breakfast (e.g. eggs and bacon) there's no real separation in what's prepared for certain meals. So I can have anything for breakfast from scrambled eggs and sausage (hot dogs) to chicken feet and boiled provisions (cassava, eddo, plantain, etc.), to boiled chickpeas. Lunch is always with rice. So rice and fried fish, chicken guts (liver, hearts, gizzards), pumpkin stew, etc. Dinner is almost always with some form of roti (oil, sada, eddo), which is a type of Indian flatbread and a meat whether its fish, guts, just liver, or just gizzards, chicken (I killed, plucked, and gutted my first rooster with pics to come), and we've even had an acuree (a type of bush meat). Guyana fries everything. There is a TON of oil in almost everything, so that took some getting used to. Along with sugar and salt. There's a lot of sugar used, and a lot of salt and MSG (which after doing some research, I'm starting to like using MSG in foods). Controlling my sugar levels was quite a challenge at first (and still is sometimes) because of all the added sugar to foods. But so far I'm really liking the food, which I wasn't surprised about at all. The biggest difference in Guyanese foods is that there are a lot of the same foods in the states just prepared differently. For example I've had hotdogs for breakfast, but the hotdogs here (called sausages) are chicken dogs served cold with mayo, sometimes ketchup and mustard, shredded carrots and shredded white cheese on top. Or Chinese fried rice or chow mein served with ketchup all over and mayo and some people add mustard too. So that took some getting used to. If you're planning on visiting Guyana, to prepare your stomach (and entire digestive system) here's a good recipe to re-tox your body so it won't be such a shock to your system when you arrive: Equal parts Sriracha, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Season heavily with mayo and MSG to taste. Drink 3 times daily for at least a week. That should be enough time for your body to get used to the food. You can then detox when you're back in the states. Don't worry though there are plenty of fresh fruits all the time. That is something that is really nice about my meals here. Everything is fresh; I haven't had leftovers since I arrived. Meals are normally prepared twice a day, once in the morning for breakfast and lunch, and a second time for dinner later in the night.
I walk almost everywhere. I walk to training both at the health center for clinic as well as the training grounds for sessions. The primary school is also within walking distance. The only time I've taken a bus is to go to Georgetown to go to the market and/or the fishery where local fishermen bring in their catch for the day. We go to town at least once a week to buy food for the rest of the week. Georgetown is a typical busy capital city without the skyscrapers. It's here more than anywhere else I've noticed that it's apparent the Dutch settled in the country before the British. Many of the buildings are old wooden structures still standing from the time the Dutch colonized. The wood is more ornate than a typical concrete building which gives the capital its charm (it's the garbage all over that takes away from the beauty).
The local beer taste like I expected, pretty typical "beer" taste. There's Banks and Banks Premium, which is the local Guyanese brewery, and then from the rest of the Caribbean we have Stag, Mackison, Carib, Parbo (from Suriname), and Guinness Foreign Extra! Which I've loved since I first had it in Ghana. They definitely don't compare to Colorado beers, but I'll survive for the next two years.
Keep thinking of more questions you have I'd love to answer them.
