Fun day out!

18.3.13

On Saturday we went along with the youth group for their annual day out to ‘Splashmins’ resort.  It is the closest thing Guyana has to a beach – they have made a small fake beach along the side of a freshwater creek and you can swim and use pedaloes and kayaks.  There is also a restaurant there and people can stay the night in rooms if they want to.  The actual time at Splashmins was great fun and it was lovely and cool to swim in the creek, if a little disconcerting swimming in black water when you didn’t know what might be in it!  We were assured it was safe so we just went for it!  The youth leader had organised lunch so we brought along chicken, rice and macaroni and a selection of brightly coloured fizzy drinks!  The youth all had a great time as none of them go on holiday and there are no other leisure venues  so it is the highlight of their year! 

The resort also has a camping area and we are hoping to book this for a youth weekend later in the year.  I am a little nervous about this as there is no electricity and you have to sleep in tents by the creek.  Eek!  Plus there are no washing facilities but hey ho, new missionary Barbie is up for anything!  Ha!

Although the day was fun overall, the journeys either way were sooo frustrating!  We were meant to be leaving at 9am so we were there ready to go but hardly any of the youth had arrived and it was like herding cats!  We finally left Mahaica about 9.30am but had to do several stops on the way to Splashmins – for water, for the kids to buy snacks, to pick up various latecomers!  What should have been a journey of about an hour and a quarter took us well over two hours.  AGGH!  The bus was meant to arrive at the park at 5pm to bring us home but didn’t get there until 6pm, so with a stop at a ‘fast food’ place (not at all fast!) on the way home we weren’t in until gone 8pm and were exhausted.

 Little did we know that the night was going to be a bad one as our local bar decided to play thumping ‘music’ until 2.30am so we couldn’t sleep at all.  At 2.15am Mark finally called the police and it soon went quiet after that.  We are just astounded that everyone here just puts up with these things – we waited as long as we could but we knew we had to get up at 6am for church the next day and it was so depressing not being able to sleep after such a long and tiring day. 

 Grinding poverty L

This week we swapped roles and Mark did the children’s talk (with Nettie who seems to be going down well here!) and I preached.  I preached on ‘Do for others what you would have them do for you.’  After the service we had the privilege of praying for two ladies – one of whom had very low self esteem as a result of being put down by her family since she was a child.  The pain on her face was palpable and it was heartbreaking, yet a real honour to be able to share that pain.  The other lady asked for prayer as her husband is an alcoholic and I suspect there is violence in the home (there is a huge amount of domestic violence in this society sadly).  This lady just looks so sad and burdened all the time and my heart goes out to her as her life is SO difficult. 

People here live in such grinding poverty and have so much to deal with.  At first we wondered why people seemed to just placidly accept all the difficulties and frustrations that make us so angry, but we have come to realise that they are just literally ground down with it all and it is as though all hope has been drained from them as they know nothing is likely to change for them. 

It is such a privilege to work with people like this and to be allowed glimpses into their lives.  We take so much for granted back home and moan when the slightest little thing goes wrong for us – as one of my friends wisely observed, ‘We in the UK expect that no-one will die and that life will be like one long Disney movie’.  It’s so true and very challenging for us all. 

Football

Last Wednesday late afternoon we went with one of our neighbours to watch the local football team play on the village ball field.  The men had great fun but it was sad to see that some of them couldn’t afford boots and were playing bare footed.  We kept thinking they would get hurt as some of the men were wearing boots with studs but they have no choice really.  They played until it got so dark they couldn’t see the ball any more – no such thing as floodlights here!  The coach was pleased to tell us about his team and the games they play against other teams in the area.  They invited Mark to address them at the end of the match which was so sweet – I think they thought he’d drone on for ages (as so many here are prone to do!) but he gave a short, relevant message talking about football and teamwork and being on God’s team and they all seemed to enjoy it.   Bravo Mark!