Christmas in Guyana

25.12.12

 

It is late afternoon on Christmas day as I write this and it has been a very different Christmas day to our usual ones and quite difficult in many ways.

 The day started at 4am when we got up ready to go to Mark’s first service at 5am!  Aaghh!!  We never even got up that early when the children were little!  We arrived in the dark at the chapel and only two people were there.  The couple who were there had kindly brought some breakfast for us so we had a flask of coffee and some cheese and crackers before the service.  Gradually people started to filter in and we started the service at about 5.45am accompanied by a bat swooping around as it was just about dawn by then.  A bit scary singing carols with a bat around my head! 

We had to slip out before the end of that service so that we could go to Mark’s next service at 7am in a different village.  By now it was starting to get hot so was glad to be wearing a summery dress and flip flops!  I’ve never done that before at Christmas! 

We got home about 8.30 and had a coffee and some Guyana ‘black cake’ given to us by someone in the congregation.  It is a traditional moist, dark cake eaten in Guyana and the Caribbean at weddings and at Christmas. 

It was an emotional morning as we spoke to the girls and other family members and we were reminded how far away from home and family we are…all the more poignant at this family time of Christmas.

We had been invited out for lunch by a couple from one of Mark’s churches and we were scared we would have to eat ‘pepperpot’ which is a traditional Guyanese dish apparently made of cows’ feet and tripe in a spicy sauce but thankfully we were given chicken and rice so were very grateful!  Tomorrow we have a day off and I am going to attempt to cook chicken with roast potatoes, a tin of veg and some bread sauce and gravy I brought from the UK to try to replicate a traditional British Christmas dinner as best I can!  

Some people here do decorate the outsides of their homes with lights and an assorted array of Santas, Christmas trees and wreaths but not so much the insides of them.  They do give and receive gifts but nothing like the scale of present giving back home.  It is a wholly more simple occasion here which is quite refreshing and releasing as the pressure is off! 

 It has not really felt like Christmas to us as everything is so different to our usual traditions and of course we are away from our loved ones.  We have had no decorations, haven’t given or received gifts, have had no alcohol or luxury food, there is nothing on TV, no parties to go to and it has seemed in lots of ways just like an ordinary day.    The things I am missing are not the material things but our loved ones and the traditions we usually share together.

I guess that for most people around the world living in poverty, in conditions of war, under occupation, oppression or persecution it really is just another day and all we are left with is Jesus – he is meant to be the focus of this day anyway so I think maybe it has all been put into perspective for me this year.  I usually spend so much time and effort preparing for Christmas and get stressed in the process so the positive side of all this is that it has been quite liberating to be set free from all that and I wonder if it will change the way I view Christmas when we come home again.  Time will tell! 

 

 

Church services

23.12.12

Church services

Mark has now taken services at 5 of his 8 chapels.  Four have been Sunday services and one was a funeral taken yesterday and I have accompanied him to them all.  Sunday services start at 8am and 11am to give the minister chance to get to two churches each Sunday on a 4 weeks rota.  However, these are not necessarily the times the services actually start!   This morning we got started at about 8.25am and people were still arriving up to 9.30!  This is something we are going to have to get our heads around as we are used to starting promptly but no-one here is in any rush to get going!  It has made me laugh as in the opening prayer in most services the person prays for God to ‘hasten the feet’ of those who might be on their way! 

 The services are led by a local preacher or lay worker and then Mark just has to preach and lead the communion part of the service.  They have hymns from the old Methodist hymn book ­and a section in the service where they sing a medley of choruses and a time for testimonies.   Most chapels have no musical instruments so singing is accompanied by clapping, and maybe a tambourine or drum.  The vast majority of the congregations are women; men seem to be sadly lacking. 

 Yesterday Mark took a funeral for a lady from the church and it was very interesting.  As I mentioned in January when we visited, the coffin starts off open at the entrance to the chapel so everyone can look at the body and take photos, video etc.  Once the service starts the coffin is closed and brought to the front of the church by the family members.  Although the people here seem generally very reserved in showing their feelings, there was a lot of loud wailing and crying at the funeral service, which we don’t usually experience at UK funerals.  Also, someone was going round with a video camera videoing people in the congregation and the whole service and people were on their I-phones and chatting to each other during the service, which seemed disrespectful to me but didn’t seem to bother anyone there! 

 After the church service we all went to the cemetery for the ‘burial’.  The graves here are above ground and are like a cuboid box made of concrete.  The coffin is slid into the box and then the end concreted up while the family are still there.  Apparently if this is not done straight away, people come and steal things from the body.  During the ‘burial’ people were playing loud music on their car stereos, taking photos of each other and generally milling around and chatting – all of it seemed very alien to us and very noisy!

 Mark’s next services are on Christmas day at 5.00am and 7.00am!  Eek!  We never got up that early even when the children were little!!  I’ll write about Christmas later in the week!   

Food - shopping and cooking

21.12.12

I thought you might like some information about everyday life here in Guyana so today I am going to write about food! 

We live in a village about an hour’s drive from the capital city of Georgetown.  In our village, about a mile’s walk away from our house there is a small market and a general foodstore.  The market sells fresh fruit and apparently on Saturdays there is a bigger market where you can buy fresh vegetables.  The food store only really sells dried and tinned foods so I can’t get things like fresh juice, butter, meat, eggs etc there.   The supermarkets in Georgetown are bigger and have more variety and on our visit there last week I found I can buy things like bacon, eggs, cheddar, Philly, fresh juice, limited meat and fresh fruit and veg.  Locally produced food is fairly cheap but imports are very expensive.  For example we paid £5 for a box of Frosties and £3 for a small jar of Marmite!

We last went to the city supermarket last Thursday and can’t really go there again until we get a car so we are having to eat what we can from the village market and store.

At the house the cooker is a small Calor gas oven with one shelf and some hotplates so it is like camping cooking!  It means we can still cook even in the many power cuts.  We also have a microwave which is great when the power is on and a toaster.  As for equipment we have a few pans and utensils but I need to get some more equipment once we get a car and can get to the city…we need things like oven gloves, a measuring jug, knives, colander, baking tins, scales or cups etc but in time we will get these items.

So because of all these factors our meals since being here have been pretty basic and not very exciting!  Whereas in the UK I would choose a recipe then get the ingredients to make it, here I have to see what we can get then find something to do with it that is edible!!  Also because we can’t freeze anything, we have to eat up any left overs and have to eat fresh stuff fairly quickly. 

Here are some of the things we have eaten so far…we have cereal for breakfast and tea (with long life milk) and some fruit.  We did have some juice last week but it’s run out now!  We have been eating Ritz crackers and marmite for lunch or scrambled eggs when we can get eggs.  For our evening meals I have so far made, vegetable soup, a kind of risotto with canned sweetcorn and onions, fried egg sandwiches, bacon with eggs and tomatoes, spaghetti carbonara and I managed to get some chicken last week so roasted it but it was a bit tough!  I bought some mince last week and put it in our freezer and when I came to get it out to use it realised the freezer doesn’t work so it had gone off.  A sad waste.  Now I wish I’d brought some tins of mince, stewed beef and chunky chicken from M&S! 

It has been a salutary thought that this time last year I had two fridges and freezers full of food and drink for Christmas, plus cupboards full of tins, packets, snacks and goodies and this year all we have in the house are a few tins and packets!   I think this might be the first Christmas I won’t have put on weight so that can’t be a bad thing!  As I write we are in Georgetown hoping to get a hire car to tide us over until we get our own car and if we can get a car we can buy some food in time for Christmas - we pray this may come to pass today!    

Happy and Sad

20.12.12

The last couple of days we have had a roller coaster of emotions!

Freight

 Firstly, our freight has arrived!   The man who said he was going to get it delivered to us got it here when he said he would so that was £100 well spent!  We were so happy to be reunited with our boxes on Tuesday night and relieved to have our precious personal goods safely here.  What an answer to prayer that was.  Yesterday we set to unpacking the boxes and finding places for everything and that was very emotional.  Each item we took out of the boxes reminded us of people, occasions and events back home and we cried a lot.  It is all part of the grieving process as we come to terms with this huge transition.  Now the house looks more like our home and it means we are staying! 

Christmas social

On Tuesday afternoon the people from the church here in Mahaica held a social for the elderly people of the village and we were invited to go along. Not because we were elderly I hasten to add, just because we are Rev and Mrs Rev!  They went to a lot of trouble preparing a three course meal for the folks and we sang some carols, then the guests were each given a gift bag (presented by Rev!) containing flannel and soap, cake, a can of drink and other goodies to take home.  They were so grateful.  Some of these people are very poor and it may have been the best meal some of them had all year.  It was very humbling and a great honour to be there amongst them and chat to them. 

Having a meal with the elderly residents of Mahaica



The Rev presenting gifts to the elderly guests

Eaten alive!

The number of insect bites on my arms and legs is increasing and each one is reacting pretty badly (even when I don’t scratch!) so please pray for those to heal quickly and for me to become resistant to the bugs!  Clearly they think I’m tasty!  Also, this morning when I woke up my left eye was all swollen and stuck together with some gunk so I am assuming I got some dust in it maybe.  I haven’t brought any Optrex or an eye bath so am just bathing it in clean water for now. Again, any suggestions from my medical friends gratefully received! 

Through it all…

Despite the ongoing frustrations and pain we believe we are in the place God wants us to be but we are really relying on his strength and help to get us through and bring us comfort.  It is for him we are doing this and we trust he will equip us where he has called us and that we will not only survive here but thrive.  Your love, support, good wishes and prayers are helping us do that.

Today I read these verses which I found to be a real help to me and I pray they may also help you with whatever you are going through today:

‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.  I’ve called your name.  You’re mine.  When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.  When you are in rough waters you will not go down.  When you are between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end because I am God, your personal God, your Saviour. I paid a huge price for you…!  That’s how much you mean to me.  That’s how much I love you.’  Isaiah 43 vs 1-4 The Message

Small steps!

We have found today to be a difficult day as we try to get things sorted and get used to being so far away from loved ones, particularly at Christmas time.  It’s very surreal seeing Christmas decorations everywhere, people wearing Santa hats and hearing carols while it is in the 80s and 90s all the time!  We are accustomed to cold and dark Christmases so it’s odd to be ambling around in shorts and flip flops at this time of year! 

 This morning, one of the circuit stewards kindly escorted us on the bus into Georgetown to try to get a wireless modem to enable us to at least send emails at home until such time as we can get connected to a landline and full internet.  It was however a long and gruelling morning.  We got up at 5.15 to be ready to go at 6.30 and returned to the house at 1.15pm!  The bus journey was interesting as the driver sped along in the rain overtaking in some very dodgy places but we have had worse journeys in Kenya so felt fairly calm! 

 Once we were in Georgetown we went from place to place trying to purchase a modem and kept being told they didn’t sell them, had run out or were getting more in next week.  We finally found somewhere that sold them and then had to get across the city to find a SIM card which involved lining up in three different queues in the same building before we finally got it!  We have managed to get online and at least check our emails (albeit slowly!) so we are very thankful.

 Our freight is apparently due in on a plane tonight so we are hoping and praying that we can somehow get it delivered or collect it tomorrow but that may be wishful thinking! 

An update on Felicity the frog – she was becoming a bit of a nuisance and kept complaining every time I cleaned the draining board as it was killing all the little ants she likes to eat.  She was also leaving her little poos in the cupboard under the sink!  So we decided to put her out (gasp!) but then couldn’t catch her!  I think she heard us talking about getting rid of her because she jumped into the lounge and hid in one of the curtains every time we approached!  Mark eventually caught her and went downstairs to put her out but as soon as he tapped her out of the glass she jumped up the stairs and beat him back in!  So he’s put her out again and we are keeping the plug in the sink to stop her coming back up.  It’s sad but had to be done.  (I can hear you all worrying about my state of mind now!)

Oh and as for the bat, we think it is finding its way into the house as we keep finding bat droppings but up to now we haven’t spotted the actual bat again yet!  The joys of the tropics eh?!!

We have been overwhelmed by all your lovely email and Facebook messages and have loved receiving some actual mail in our little box so thank you everyone for your kindness and for not forgetting us! 

Bat revisited!

15.12.12

Well we thought the bat must have left the house as we couldn’t find it last night but when we came in yesterday afternoon we saw bat droppings at the bottom of the stairs so guessed it must be hiding somewhere!  Then while I was cooking tea it appeared which freaked me out and I hid while Mark tried to get it out.  It was a comical sight as Mark tried to ‘encourage’ it out of the door using the lid of a bin.  He said it was like a weird game of badminton which we have now of course renamed ‘batminton’!!  Finally we turned off the lights and opened the door and it flew out.  I’m sure it was more frightened than we were but nevertheless it was a little disconcerting!!

                    

Post!

 A wonderful thing happened yesterday afternoon as our post girl brought us some post from England.  Usually I get fed up with Christmas cards cluttering up the place but to receive some cards was the most amazing feeling and made me cry as it was at last a contact with home.  One of my friends kindly sent me a little Christmas fairy decoration which is the only decoration we have this year so far so she takes pride of place in our lounge.  I will treasure that fairy always as it was so precious to receive something that linked us with home and to think that someone had been so thoughtful.  The receipt of post has taken on such a huge significance now we are so far away so please do write to us if you possibly can.  The cards only seemed to have been posted about 7 – 10 days previously so it hasn’t taken too long. 

 School

I paid a visit to our local Primary school which is about 100 yards away up the road and although term had ended managed to meet some of the teachers and ask some questions about school life here.  It is very different to England and I will tell more about it another time.  The kids have broken up now until 7^th January so I won’t be able to get into schools until then which gives me chance to get settled in a bit and if our freight arrives to unpack properly! 

                 

Our manse

I thought you may just like to see a few pictures taken around our manse to give you an idea of where we are living.  Our home is lovely and very luxurious compared to a lot of houses here so we are very grateful to the local church for getting this all ready for us.

Our living area

Our bed...the mozzie net makes it look like a four poster! 

Mark in his study

Our kitchen

Our washing machine!

Outside our back door.  You can see the suspended washing line behind me.

Taken looking up out of our bedroom window

And looking down...once the rainy season gets underway this will just be water logged.

Taken at about 5.30 one morning...we have to get up very early now! 

Things we are thankful for:

• We have been given our TIN numbers which we need for our long stay permits.
• That we received some post from England.

Prayer points for today:

• To get phone and internet sorted.
• To get our freight safely.
• To get a car sorted.
• For our visas and work permits to be sorted quickly.

• Plus I have been bitten several times on my feet and one of the bites has caused the top of my right foot to swell and be quite painful so please pray that it subsides – plus any medical advice from my doctor and nurse friends would be gratefully received! 

One step forwards, two steps back!

14.12.12

We do feel we are making some progress but there are still a lot of frustrations and hurdles to be overcome.

On Wednesday we caught a local ‘bus’ into Mahaica village which is about a mile away.  These buses are the only means of public transport in Guyana and are little privately owned mini buses which should carry about 10 people but in reality carry many more plus bikes, baggage etc!  When we got on we thought it was full but as we passed people on the road we discovered there was always room for one more!  This cost us about 20p each for the journey so a good cheap ride. 

We managed to buy another mobile phone for me and get some more food though the local store doesn’t really sell anything fresh so I had to use a lot of ingenuity to make a meal out of what I had been able to buy.  We decided to walk back to the manse and it was good to be able to greet the locals on the road and in their houses.  We also introduced ourselves to the local post office staff and met the post girl who will be delivering any mail to our mail box. 

Our biggest frustration is that we cannot yet get a landline or internet in the house which means we can’t easily contact people.  There is a kind man from the local church trying to help us sort this out but everything here takes a lot of time to achieve!  Sadly, we may now not have connection before Christmas which I found upsetting. 

Yesterday we were taken into Georgetown and a fellow minister in the district helped us try to get some things sorted.  A very long and tiring day queuing patiently at various offices but a fruitful one.  When we got home there was a bat flying around the house which freaked me out a bit but we think it must have found its way out as we haven’t seen it again!  

 Here are some things we are thankful for:

• We managed to get a temporary one month driving pass (though it is irrelevant at the moment as we are still waiting for a car!)
• We applied for a tax identification number which is a number we will need to make any large purchases, apply for visas etc.
• We put in our applications for work permits and were told we will hear in two weeks though our colleague told us he put his in on 1^st September and is still waiting! 
• We opened a Guyana bank account and once we get internet hope to be able to transfer some money each month into it to save us getting charged each time we withdraw cash.
• We went to a pretty good sized supermarket and finally have some food in the house to make some basic meals!  I even managed to find some bacon!  Yay!  
• The plumber has been and we have a better flow of water now so can use the washing machine and wash more adequately.
• A lady from Mahaica church is coming to meet me today and take me to introduce me to the local Primary school head so that will be my first school contact and I am looking forward to that.  We also met a guy who works for the Guyana Bible Society and he gave me some children’s Bible colouring books that he hopes to get given free to every child in Guyana.  I will be able to take a sample to each head teacher that I meet to ask about their distribution so that feels like a great door opening and gives me a good starting point to introduce myself around the schools. 

These are our current frustrations:

• For our freight boxes…we keep hitting brick walls with this and are dependent on so many other factors before we can get them…there is a document we need from the freight company but with no internet access can’t easily email back and forth.
• We have no access to cash unless we go to the ATMs in Georgetown and that is an hour’s drive away and until we get a car are reliant on someone taking us.  We have used all the cash we got yesterday to pay a deposit to an engineer so now have no money for the internet café, phone top up cards or any more food until we get to the city again.  No-one accepts credit or debit cards so we need to operate in cash and at the moment it is hard to judge how much we need. 
• Lack of internet is the most upsetting as I want to be able to contact people easily and then I won’t feel so cut off.  I am feeling the pain of separation as the week goes on and long to be in regular contact again.
                                           
We realise that these frustrations are a daily battle for most people who live here and are very thankful for all the blessings we have despite the frustrations.  It is all making us realise how much we took for granted back in the UK. 


So we would appreciate your prayers for the following:
• To get phone and internet sorted.
• To get our freight safely.
• To get a car sorted.
• For our visas and work permits to be sorted quickly.