Driving in Guyana - watch out for the dead horse!

Now that I have started driving in Guyana I thought I would try to describe what it is like out there on the roads! 

You have to keep your wits about you at all times and maintain a good sense of humour otherwise you are sunk!  The driving here is at best random and at worst highly dangerous! 

Firstly there are the actual roads.  There are huge potholes in random places so you have to be really careful to avoid them otherwise it could cause great damage to your car.  At night these are even harder to see as there is little lighting and cars come the opposite way with full beam on making it practically impossible to see the road ahead.   Also, there are no white lines painted on the roads so at night it is hard to see the edge or the middle of the road.  When the rain has been heavy some of the roads get flooded really quickly so that can be another hazard especially when the potholes fill up and you can’t see how deep they are!

Then you have watch out for random obstacles crossing your path – it could be dogs, cows, goats, horses, donkeys, horses or donkeys pulling carts, bicycles (often coming the wrong way towards you on your side of the carriageway!), children, dead animals in the road (we have seen dead cats L, dogs, snakes, horses and other unidentified animals in the road – including vultures eating the roadkill!).

After that you have watch out for the other drivers and often have to try to anticipate what any driver might do at any given moment – usually something really haphazard.  Here are some of the things people regularly do:

• Reverse onto the road or towards you on your side of the road.
• Do sudden U turns.
• Stop or turn off without indicating.
• Drive forwards towards you on your side of the road.
• Overtake someone who is already overtaking someone else, sometimes when someone is coming the other way! 
• Blind you with full beam headlights at night.
• Create 3 or sometimes 4 lanes while waiting at traffic lights which actually only have 2 lanes.
• Undertake you on the grass verge.
• Throw bags of rubbish – cans, boxes etc out of their window while driving.
• Indicate that they are turning but turn the opposite way or don’t turn at all.

So as you can see we have to really concentrate when driving and really appreciate all prayers for our protection! 

Tomorrow we have our appointment to try to get our visas/work permits so would value your prayers that this all goes smoothly and we are allowed to stay.  Also, we have to attend the Guyana Methodist District Conference starting tomorrow and running until Friday so we have four long and potentially hard days ahead of us.  We have to go to West Demerara for this so we are staying with our boss in Georgetown to cut the journey time from about 2 hours to about an hour each day.  Please remember us in your prayers for this – we are looking forward to having a relaxing day off on Saturday to recover!  

 

Also, still no landline or internet so don't give up praying on those ones!! Thank you.

Literacy

I’ve been hearing lots of stories about problems with literacy here.  We were told that a lot of young people are worried about coming to church because they can’t read and are worried they may have to read out loud.  Apparently some years ago the Government took reading off the curriculum but have recently put it back on as they have realised that a lot of kids are leaving school without basic literacy skills. 

When I offered my help in one of the local schools the head immediately asked me to help with phonics and reading as she had heard that in England we are good at teaching those things.  She has asked me to work with a group of 26 year 6s and 24 year 4s who still can’t read.  I feel privileged to help with that but sad that so many of them are still struggling at that age. 

I have asked for help from some of my colleagues back in the UK with emailing me resources and hope that some of them do send me some stuff to help me out!! 

Home alone

The past two days I have been home alone while Mark has been at ministerial session of conference.  I got pretty bored and lonely  - back in England when Mark was away I used to get in my car, go shopping, visit friends, watch TV, bake and all sorts of activities but I was trapped here with nothing to do and no-one to talk to so had in-growing speech by the end of each day!! 

Mark managed to get his ‘journaling’ done but was disheartened and frustrated to be told he had to do another hour and a half of journaling straight after his first session.  Now he has pages of notes which I am going to help him type up on Monday ready for conference on Tuesday.  A seemingly pointless waste of time serving no useful purpose. 

Last night I got an overpriced taxi (£16 when the bus only costs 60p!) into Georgetown to meet Mark at another minister’s trial service – got a bit bored especially in the 52 minute sermon which I thought would never end!   When we got back to Mahaica we tried out a mobile chicken van selling food similar to KFC – got some fried chicken, fries and coke for a healthy supper for about £5!   That made up for the taxi rip off!! 

Day off

Today we finally have a day off together and are about to head off to the hotel for lunch again!  Woop!  I was very excited to receive a copy of Sainsbury’s magazine through the post from my friend in England – I am bringing it with me to the hotel to read by the pool!  She is going to send me it every month – hooray!  I so love getting post as it links me with people back home and means so much.  We also received some DVDs from another friend this week so finally have something to watch tonight!  Hooray! 

 

 

Getting on with things!

On Tuesday I went with Mark and one of the lay workers to visit some more shut ins around the circuit.  One of the ladies we visited was 106 years old!  Amazing to meet someone who has lived so long here. 

Yesterday we had a meeting with both the lay workers who are in our circuit and have arranged some Easter activity mornings for children in the various villages in the week leading up to Easter so I am excited to be planning those. 

 

I miss my hairdresser!

Today Mark has gone to the ministerial session of conference, which is all day today and tomorrow as well.  He left at 6.50 this morning and won’t be back before 9 tonight so I am left home alone for two very long days with nowhere to go and not a lot to do – had a go at dying my hair – my first time ever and I think it looks horrendous!!  It said, ‘light golden brown’ on the pack but it looks really dark and I think it ages me a lot!!  I so miss my hairdresser and my regular cuts and highlights!  Thankfully none of you can see me!! 

Bricks without straw

Tomorrow Mark has a nightmare job to do as at their sessions of conference here they do 'journalling'. That is instead of just minutes of each session, the ministers have to take it in turns to record verbatim what has been said in a discussion. He then has to type it up before the next day's session and everyone hears it and then decides if that was really what was said and if they disagree he has to retype it again.

Thankfully, Mark only has one session to do as he is new but he is so depressed by it and I feel so heavy hearted about it for him as it is an IMPOSSIBLE task. Imagine how fast people talk in a group discussion, then imagine trying to write down EVERY word said, then imagine a really strong Caribbean accent which means we can hardly understand people who talk slowly and directly to us let alone in a heated discussion and you can see it really is bricks without straw.

Mark tried to complain and say he can't record that quickly and they just told him he has to develop his own shorthand. The reason they do this is in case anyone brings any litigation so they have a complete record of what was said.  We think that if they want it recorded the logical thing would be to use a tape recorder or pay a trained secretary to do it.  So that is tomorrow morning so please pray as he is really down about that and I'm not there so can’t help him. :-(

Good news!

We have had good news from Emily that she has found a flat on the Isle of Wight so will be moving in on 16^th Feb – she needs a bed and other bits of furniture so if anyone can help do let us know!!

We've got a car!

On Saturday Mark took the hire car back, full of intrepidation, and thankfully our car really WAS ready for collection so he drove it home again!  We could hardly believe it!  So now we don’t have to go into Georgetown every week to find enough cash and renew the hire!  Hooray and praise God!  And it also means I can drive now so I had a little practice run and managed not to kill any animals or drive down any potholes!!

The engineer drove by to look at the box to install the landline but said the trees around it were too overgrown so he drove off again! Now we are not sure who has to trim the trees so we are waiting again!  Ho hum! 

Sunday’s ups and downs!

On Sunday morning we went to two more Covenant services.  I have mentioned before that they usually have no musical accompaniment to the hymns other than a drum but at the second service of the morning we were encouraged to see a man appear with a guitar.  What then ensued was hilarious!  They still started the hymns off in their own way with their own version of the tune and then the guitar man joined in after the song had started, playing in a different key to the singing!  However, everyone seemed to enjoy being ‘accompanied’ even if it bore no resemblance to the song being sung!

In the afternoon (I asked for 3pm prompt) I had called for a meeting of the local Sunday school leaders, church stewards and anyone interested in children’s work and was very disappointed and discouraged that by 3pm only one lady had arrived.  She said she was the cradle roll secretary but hasn’t seen the cradle roll for a couple of years so it hasn’t been updated.  At 3.15 I called one of the stewards and she said she wasn’t coming and didn’t know who was.  At 3.30 the young girl who leads the Sunday school appeared but by then it was too late to have a proper meeting – I had been hoping to find out what people’s views were and what they wanted me to help with but I am really none the wiser – apart from realising that there seems to be no heart for children’s work here.  Very sad.  L

I went over to the Sunday school at 4pm and taught the kids a couple of my action songs, which they absolutely LOVED!  It was so uplifting to see their great big grins and to catch a glimpse of their vitality when they were enjoying something.  That gave me hope that we can change some things here and make life more enjoyable for all ages!!

Wildlife

 Mark, meanwhile had been to meet the youth and leaders at another church where the young people seemed keen to change the way services are run to make them more interesting and lively so Mark was able to discuss that with the leaders who made the right noises.  On the way back he passed an enormous snake coiled up in the road and wasn’t sure if it was dead or in the road consuming road kill!  Ew!! 

Last night at bedtime when letting down the mozzie net we spotted an enormous spider which Mark had to kill because it was too fast to catch.  It seems that life at All Nations was good preparation in more ways than one!

We have seen all manner of creatures in and around the manse – here is the definitive list!!  

Outside - cows, donkeys, goats, dogs (lots!), cats, horses, deer, chickens, bats, crabs (in the gulleys out on the road), frogs, lizards and many many lovely birds including some pretty impressive birds of prey. I really want to find out what they all are but there doesn’t seem to be a book anywhere and no-one knows when I ask them! 

Inside – spiders, cockroaches, ants, lizards, frogs and one stray bat!!  We are taking them all in our stride!  Amazingly, they are far less stressful than the bureaucracy, paperwork and rigidity of some of the people here!  

 

 

Light Relief!

2.1.13

Yesterday morning we were feeling really low and fed up that we are hitting so many brick walls but then three good things happened to lift our spirits! 

Firstly, a guy from the Guyana Bible Society visited us to drop off the 850 children’s Bibles I had asked for.  We had first met this man while applying for our visas right back in our first week here and he had told us that the GBS were trying to get these ‘make your own’ children’s Bibles into the hands of every Primary school child in the country.  He had given me some samples to show head teachers and I gave one to each of the three heads I visited last week.  All the heads were keen to have them hence the delivery.  They are good quality books, (paid for by overseas donors) each page telling a bible story with the beginning of a picture that the child can complete and colour to tell the story in their own way.  

After unloading he came in for some water and told us about his work – he said that they have a lot of resources but no-one to make contact with schools to get the books out and so he was excited that I am already getting into local schools and starting to get some of them distributed.  That gave me some encouragement that maybe I can be useful here!  He also asked about how we were getting on and prayed for us and our girls back home – we have had no pastoral care really since being here so it was lovely to be prayed for and have someone show an interest in how we were coping.

Then when we went out I found a letter from my Mum in the mail box which cheered me up!  Receiving post has taken on so much more significance since being here as it links us with home. 

Thirdly, we went to try out a hotel I had been researching to have lunch and were pleasantly surprised to find it was clean, well ordered, good service and tasty food!  The going to try to book a night there once a month (funds allowing!) to give us something to look forward to and to have some downtime in nice surroundings!  The rooms even have hot water so we would be able to have a proper shower!  Woohoo!   After our lunch we sat by the pool in the shade and listened to some tasteful jazz music they were playing in the bar!  We felt like we had stumbled into normal life for a couple of hours!  It gave us such a boost to our sagging spirits!   When I can get to proper internet I have lots of photos to upload to give you an idea. 

Today we have been told the engineer will ‘try’ to come and install the landline but we are not full of hope about that.  Also, we had a call saying the car is ready apart from the insurance and Mark has had to go into Georgetown to hand back the hire car but we are nervous that the insurance won’t in fact be sorted and we’ll be left without any car at all.  It’s all a bit wearing but we continue to pray that we will be enabled to be ‘content in all circumstances’ as it says in Phillipians 4 vs 11 – 13 – whether having plenty or nothing to keep being content.  We can only do that with God’s help and pray he will indeed give us the strength to endure. 

One month done!

11.1.13

So one month in and we are beginning to feel more settled but there are still a lot of things causing us frustration.

We have been spending the last couple of days trying to get some things sorted out.  On Wednesday we managed to extend our temporary driving permit for an extra month and found a shop that sells stationery and craft stuff that even takes Visa (a rare shop in Guyana we’ve realised!) where we managed to get a portable CD player to use in schools and churches.  We also called in to the garage to find out about the delay in getting our car and were told that they were still waiting for the licensing people to sort the documentation but that the National Licensing Office had run out of paper to print them on!  Unbelieveable!

Visit to the British Embassy

Then yesterday we went back into Georgetown to meet the Deputy High Commissioner at the British Embassy to introduce ourselves and find out about life in Guyana from his perspective.  It was a positive and interesting meeting.  His main advice to us was not to overstay our visas – he said he currently has 5 Brits in prison here, 3 of whom are there because they overstayed.  He said the authorities are pretty strict about it and if you have overstayed they will arrest you and put you straight in jail for a year’s sentence.  Eek!  So we are determined to ensure that doesn’t happen and will leave the country if necessary if our paperwork is not in order, even if it is only to wait around in Trinidad or stay with friends in Florida for a week before coming back again! From what we have heard about prison conditions here it is not a place you want to go for even a night let alone a year! 

 We asked him what people do for fun and he said really there isn’t anything to do by way of leisure activities and said isolation is a real problem.  As we suspected!   He said that the only worse place in South America to be sent to is Venezuela as you get shot at when you leave the house here but he said Guyana is the next hardest place to be.  We were encouraged by that as we realise you have to be really hard to survive here so maybe we are not as soft as we thought!

Random facts about Guyana!

A few other interesting facts he told us:

• We talked about wages and he said a typical policeman would be earning about G$ 40000 per month which is about £133 so it helps explain why they survive by accepting bribes. 
• He also told us that 80% of people in Guyana who get degrees go on to leave the country – the so called ‘brain drain’ we had heard about.  It is really sad that so many leave instead of staying to help the country improve. 
• We also learned that there are no copyright laws here so that is why you can’t purchase any original books, CDs or DVDs here – all are pirate copies or photocopies of texts from other countries.  This sadly means that most people here have never been able to read an original book or watch a quality film.  We bought a DVD to try to watch of the film ‘Lincoln’ and it was AWFUL!  Clearly recorded in a cinema with people coughing, sniffing, rustling, phones going off and the camera jiggling around and going out of focus and the sound was appalling!  We won’t be doing that again and look forward to people sending us DVDs from home to watch!

Post office revisited

After our meeting we went off to try to collect another parcel from the post office fully expecting another 3 hour wait!  This time couldn’t have been more different!  It was the same lady who served us last time but this week Mark was wearing his clerical shirt and dog collar and she couldn’t have been more helpful!  If anything she was really sycophantic and VERY keen to please him!!!  Ahem!! ;-)  We were in and out in 25 mins this time!  Still a long time to collect a parcel compared to the UK but much better than last time.  Clearly he has to wear his uniform every time we go!   One of the parcels was from Jo and Ayo and had the CD of their wedding photos in it so it was very exciting! 

Car, phone and internet issues

We went back to the car showroom and were told the licensing office STILL had no paper so we still can’t get our car and it looks like we will now have to rent the car for another week which means a lot of hassle and expense again and it all seems to be for no good reason which is really frustrating.  I have to wait in tomorrow while Mark goes into Georgetown as the phone engineer says he ‘will try’ to come and install the landline.  We have however found out that once that is finally done we have to apply again separately to get internet connection which is an added frustration.

We feel that we are hitting brick wall after brick wall and are spending so much time and energy trying to sort out actual living that we have little time left to actually do the work we came to do so we pray it will eventually get sorted.  We are fighting anger, despair and cynicism as each day is filled with new tests to our fortitude.  L

The only way is up!

8.1.13

Well as you know I have been pretty low the last few weeks and finding all this new life extremely hard going – much harder than I ever imagined it would be to adjust to so many new things and experience the loss of so much that I hold dear.  I have also felt quite isolated and lonely with no-one to talk to really and nothing much to do.  I have so appreciated all the contact from home via the internet and it has made everyone feel a lot closer and made me feel I am not here on my own! 

Yesterday the new school term started here and I devised a questionnaire to take round with me to the various schools: the purpose of this was to find out information to collate as no record of school details is held by anyone, and also to find out whether any school would appreciate my help or input! 

I introduced myself to three head teachers yesterday in and near our village and left them a questionnaire and I managed to collect two of them today.  Both schools have asked me to run a lunchtime Bible club, one has asked me to teach some phonics and reading and one has asked me to go in to talk on a 1-1 basis with pupils, staff and parents who are going through difficult times so I am really excited to actually be doing something and beginning to fulfil the purpose for which I came!   There are about 12 more schools in this circuit so I am cautious about offering myself to all of them as I don’t want to spread myself too thinly!  Probably better to start with these three and then get locals involved in helping and move on to other schools later. 

 I have also planned a meeting this Sunday afternoon with the Mahaica Sunday school leaders and those who might be interested in helping to discuss ways to make the Sunday school exciting and engaging for the children who come and hopefully attract some new children along.  I am hoping to introduce some lively action songs, some games and craft activities – nothing too complicated but at the moment they are not very active and I am concerned that the children (especially some of the boys) are not enjoying coming. 

This morning was an interesting morning as I accompanied Mark and one of the lay workers to the homes of some of the ‘shut ins’ (a term for people who are housebound!) so that Mark could administer communion to them.  It was a privilege to go into their homes and meet some of the very elderly and infirm people in the circuit but it was a long and gruelling morning in the heat!  After being out visiting for about 3 hours wandering around in the sun with no drink, I was beginning to feel very peculiar and getting a real headache but then someone offered us some juice and little meat and vegetable pies (called patties) to refresh us.  What a Godsend that was!  Never has Sunny Delight tasted so good!

STILL awaiting the car documentation to be sorted so please pray for that or on Saturday we will have to rent the car for a fourth week.  Also waiting and hoping for an engineer to come and install a landline and internet for us so then I can upload photos, videos etc and even maybe watch some clips of the news!