The beginning of the schools work :-)

29.1.13

Today we went into Gibson Primary school for the first of our lunchtime Bible clubs.  I had got the children’s ‘make your own Bibles’ from the Bible society ready to give out and yesterday called the head teacher to ask how many children to expect at the club out of the 321 children in the school.  She told me it could be anything up to 300!  So we went out and bought lots of coloured pencils and arrived with 324 Bibles in the car just in case!

When we arrived some very small but exceedingly strong children helped Mark carry the boxes of Bibles upstairs, I set up my CD player and we were ready to begin.  We started with only about 100 children (ha ha…only 100!!) in the room all squashed onto benches and I told them a Bible story and taught them the song ‘Great Big God’ which they loved!  Gradually more and more children arrived, drawn by the sound of the music and by the end of our half hour session we had about 250 children crammed into the room!  It was chaos but great fun!  We gave out the Bibles and they all coloured the first page of it and have promised to look after them and keep them safely for next week! 

A good time was had by all!  Even one of the teachers exclaimed ‘This is fun!’ and said she looks forward to us coming back next week.  As we tidied away at the end of the session many of the children, some looking like little street urchins and some without shoes gathered round for a hug and a kiss.  It was so moving and I just LOVED it!  I can’t wait to go back next week.  (Mark took some photos which will follow once I get to some wifi!)

On our way home we found the Mahaica children’s home and went in to introduce ourselves to the manager.  We asked if we could come in once a month to take a little service and sing some songs and she was delighted.  There are 60 children who live there and we are going in next Tuesday afternoon.  I can’t wait to meet them all.  The home is close to Gibson Primary so we may meet some of the children we saw at lunchtime. 

THIS is what we came to do and I am so happy to finally start getting out there into the schools and meeting the children.

Missionary girl Barbie!

We were laughing the other night at some of the things that we are beginning to take in our stride that would have once freaked us out!  Here are some examples…

• When I went to the loo in the night, I spotted a frog in the bathroom sink and just thought, ‘Oh there’s a frog’ and went back to bed! 
• When the lizards run around the house we just ignore them now!  (I noticed they change colour according to the background they are on!)
• When the power goes off, as it does frequently, we just get our torches and carry on with whatever we were doing. 
• When some foods are not available I just make something else with whatever we happen to have.
• I just wipe up the ants off the kitchen surfaces now as a matter of course and every food item is inside a plastic ‘zip lock’ bag to protect it!
• We just shoo the cows out of the garden in the evenings when we need to lock the gate.
• When the shower attachment is just a dribble we still manage to get clean.  It’s amazing how little water you actually do need to stay clean!

Some of the things that would have got us stressed or irritated, or just surprised us in the UK are now just a part of everyday life!  I think that means we are settling in!   

 

 

 

We have got our visas!

We went to the ‘Passport and Immigration Office’ 2pm today expecting a long wait.  We were ushered in ahead of the long queue of people trying to leave Guyana to an office for people wanting to come into Guyana – the queue for that only consisted of us two!  Make of that what you will!  So we handed them the letter of authorisation from the Ministry of Home Affairs and they told us to come back at 4pm.  We went to amuse ourselves for a couple of hours…had a drink at Pizza Hut (which looks like it was last renovated in about 1970!  Salad bar not refrigerated and all open to the flies! Pizzas looked decent though!) then went to our regular supermarket ‘Nigel’s’ to get our week’s shop before heading back to the office to wait.  When we arrived at 3.30 they had our passports stamped and ready to go! 

The funny thing was that we were told we could only have a visa for two years up to January 2015 and would then need to reapply for the last 6 months.  However, when the Ministry of Home Affairs typed up our authorisation letter they made a typing error and put 2016 so now our visas are good until 12^th Jan 2016 so we don’t have to go back again!  Hooray!  A real answer to prayer and great that the disorganisation worked in our favour this time!  So now we can legally stay here and settle – we can now flatten the freight boxes and store them and start to buy some furniture and things for our home. 

So now we have a car and visas…next thing to pray for…driving permits and the ongoing saga of waiting for a landline and internet connection!  

Conference Rally

On the Sunday following conference they hold what is called the ‘Conference Rally’ at a theatre in Georgetown.  This is a service for everyone in the district – churches hire mini buses to get all their members to the service and dress up for the occasion.  Even I wore a dress and heels for the event!

The service was about four hours long – we must be getting used to it now as at last year’s rally it really got to me but now we are just learning to take it in our stride and I didn’t even need to go to the toilet!  I was asked to lead a ‘children’s moment’ so tried to do something interesting and have a lively song!  They didn’t look as terrified of me as they did last year so we’re making progress!

After a lunch break the people re-assembled for an inter-circuit Bible memorisation quiz, which we found painful.   Children in each circuit had had to learn 20 Bible verses by heart then had to have elimination contests so that each circuit had one child to represent them.  Thankfully for our circuit no child wanted to do it – a blessed relief for them no doubt!  So the circuit representatives were tested on the bible verses – I found it excruciating to watch the poor little mites being publicly humiliated like that – it was ok if they got it right but when they got it wrong there were groans from the audience and the ‘quiz master’ just said, ‘No that’s wrong’ – not even ‘Well tried sweetie!’  I do hope I get to have a say in this event next year! 

A long week!

26.1.13

Visas

On Tuesday morning we went to the ministry of home affairs to try to sort out our visas.  After a very long wait and after making payments of about £90 each, we were told that we would be able to have a visa to stay for 2 years (up to Jan 2015).  We were then given a letter of authorisation – we thought that was done and dusted but found we have to now take that letter to the passport and immigration office to have our passports stamped which we will endeavour to do on Monday.  We’ll worry about the extra 6 months nearer the time! 

Conference

Each January the Methodist church holds a four-day district conference with representatives from each circuit present.  This year the conference was held in the West Demerara circuit, which is about 2 hours away from our home.  To cut the journey time down we stayed at the home of our boss in Georgetown.  It has been a long and tiring week!  We were in conference from about 9 in the morning until about 8 at night – the sessions are drawn out and there is a lot of discussion about small points of order so we found it very frustrating at times. 

I compared it to a game of snakes and ladders – we keep thinking we are moving on through the notes but then we suddenly go back to a previous point and discuss it again.  Then we move on and think we are getting somewhere and then go back again, maybe to a completely different part that we discussed days ago!  We have found it really difficult and would love to have a go at chairing it and move things along for everyone’s sake! 

Yesterday the conference was meant to end at 3pm and overran until 4.30pm which was a pleasant surprise as last year when we were here visiting it overran until 9 in the evening on the final day!  We had a meal and speeches of thanks were given and we finally got home last night about 8pm exhausted!  A day off today and we are going to the hotel for a quiet lunch – hooray!

 
New avenues to explore

We have been told that in Mahaica there is a children’s home for ‘displaced’ children.  Some of these are orphans but others have been put there while their parents go abroad to work.  I felt really sad to hear about it and am keen to go and make myself known there to see if I can help out in any way. 

Apparently there is also a home for disabled children in our village which I am keen to visit – none of these children go to school but stay at the home all the time – we were told that there is a mixture of physical and mental disabilities so I am very interested to see what provision is made for these children educationally. 

We were also told there is a secondary school in Mahaica that I have not yet found – it is apparently a school where children go who are not clever enough to go to a good secondary school so again I am keen to get in there and find out what sort of education is being offered.  Oh my goodness there is so much to do!  All of this excites me as I really want to use my time here wisely and fruitfully and make a difference if I can to as many children as possible with God’s help.  The frustration is that there is SO much to be done and I am only one person with limited resources so I have to find out what God wants me to do and what is the most important and can have the most impact. 

Some photos at last!



We are staying at the home of our boss in Georgetown while the Methodist conference is on and she has wifi (yay!) so finally I am putting up some random photos for those of you who haven't seen them yet!  Sorry about the random order - this blog seems to have a mind of its own! 

Piles of rubbish in the streets here everywhere you look.  Very sad.

Practically every street corner has it's own little dump complete with dogs rummaging in the rubbish and sometimes beggars.

Flowers in our garden - the cows love eating these given half a chance to get in!

The garden just after the 'boy' had cut the grass!

The hotel where we can have a nice relaxing lunch and use the pool if we stay the night.

We didn't go in the pool but even sitting near it made us feel relaxed!

Sitting in the hotel bar listening to some tasteful jazz and feeling human!

The hotel lobby and courtyard

Taken from the sea wall when the tide was in - very muddy! 

More piles of rubbish by the side of the road.

Rubbish fills every river - we were told that all the drainage is blocked by 'polystyrene and dead dogs'!  Hence the flooding is bad in the rainy season!

A little tottering house - someone lives here!  Amazing!

 

Me trying to make shortbread without proper equipment or ingredients and no temperature guage on oven!!
 

Mark chilling on our balcony with a coke!  All the houses here have balconies as they are raised from the ground - it makes a cool outdoor sitting area!

A nice cup of tea on the balcony - got bitten about 3 times while having the tea!!

An interesting hawk like bird in our garden.  The birds here are amazing!  Just wish I knew what they were all called!

Outside one of the schools - at this one I am going to be running a lunctime bible club and also doing 1-1 work with children from difficult backgrounds.

At this school I am going to be doing a bible club and also some reading/phonics lessons with children from years 4 and 6 who still can't read.

This is our nearest school - there is already a club and feeding programme here so looks like I won't be needed at this one!

 

The sky taken from our house - when you look up it's really pretty!











 

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!!