Easter week photos

Here is this week in pictures!

Palm Sunday first of all - we had a palm sunday rally for all the kids from the circuit and had great fun with them! 



Arriving at church after the procession
 

The banner they had made for the occasion

Processing behind Willy the donkey

We wrote things we wanted to thank God for on balloons and the kids had great fun waving them around!

Nettie getting confused as usual!

Rapt attention for Nettie!

Teacher Carolyn addressing the kids!

Happy faces all round - that's what we want to see!



And now for some pics of the Easter activity mornings...first of all Mahaica on Monday when 35 kids came...

Colouring happily

Loving the action songs!

Nettie is out again!

Creative prayer activity

Jelly challenge which has now been renamed the 'Jello Challenge'!

Making an easter egg treasure hunt - I had to explain what a treasure hunt is first!

Making an easter basket
 

and here are some of Catherineville and Mahaicony...

Sweet children praying

Cheeky boy Kenrick

Helping the kids with the crafts

Listening carefully to Mark and Nettie

Nettie entertaining the kids during snack time!

Little Venus sharing her snack with Nettie

 

Easter activity morning

This morning we had the first of our three activity mornings in Mahaica.  I had prepared enough crafts for 100 children but as we had invited all the kids from the two local schools (over 500!) I was a bit nervous about whether we would have enough and had to trust God that we would be able to cope with whatever came our way!  As it turned out we had 35 children which was a perfect amount as we had plenty of craft stuff, snacks and room to spread out!   We were also very thankful that the electricity held all morning so we were able to show a clip of the film ‘Miracle Maker’ and use our CDs for the songs as well as keep the fans on all morning!   I took photos so will put some on the blog once we get to some wifi! 

We had a fun time – as well as the DVD, we sang some songs, Nettie made an appearance with a bouncy rubber egg, we made some Easter baskets, badges, bookmarks and cards, played the ‘jelly challenge’ (which we have now renamed the ‘Jello challenge’ as that is what they call jelly here) and talked about the first Easter story and the ladies from the church brought along some lovely fruit juice drink and cookies for the children to enjoy. 

It made me laugh thinking about the contrast with running things like this in the UK.  We had no idea who was coming and the children just trickled in from about 8.30 onwards.  We had no list of names, no-one was registered, we had no contact details for their parents and no-one came to collect them so they all just disappeared up the road at 12.00!  None of the children made any fuss about making the crafts but just got on with it, no-one complained they didn’t like the drink or cookies or that they were allergic to anything!  It is all so much simpler here! 

One elderly lady from the church walked all the way to Mahaica market this morning to buy some cookies and drink for the children – we have walked it several times and it is hard going - about half an hour each way in the heat, and for her to carry a heavy bag back was such a sacrificial gift – not to mention that she is very poor so buying the stuff was really like the widow’s mite.  Bless her! 

Two more activity mornings to do in two other villages so will let you know how they go! 

Palm Sunday

Yesterday we had a circuit children’s rally at one of our churches which apparently they have every Palm Sunday.  It started with a procession behind a donkey carrying a little boy dressed as Jesus and then Mark and I led an all age service for the kids.  We had Nettie with us and lots of balloons and a fun time was had by all!  We finished the service within the hour and I think they are used to it lasting at least 2 hours so they seemed mightily relieved!! 

Photos of fun day out!

Here are some photos from our day out and other random shots in a random order!  Enjoy! 



Mark by the old bandstand in Georgetown botanical gardens

The campsite by the creek where we hope to bring the youth for a weekend in August

Petal and Debbie relaxing

A toucan at Georgetown zoo

 

This zoo was built in the 50s or 60s and has had its heyday!  We only paid 60p each to get in and got what we paid for!!
 

A croc at the zoo

A pool at a hotel where we had lunch - we were desperate to go in but it is just for residents so may have to try to book a night there!

Parrot at the zoo

 

Having lunch at the Duke Lodge hotel

Airy Hall Methodist chapel - it needs rebuilding

Children respectfully listening to a gentle song in Easter service

Trying out our 'chair of doom' illustration at Helena

Children at Helena where we took an Easter service

Campsite at Splashmins resort

Us with one of the youth

Youth at Splashmins

Shady areas to sit and cool off

Mark on a pedaloe at Splashmins

Having a coke by the creek - they have made a little pretend beach by the creek
 

The other helpers cooling off

The water is brown at the edge and black as it gets deeper - a bit creepy swimming in black water when you can't see what is in it! 

Splashmins resort

Excited young people on the bus - they don't have holidays and this is their one day out a year

At the children's home

Devotions at Mahaicony primary school

Mahaicony

Some of the youth  - I noticed several of the girls wearing shower hats in the water!

Going on a boat to the other side of the creek to visit the campsite for our potential youth weekend

Relaxing at the campsite - not sure how I will feel sleeping in a tent here - no water or electricity and who knows what creatures lurking!  Eek!

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! 

Children's home visit

Today we had two firsts!  This afternoon I went into Gibson school to begin a series of ‘self esteem’ sessions with some boys from difficult backgrounds including some of the orphans from our local children’s home.  The school gave me a group of about 20 boys, all of whom were reluctant to speak!  So this is going to be a fun course!  Ha!  Today I managed to get them to tell me their names (though because of the accent I don’t know if I heard many of them correctly so have asked the teacher to write me a list!) and said things we liked and things we are good at.  I’ve got lots of games and activities lined up for the next 5 weeks so hoping and praying they will feel better about themselves at the end of it.

Then later this afternoon we went into the children’s home to lead ‘devotions’ – we had tried going in there before but found we needed permission from children’s services or the equivalent and have been waiting and chasing and trying to get the permission ever since!  Finally today we managed to get in there – it was a lovely time with the kids and staff – the youngest child there is apparently only a month old and the eldest is 17.  We also spotted a few special needs children and teenagers who were most definitely being bullied which was a bit upsetting to see.  One girl who looked about 14 but was very small and I think had Downs syndrome was being hit by a young boy and came to stand near me so I held her hand and let her sing with me which she liked and then wouldn’t let me go!  I think some of them are a bit starved of love and affection. 

That’s not only true of the orphans: when we go in to do bible club we have a queue of children waiting for a kiss and a hug as we leave.  Bless them! 

Mothers’ day was a hard day for me – in fact it took me by surprise, as I never anticipated that it would be upsetting.  I really missed our girls and our mummies on that day!  :-(

We met with the two youth groups from Mahaicony and Mahaica on Sunday and are planning services for the respective churches with the youth.  They are full of ideas and can’t believe we have given them free reign to change anything they want to and make it their own – so long as it is Christian and they keep their clothes on!!  HA!