how many stories have you listened to?

Finally finding some time to read.
"This territory is rich but we need to develop it carefully. If we get rights to this land, we can develop it by ourselves. We have to go ahead and develop our own community. It is not that we are selfish, we are self-employed and believe development means becoming self-sufficient."
An Ammerindian from the Upper Mazaruni talking about development.

The book: Guyana, Fragile frontier, Loggers, miners and forest peoples. Marcus Colchester

Tribute to Guyana

lalala

big day

but too tired to write about it. will do so asap.

Kaieteur Falls, sideways, Guyana

breathtaking

VSOing, where?

Ok, so now it's official. It has actually been official since June, 15th, when I got an email with this:
That's a month and a day ago now. Unbelievable. Scary. Exciting.

What did I do when I read the name of the place? Googled it, of course! This is what Wiki had to say about "my" place:
"Mahdia is a small community in the Potaro-Siparuni region of Guyana, located at 5°16′N 59°9′W / 5.267°N 59.15°W / 5.267; -59.15, at an altitude of 415 metres (1,360 ft). Commerce is centred around the area's gold and diamond mining operations. As such it responds to and is affected by the economic booms and busts."

So, Mahdia is in the Potaro-Siparuni region. The red bit below:

"The population of Mahdia (c. 500) is made up of three groups. The Patamonas are an indigenous Amerindian tribe. The Coastlanders are residents from elsewhere in Guyana who have moved to the Madhia area. The Islanders are the immigrants and their descendants from certain Caribbean Islands, particularly, St Lucia and Dominica. Within recent times there has been an influx of a group that is referred to as “foreigners” by the other residents of the area.

Madhia is a regional administrative center. The community has a police station, and schools that provide nursery and primary education. Madhia has a commercial sector which includes dry goods shops, boutiques, a fuel station, two hotels and a brothel. The area is also serviced by several trucks from the coast. These trucks travel to Madhia several times each week and sell vegetables, groceries and other supplies. There is a well in the area which is not functional. Residents consequently collect rainwater for domestic use.

Mahdia is accessible by road from Bartica, the Konawaruk Road (links Linden to Mabura) and from the capital, Georgetown, via a pontoon crossing on the Essequibo River at Mango Landing. Mahdia has a landing strip (Airport Code MHA) for small planes."

Info from here

I'm happily PAFfing :-)

"Average temperature ranges in Georgetown are from 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit) to 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) all year."

ai

help... second, third and fourth thoughts.
too much going on at the moment, so I'm not able to write it here... keep your fingers crossed for me, will ya?

placement accepted

In the end of April I was offered a placement in Walewale, Ghana.
Here it is:me and my sea: 15hours away from each other.
but I'm expecting Walewale to make up for that with an unbelievably starry sky for example!
§*§
here is some information I found on care.org:

Population:	20.5 million
Urban Population:	36%
Major Ethnic and Linguistic Groups:	Akan - 44% Moshi-Dagomba - 16% Ewe - 13% Ga - 8% Gurma - 3%
Religions:	Christian - 63% Traditional beliefs - 21% Muslim - 16%
Population Growth Rate:	1.45%
Life Expectancy:	56.5 years
Infant Mortality:	53 per 1,000 live births
Under Five Mortality:	100 per 1,000 live births
Maternal Mortality Rate:	210 per 100,000 live births
GNP Per Capita:	$290
Percentage of Literate Adult Males:	83%
Percentage of Literate Adult Females:	67%
Percentage Population With Access To Safe Drinking Water:	73%
Country Description: CARE USA opened a country office in Ghana in 1994. In addition to HIV/AIDS prevention, CARE is developing programming in agriculture and natural resources, health care and girls' education. Since July 1996, programming in Ghana has been managed under CARE Togo.

some people volunteer as a way of running away from their lives.
those people usually need to run away from volunteering shortly after getting there.
you cannot run away from your life.
thank goodness:)

one of these red bits will be my home soon

sorry, no time to blog around, but here's the link you should follow while I'm unable to update this.
I still don't know where my placement is, but will soon be finding out!
meanwhile, follow this link and do your bit:)