Raquel in Guyana

X Marks the Spot

2011-11-24T14:37:00.019-04:00

And the spot is definitely Kopinang. The most amazing village I have been to in Guyana. Why?

An Orange is an Orange and an orange is Orange

Oranges and tangerines are actually orange and as juicy as drinking juice right out of the fruit itself. This as opposed to the green and dry fruits we get around the rest of the country.

Initiative

People are getting out there and working hard for the improvement of their lives. I saw an active PTA (Parent/Teacher Association) fixing the school's roof and building extra latrines around the school, with money they had fundraised and/or invested themselves.

The School Feeding Programme is a World Bank funded project that provides a hot meal a day for every child in the hinterland schools which applied for this programme. It's more of a match funding project and the WB is preparing to pull out next year from reports I heard. Does this mean children will stop getting a hot meal every day? Yes, in most cases, I'm afraid. Certainly not the case at Kopinang Primary School. The committee has everything sorted out or underway.

Some good old play a day keeps the doctor away

Kopinang Creek aka the shower aka the playground

Ignoring the fact that I was fascinated by the idea of having a toilet, a shower and a kitchen with running water, I was so delighted by the rocky creek just below the house, that I ended up never using the shower.

Every morning I'd go for a bath in the creek and most of the days children would be swimming, paddling up and downstream in their miniature canoes, before heading out to school.

One of the many things I've learned in this wonderful country is how important it is to slow down. Back at home, children are rushed out of bed early in the morning after a late night watching TV, playing video games or facebooking, whereas here (and mainly in remote areas, due to the non existence of electricity) children go to bed early, which means they get up naturally with the sunrise and end up having time to play, bathe and have fun before going to school.

If at home I used to try to beat my "up and out" record, having made it in 30 minutes, minimum time (this is from the moment the alarm rings to the moment you put your foot out of the door), here in Guyana it takes me about three hours. Yeah, not one, not two, but three!

How shocked are you, dear friends from home? And I suppose you're wondering what on Earth might I do during that time. Easy: I go for a jog or a walk, have a shower, do my laundry, eat a slow breakfast and read for fun.

So, here's to slowing down and savouring each moment!

View From the Classroom

Kopinang Primary School

The Kopinang Airstrip

Our Transpee

72 steps to Ms Daisy's house - it's just like being in a fairy tale!

Pretty church!

Is this a cute bridge or what?

W is for Washing Line

2011-11-11T11:58:00.000-04:00

This was my washing line in Kopinang, North Pakaraimas, Potaro/Siparuni. Living and loving in Guyana for two years has made me a very resourceful woman, and that gives me points in the marriage market, doesn’t it, CB?

S is for sundays

2011-10-12T10:25:00.001-04:00

Sundays are normally slower anywhere in the world, aren't they? Well in Mahdia things never get too slow, thanks to the flow of miners who've just done a wash down and are looking for places to spend their money.

A good Sunday normally involves crepes with melted cheese shared with the neighbours for breakfast and a cricket match in the afternoon.

The weather has been extremely dry here and therefore the water tanks are almost empty so we’ve struggled a bit with water.

Nonetheless, a powerful cloud landed right above Campbelltown (Amerindian village in Mahdia) in the early afternoon, as everyone was getting ready for the cricket match. So… we sat, drank some cool beers and waited, while the kids played football in the cool rain. Nothing like a Sunday lime!

The shower was strong and fast, so the match still took place. I tried out some batting before the game… and ouch how heavy was that bat?! Especially after having made 3 cakes for a birthday boy. Girly arms I have! *shrugs shoulders*

Is there anything as glorious and contagious as a child’s laughter? (unless it’s excessive hyperactivity!) I love my Mahdian babies!

Sun coming down... let's hide from the mosquitoes!

a is for annoyed :(

2011-09-14T18:03:00.002-04:00

annoyed. had a pretty sweet post. lost it as well as all the time spent uploading.
boo.
red face.

M is for Map

2011-09-13T11:06:00.004-04:00

The Venezuelan map is quite interesting. In this version they have at least highlighted the "Zona de Reclamacion" with stripes.
So, according to Venezuela, Guyana consists of Georgetown and Berbice. Good enough, no?
I mean, who cares about region 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10?!
Guyana would just have to give up the gold mining, the bauxite mining, Shell Beach, Rupununi. And we'd still keep Orealla, 63 Beach and GT!

2011-08-16T16:17:00.001-04:00

A wonderful weekend began with a normal day of work (not that that really exists around here). I typed and I printed, getting ready for next school year, which begins in September and I had another little communication failure with my boss. A true tragicomedy. Oh, and a girl moved into my house. It's now a much tidier cottage.
Four fellow VSOs met me here in Mahdia, where we had a cruiser waiting to take us to Pamela Landing, where we hopped onto a boat that took us to Amatuk Island. From the Patamona "Ama Tuok", meaning "Love Falls" and the story that originated this name shall be told in another post.

Amatok Island

The miners limed at the shop you can see in the above picture till around 10pm. Then there was a guy who jumped onto the excavator and went home... great family car, no?

When we got to the island night was already falling (nite a shut), so we slung our hammocks annd headed out to the Amatok Falls, in which me and Selina bathed our feet and tried to communicate with the rest of the group using our flash lights. Unsuccessfully. I don't care what people say, about pirai and electric eels, getting my feet in the water is the least I can do.

Early morning faces, heading out of Amatok

The following morning, we hopped into a boat at the top of Amatok and headed up the powerful Potaro during about an hour.

When we got to Waratok Falls, we helped move the boat to the top of the rapids. About half an hour later we stopped at Tukeit, with a view to the Old Man Beard Falls.

Waratok, helping to carry the boat.

Tukeit was precisely the place where all our easy and chilled boat rides up the Potaro ended and were replaced with a four hour walk, passing at “Oh My God I” and "Oh My God II”. (Truth be ttold, it's an easy hike. I can't say the same of the 8 day trip to Kaieteur, as it involves way more walking... but hey, why suffer if I can have more boat riding fun up the beautiful Potaro?)


Magnificent Potaro

Wonderful Potaro

The peeps I walked with down from Kaieteur

The hike is relatively easy and has several strategic stops. My favourite is undoubtedly Grandmother Falls. It was given this name because, just like a grandmother will take care of her grandchildren, these falls will provide drinking water no matter what. Even in the dry season.

Grand Mother Falls

About four hours and a lot of sweat later, we caught a glimpse of the magnificent falls. It's always surrounded by mist. When we saw the falls for the first time we were a bit disappointed, because the mist was hiding it almost completely, but it gradually disppersed and when we got closer the view was breathtaking.

The great Kaieteur Falls, hiding behind the fast moving mist.

Valley that Kaieteur falls into

Where else in the world are you allowed to walk straight up to the last centimetre of rock right above the waterfalls? I actually sat with my feet dangling over the edge and no one said a thing. There is no protection, no barrier, no artificial separation between the visitor and the falls. It's a fabulous feeling, of oneness with mother nature (or miss universe?), fuh true!

Kaieteur Grand Ole Times

When we got to the guesthouse, our guide told us that the shower was broken, and that was exactly the excuse I needed to go to the top of the falls and bathe. And a bath that is a bath... involves no clothes. True bliss, to be there right above such a powerful force.

(No pictures, at least that I know of lol)

Come and discover this Guyana now, the Guyana that lacks a paved road connecting its capital to the south, the Guyana that lacks limits and stress, the Guyana made of idyllic landscapes, because a new Guyana will be born as soon as the tarmac is spread out.

Oh Guyana, meh love yuh bad bad!

A is for accent

2011-08-09T10:01:00.000-04:00

As I’ve said before, one of the many things I will miss when I leave Guyana is chatting with each and every soul whenever I go down the road. And I’m not very good at it… I misunderstand what people say half the time.

Just today this happened:

Insane, init?

I’ll leave you with some of my favourite expressions:
- Night a shut – Night’s falling
- Wapen? – What’s up?
- Ok ok - When you’re walking down the road this is one of the ways of saying hi. And the reply is Yeah yeah.
- Fuh true? Seriously? Really?
- Yuh mekin joke! You’re can’t be serious.
- Just now – This defines a period of time that can range between “this second, as we speak” and “in a decade”. It’s quite a nifty word!

Leh meh go fuh wok, nah. Ah gonna write a new post just now, fuh true!

T is for Tukait

2011-08-08T11:34:00.002-04:00

T is for Tukait
Do you know those days that exhale perfection? Those days that are so beautiful you wish you could save some of the moments and pictures in a safe box easily accessible so that you could jump in an relive the dream whenever you’re down or feeling less inspired?

Well, I have no photographs to prove the day, because I broke my camera and got my phone robbed. Again. So I didn’t want to spend a day in the river with the new phone… let’s give this one some more alive time, shall we?

The day began at an early 5h30. We drove and ATVed to Pamela Landing, just 9 miles off Mahdia. At Pamela we hopped onto a boat with a 15 engine and believe me I also thought it was too small until I tried picking it up when we had to travel with the boat overland.

During the boat ride to Amatok Island we passed by several land dredges and water dredges (aka dragas, due to Portuguese influence). These are impressive floating buildings, with the mining components at water level and a house on the top floor. They normally have satellite TV and internet access. To me it’s always a sad site, because the impact is unavoidably huge.

As we got closer to Amatok the number of dredges reduced and suddenly the latte water turned into thick-black-oil-water. That’s what it looks like, oil, because it’s so dark. The colour is due to the tannins, just like in tea. And that’s exactly what a glass full of river water looks like.

Bad news at Amatok: the water was very low, so we had to carry the boat for about 10 minutes, which felt more like an eternity. I was really proud of myself at the time and now, one day later, am in terrible muscular pain… Oh the Tom Boy!

Feeling tired but glorious, with boat in water, we continued up the Potaro River and stopped again at Tukait Falls. It’s a series of rapids and due to the low level of water, we splashed and got dragged by the current, having some fabulous fall fun!

Just below the falls there’s an idyllic white sand beach where you can hide from the sun in the shade provided by the jungle trees.
I swam across the Potaro with the pirai in mind and therefore looking at my feet whenever something brushed into them. Ok, not quite, and hey I can say nothing bit me, yay! The best swimming pool is the river, no doubt!

So, after a brilliant day with some of the people I will miss the most when my time in Guyana comes to an end, we headed back and were blessed by four rainbows. Ahead of us were two rainbows, reaching from one bank to another, as if handles of a basket, being the Potaro River the basket. The other two were the reflections on the water and the water was so still the picture was too good to be true – a circle of rainbows!

L is for Love

2011-06-12T17:01:00.007-04:00

Looking at the calendar I realize that I’ve been living in Guyana for over 16 months. Guyana is no longer an acquaintance, it’s like family, our love will survive anything, it’ll always be a part of me, even when I’m angry with her. And of course, it’s not only out of habit that our love has grown, as you can see from the posts in this blog!

Every day I discover a new love here, something that moves me: the amazing view from the hill, a tiny water frog sitting on the tin of corn (come on, water frogs rock because they eat yucky bugs… and are cute when they don’t panic and jump onto you), my neighbour teaching me to make roti and eddo leaf stew that doesn't "scratch your mouth", the rain that fills the tanks and washes the dust away (the roads too, which is not so good), the amazing and forever changing skies, the slowing down of my hectic lifestyle, and a never ending list…

I was sat here, wondering what Guyanese love about Guyana, so I decided to ask around.

Like me and you are here now, gaffing. I love having the time. Out there you don’t have time, people always working and running.

(Ruth)

Peace. There is no war to go out to.

(Ottis)

Everything in general. Freedom in particular.

(Ian)

The magnificent sceneries.

(Vernon)

The cultural variety. Women are all so different. (smile)

(Andre)

The rivers, I love all the river life.
(Margaret)

And last, but not least, my favourite answer and the most passionate one, that you have to read as fast as you can, until you loose your breathe, because Guyana's beauty is precisely that: breathe taking:

The women, cheap food, never ending variety of greens and fruit, parties are the bomb, generosity, one man buying drinks for all his friends, cricket and cricket parties, the variety of food, curries, black pudding, coconut water, the unique expressions, Amerindian tribes, the spectacular Indian weddings, funeral wakes, dominoes, coffee, friends and liquor, US dollar exchanges, new and old cultures, undocumented, boats, 4 wheel bikes, donkey carts, cell phones, satellite phones and bush radios, everybody knows somebody that you know, price of gold, African Kweh kwehs, big noisy sound systems, soca music, reggae music, young women and men contorting their bodies in wild sexual abandon when they dance.

(Nicholas)

Oh Guyana LOVE!

r is for rain

2011-06-10T20:54:00.002-04:00

In Guyana, we don’t have four seasons; Life is easier as we have two summers: a wet one and a dry one (officially Rainy season & Dry season). In actual fact, in Mahdia there is never a truly dry season; Even in the dry season it normally rains twice a day, at around 5AM and then at about 5PM, so we can easily rely on the rain water for everything. This is wonderful, because it works like natural AC, bringing temperatures down quite a lot. Especially at night the rainy season can be pretty cool.

When it rains it pours, especially if you are in the rainforest, as the name suggests…

[Extension of RH Hotel, the only one in Mahdia - When it rains, you can't see 2 feet ahead of you]

The energy with which the rain falls here reminds me of the Atlantic Ocean back home on a stormy winter’s day. It is so powerful and godly, making me feel tiny and defenceless and at the same time grateful for the chance to experience such intense beauty.

I love falling asleep to the sound of rain and thunder, as well as the random brightness that illuminates the house when lightning strikes.

Waking up to the loud thunder is scary and really makes for the perfect cuddle moment.

It has been too much lately and some villages and towns are flooded. Mahdia is on the top of hills, so it’s almost impossible to flood. I heard a theory about this the other day whereby the Patamona tribe (the local tribe) were the weakest, so they always built their houses on high spots, borderingthe savannah and the forest, so that they could easily run and hide away in the lush forest if they were attacked. For that reason, the Patamona are more fortunate when it comes to excessive rain.

I haven’t read the papers yet, but hope the situation doesn’t get too bad and I also hope food is getting to the villages suffering with these floods.

W is for Warning

2011-06-09T11:17:00.003-04:00

Inspired by a book I read years ago, by Juan José Millás entitled The Alphabetical Disorder (wildly free translation of El Orden Alfabético), I've decided that this blog will no longer follow the alphabetical order; we’ll follow our heart and talk about what moves us at a given moment. So, eventually the whole alphabet will be here, but till then, each letter shall land here in its own order.
By the way, you should grab yourselves a copy of this creative and surreal world, narrated by a teenager, in a very enticing book.

M is for Mahdia

2011-05-11T11:00:00.009-04:00

My Mahd Little Mahdia is the Administrative Centre for Region 8, Potaro/Siparuni. It started by being a simple “landing”, which is a place where miners gather to stock up for their camps, sell gold and have some fun.

Just the other day I spoke to Mr Fredericks, who did some mining here in the 70’s; In those days this place was literally a landing, with only 1 trail and some stellings (stalls).

Many people come, set up mining camps, invest all they have and expect the best. Life in the backdam (out of town mining camps, where all you see are clearings, deep pits filled with water of different colours, big tents made of tree trunks and tarpaulin, 4x4 vans, caterpillars, bulldozers and men in rubber boots) is hard and intense; there is no such thing as a holiday. So people tend to spend a couple of months there and then head back home with their money.

Notwithstanding, upon leaving the backdam with a pile of money, there is a tendency to spend some wild time at the landing, ie, Mahdia. Normally this involves lots of investment in drinks and lady-fun. Money flies away… and so it’s better to head back to the backdam for some more time before visiting the wife (hopefully still…) and kids.

Truth be said, many miners are focused on their aims in life and manage it in an efficient manner. There are men that came with the intention of spending a year and making enough money to build up their family house and ended up staying for over 12 years, because they had children and those children are now studying in private schools.

So the backdam can be brill, although it’s quite a gamble.

In Mahdia people move at the same rhythm as gold can be found, ie unexpectedly. If you are planning on opening a store, for instance, there is no telling what will sell, nor which will be the best day of the week. Everything comes in from Parika or Georgetown by road, which involves over between 7 to 10 hours of a rough ride on a bumpy red-road trail. This causes prices to be double or more the shelf price in Georgetown.

What do we have around here?

- A district hospital with the friendliest staff in the world. The building is new, but equipment is not amazing; you need to go to Georgetown for an X-Ray for example.

- RDC compound – The Regional Democratic Council is the Administrative body. Here you have the Department of Education, the Board Room, the Accounts Section and Personnel Section

- A Nursery school, a Primary school and a Secondary School. Most of my time is split between the primary school and the Department of Education.

- Shops/Stalls/Restaurants/Bars – Lots of liming and drinking spots on every road/trail.

- A hotel with an amazing swimming pool. Again unexpected. And it’s brilliant to see the changes as when I first arrived you could not use the swimming pool without being filmed by men and listening to a lot of nonsense (and you know I don’t take it on). Now things are changing and some Sundays are pretty normal, ie, I see girls in swimsuits and bikinis! So obviously I’ve been getting mine out too – but only when there are more girls around, because it does get intensely awkward sometimes!

- GGMC – Guyana Geology & Mines Commission

- GECOM – Guyana Elections Commission

- Post Office – Post arrives and leaves Mahdia once a week. It can take quite a while, as you can imagine, but most things do arrive, and I’m sure that the ones that fail to arrive get “misplaced” upon arrival in country. Our Post Master (known as PM) is a super star and calls people when he sees them on the road and knows they have post.

- Police Station – My neighbours actually, so it couldn’t get safer!

Ok folks, made this list off the top of my head so I’m pretty sure I am missing out on some major things…

What does it look like? See with your own 2 eyes:

Eagle Mountain as seen from Mahdia

Main road. If you turn left, you'll get to Campbelltown, the Amerindian village

The air strip - TransGuyana and Air Services fly here

This place is definitely worth a visit and if you drive yourself up with a cruiser, even better, as you will be able to visit the Denham Bridge, aka Garraway Stream, check out the Hydro Power station that is being rehabilitated (UK equipment from the 1950s), take a look at Salbora falls and more. When you come, let me know, it’ll certainly be a weekend to remember ;)

Mahdia is where my heart is. Mahdia is home.

(This post is dedicated to Phil & Bill)

M is for Marvellous Minibus

2011-03-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

The best way to travel within Guyana is definitely the minibus. For those of you who haven’t been in the Caribbean, delete the bus image right away and exchange it for a picture of a Toyota Hiace.

They all have wild sound systems and music is always flowing full blast. You’ll normally hear dancehall, soca, but not all is profanity! I know some minibus drivers who are very religious and active church goers, so they play religious versions of the same vibe. Interesting, really!

Minibuses are magical, I’m certain of it! There’s no way we at home could do what they here do with these vans.

K is for Kaieteur

2011-02-25T13:28:00.002-04:00

coming soon!

j is for jaguar

2011-02-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

Worth more than a thousand words, you must watch the BBC programme The Lost Land of the Jaguar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/jaguar/

Guyana, I love you x

I is for interviews

2011-02-25T12:52:00.002-04:00

(to be continued, as soon as I actually interview people :))
hang in there, it will be worth it ;)

H is for high and low

2010-12-25T11:08:00.002-04:00

During VSO’s pre departure training, the SKWID course (Skills for Working in Development), we looked at a diagram that showed us the ups and downs of being a volunteer. Or rather some of these ups and downs.

You can check out "stages of culture shock" online.

In short, when arriving in the new country, all senses are being stimulated and excitement is the word, as you discover the new country, with all it has to offer*.

- Even in the capital city, Georgetown, everybody acknowledges your presence. Whether or not you feel that the way it is done is appropriate or not, depends on you. I know volunteers who feel it’s an invasion of their personal space, but I, on the other side, love the fact that people are not ignored. My favourite lines are: “Shopping?”, when people see you shopping; “Taking a lot of rain” – Yeap, no locals will be seen walking in the rain and I sometimes do it without an umbrella. Wonderful, especially if you imagine temperatures higher than 30ºC and warm rain.

- Guyanese food is delicious & spicy. My favourites are: plantain chips, fresh & soft cassava bread, pumpkin stew, dahl puree and sugar cake – YUM!

- The variety of landscape is breathtaking: within the same region you can find the beautiful, huge skied and silent savannah and the loud waterfall-filled rainforest.

- The work you are expected to do is highly needed. During my initial meetings with the nursery, primary and secondary teachers, there were clearly two stages: a first stage where teachers were not sure who I was, and did not know if they could trust me, because they felt that if they asked for help it was a sign of weakness or incompetence; As we gradually got to know each other, teachers started to ask for specific help.

- There is no such thing as Winter. Although I am coming from a place where you experience the four seasons, and where Summer is slightly longer than Winter, I have never been a fan of more than a month of cold weather, so thumbs up to short sleeves!

- Music is so sexy. Ignore the sexist lyrics, of course, and enjoy the beat. Dan has a downloadable mix on his blog.

- I have always loved cat caps and in Guyana it's ok!

Of course, after some time of being in the country, what you love can cause you pain: I have to admit that seldom I feel like being ignored, just one in the crowd, do my “survival” shopping and hide in the house and this is never possible where I am based. As a consequence of going shopping on an emotionally grey day, you can hear things you do not need, namely: “Looking tired white girl”; “You draggin’ yuhself”.

All the heat and humidity are perfect for fungi and terrible for your skin. Medicated powder is a skin saver!

Food wise, I miss the simplest homemade food that I cannot make here because I do not have the ingredients.
That's the time when the packages family and friends send make you smile a huger smile and cry more tears. And then, you can listen to John Legend's "Someday" and look forward to the reunion (Re lyrics: ignore the fact that it's about a couple breaking up! Focus on the "someday we'll be together")

In terms of work, beaurocracy might get in your way or power related issues and frustration can take over. At this stage it is important to remember that your role is to help improve the lives of people you know/work with and not to change the government/world. (I think I read this in the book “The white man’s burden”… not sure)

It’s important to actively find out what else has been done in your region before you arrived. Even if it is a new placement, some project has most certainly been developed involving your region, in one way or another. I remember writing recommendations (and feeling proud of them) and discovering that somebody had said the same almost ten years before me! There’s no need to reinvent the wheel as they say. That’s something we should think about while we are in placement: making connections with past projects and leaving things in place for people to take over what we are doing or to move on from there, as a stepping stone in one of the many rivers this magical country has.

So, here's to a great 2011! Keep those spirits high, beautiful people!

(Soundtrack: Save room, John Legend)

*I didn’t mention people as part of my excitement-list-on-arrival, as Mahdia is a special little place. I suppose it has to do with the fact that it is a mining town and nobody is actually from there, so it takes a while for people to open their doors to you, as - from what I now understand – the place they consider home is elsewhere. In a later stage I have been involved in unforgettable family events, which I am very grateful for. I know that this is totally different in the rest of the country.

G is for genuine hospitality and glowing light

2010-11-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

I spent Diwali with friends on the West Bank Demerara. Alicia is Christian and her husband is Hindu. Back in Portugal I know some people who have inter-faith marriages, but it's all very difficult for the two families to come together, leaving the couple on a sort of emotional island, which can be very lonely and hard to bear.

In Guyana, though, people are used to dealing with friends and family members of different religions and it was wonderful to see no tension. Alicia's mum was helping out with everything. I loved the fact that they involved us in the whole preparation of the day and night:

We helped making the wicks for the diyas - My right leg still has red bumps from rolling the 300 strips of cotton!

I filled the diyas with coconut oil and had a hand moisturizing party!

And voila, as soon as the sun began to duck, everybody started spreading the diyas and lighting them, creating patterns of light in a very dark night.

Oh, the food! We ate 7 curries and learned how to cook some delicious desserts. YUM!
Thank you Alicia and family for such a special day!

g is for gap!

2010-11-04T19:06:00.041-04:00

Yeah, great big gigantic gap between posts. Sorry about that, but I haven't found a solution to my internet access from Mahdia. I can access email form my phone but no luck with the computer-phone interaction. I want to make the most of the internet access while I have it, so I shall leave you with some piccies!

A secondary school girl is one of the sports judges for the Nursery School Sports Day - Mahdia.

Nothing like an ice-cream when you come to town! - Georgetown

Former gold mining site, the water & minerals are left to settle down to avoid pollution.

Who says old & new don't go together? (Annai)

My region!

It's always up and down. Up... and down (from Mahdia do Tumatumarie, in Region 8)

Hydro electric station in Tumatumarie. Good news: It is going to be renovated!

The beautiful black Potaro River, on the way from Pamela Landing to the Amatuk Island

Amatuk Falls, Region 8

A bit of a shock the first time I got medicine from the hospital in Mahdia...

Easter eggs, left at my doorstep. About 8 chicks were born (out of other eggs though, as me & some friends ate these!)

Random flower in my mahd little Mahdia

Moon & sun in perfectly opposite positions, Parishara village, Region 9

Rabbit leaves & Rachel Rabbit... interacting

Gorgeous!

A friend's mum speedily grating cassava. My arms were dead tired and I hardly did anything...

In a minibus

Baby, before the builders found her and decided to "save" me from her...

Post-mining resort

Mahdia, where every cruiser (pick up) has a name.

offline

2010-06-28T17:32:00.000-04:00

Dear all... or none after such a break in updating!
My modem is dead and I haven't been able to connect the internet.
But I'm hoping to connect again this week and update this place, promise.
Meanwhile, you can keep me posted, ok??
Hugs

F is for farming

2010-05-18T15:17:00.004-04:00

F is for farming

Just a little note before the farming, to send an enormous transatlantic hug to the best f&f in the world: mine! And yes, this does include some people that are not in the video but are in my heart nevertheless. Loved it and can't wait to get it on a DVD so that I can watch it in loop!

Watching DVDs is certainly not my main pastime, so I've found something else to entertain me: my backyard.

My biggest surprise when I got here was finding out that I was in a place with tropical climate and no fruit. Those who know me can imagine how dramatic this is: I'm the girl that has two bowls of fruit in her kitchen and takes apples to discos. Well, complaining and nagging is not my thing, so I decided to ask around why people were not planting fruit and vegetables; I wondered why on Earth we had to bring things in from Georgetown, on an extremely bumpy 8 hour minibus journey. People laughed at me and said the soil was no good. Naïf, I believed them! Until the day I walked passed an amazing garden/farm and started chatting to the owner, Mr Young. He has anything you can think of growing in his garden and said that what you really need is to bring in a lot of cow manure. Hands on then!

I borrowed a big bucket, called another gyal I know was interested in growing veggies and fruit and off we went collecting buckets of shite. Some guys were watching from the guesthouse's balcony and took pictures of us. How sweet, ha?

Meanwhile I've created an artificial mountain to plant pawpaw on it (above photo), so that the roots don't rot. This morning, a neighbour of mine, who had lent me a rack, said he'd passed by my house and saw no plants, so I told him I was still looking for seeds. At lunch time he was knocking on the door to bring me lots of seeds. Very exciting! So, as soon as I left the office today I collected more manure (because he said I needed more…shucks!) and buried the seeds in shit.

Looks good... does it?!

Smelly beginning for a hopefully tasty ending!

E is for Electricity and Ecotourism

2010-05-02T12:18:00.007-04:00

... Electricity

It was surprisingly easy to get used to no electricity during the day. Roger has a big generator that produces electricity for Mahdia from 6pm to 6am. Thanks Roger!

I had never given it any thought before deciding to move to Guyana, simply because I was used to having electricity any time any place; But the truth is that one needs electricity mostly at night, which is when I have it, generally.

I have some lamps and torches around the house, ready to be used when electricity fails. When that happens, I close the book, find my way to the closest lamp, turn it on, turn on the ipod and wait. It’s great to take a break!

Talking about ipods, I’ve wasted all the batteries I brought for the speakers. The ones on sale here are as powerful as the ones you throw away (what do you call a battery disposal place, like the “pilhão” in Portugal?).

All in all it’s easy to live with controlled electricity. It’s all about managing the electric points.

Before arriving, the biggest mystery to me was the fridge; I wondered if people could live without one in such heat. It turns out that most of them do, but I am part of the lucky bunch who has a fridge in the house. Well, fridge during the night, big cold box during the day. Keeping bottles of water in the freezer overnight does the trick for having cold water during the day and even some ice. Neat, ha?

... and Ecotourism

Tourism in Guyana is like Sundays: you can either have a beautiful, unique, magical experience, or you can end up disappointed, frustrated and finding all doors closed. To me, that is the biggest problem in doing tourism here, especially when you’re used to the idea of “satisfaction or your money back”. The only tourist experiences I have had hear were amazing, but I am aware that I was lucky.

Here are the contacts of the places I visited, and which I highly recommend. These people work hard and want you to have a good time.

1. Parishara Village - David Ng-A-Fook
+592 6974608

Dan and I were the guinea pigs in David’s experience. He participated in a workshop dedicated to tourism, got enthusiastic about the possibilities, got some neighbours together and prepared a wonderful couple of days, pretty taylor made. When you decide to come, please don’t ask him for too much, because I’m sure he will try his hardest to make it come true!

We stayed in a concrete house, but we had taken our hammocks and told him that generally eco tourists enjoy sleeping closer to nature. At the time (March 2010) a benab was being built, so you might get to sleep in one.

At dawn we went looking for the giant ant eater, but it decided to stay low, so we didn’t get to see it. I loved the savannah’s silence: no bird, no wind. Just the immense silence and a gigantic sky.

We learn how to make cassava bread, we ate delicious fresh water fish and we heard stories about the savannah’s people and animals.

2. Maipama Eco-Lodge – Guy Frederick
guybalatacraft@gmail.com
+592 6969789
+592 6968461

This eco-lodge has been up and running for almost 10 years. It’s in the middle of the jungle and there is no electricity, but you can enjoy some vodka with freshly pressed orange juice on the rocks… ok, I’ll explain: at the lodge they are aware that the foreigners like to listen to the sounds of nature, and also enjoy the luxury of modern days, so they turn the generator on while the guests are away. Isn’t that sweet?

When you visit Maipama Eco-lodge, you can either stay around, enjoying the lovely swimming-pool-like creek, or go for a 14km walk to the Jordan Falls. We did it the lazy way: went on one day, enjoyed the falls, relaxed, stayed overnight, went for a walk around the falls and came back to the lodge, but you can visit the Jordan Falls and get back to the lodge on the same day.

I highly recommend what we did: a couple of days in the huge-skied and perfectly silent savannah, at the Parishara Village, and some days in the mighty jungle, where the sky is tiny and nature’s soundtrack never stops.

D is for Dancehall

2010-04-30T12:18:00.003-04:00

Hello again Raquel's blog. How's things? Here with a late D for you...

Now I can understand at least some of what people say in Guyanese Creolese, I can eavesdrop on conversations on public transport. Always a good pastime, and in guyana there is an extra advantage that it takes my mind off the terrible driving and various road hazards.

[great photo - internet is too slow for it]

Today's eavesdropped conversation covered kids of today, parents of today, how back in the day they couldn't even afford a bus fair to school and would get thrashed if they weren't back 5 minutes before school ended, despite having to walk for miles barefoot, and the terrible music these days that is poisoning the minds of our children. It was basically a Guyanese version of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch. One of the Guyanese Yorkshiremen proposed an answer to all the problems with the youth of today - the government should outlaw all 'this music', and throw anyone caught with it into jail for six months without trial.

'This music' that is poisoning the mind of Caribbean children is Dancehall.

Dancehall is basically Reggae's younger brother, who moved to the city, got in with a bad crowd and fell into a life of crime, drugs and sex with anything in a tiny pair of batty riders. Musically, Dancehall can be incredible - Gwen Stefani, Major Lazer and others have collaborated with dancehall artists to good effect, and the pure stuff can be even more striking. As with Reggae and Soca music, producers compete to make rhythms that are then used as the basis for any number of tracks by different artists. Lyrically however, the concerns are justifiable - explicitly sexual or violent lyrics are commonplace, and often heard here blasted out in minibuses half full of school children.

Another big concern in Guyana and elsewhere is that a spat between two dancehall artists, and their respective neighborhoods in Kinston, Jamaica, is sowing the seeds for a developing gang culture across the Caribbean. This has reached Guyana, evidenced by graffiti springing up in schools and on the streets and increasing rumours of various kinds of criminality gang activities, often involving school children. News of the so called 'Gaza/Gully' feud has even reached the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

I'm not sure the answer to any of this is to throw dancehall fans in prison for months, although many Caribbean islands are refusing some of the artists involved permission for concerts, and dancehall artists have been refused permission to perform in the UK and US in the past for violently homophobic lyrics. There are also artists with much more positive messages, and I've even heard full on christian gospel dancehall, but the most popular songs are often the most controversial. The economic and social conditions in Guyana seem ripe for a gang culture to continue to grow, so this is a real area of concern for the future.

On the plus side however, some of the music is ace.

Dan

C is for Chutney

2010-03-14T19:08:00.001-04:00

Dear all, today we have a guest, Dan:

Wow, I'm a guest blogger. I feel important!

(I am very easily pleased)

Anyway, on with the alphabet . . .

C is for: Chutney

Not the edible kind (although as an aside, achar, a spicy mango pickle/chutney type thing is one of my favourite food discoveries here, spicy/sweet/sour/tangy deliciousness, let down only by it's rather offputting dark grey colour).

Chutney is in fact devoured through the ears. It is, simply speaking, East Indian Carribean music, a baffling collision of calypso, soca, bollywood songs and traditional indian styles. The singing can sound whiny to western ears, and the music can sound cheaply produced and rough around the edges, but it certainly has an energy, style and flavour all of its own.

Together with the baffling mix of musical influences is a strong emphasis on storytelling in the lyrics. Almost all songs tell a story, and some even come in a series of tracks based on the same backing music, telling different aspects of the same story. A popular series at the moment 'Catch me Lovah' tells the story of a man finding his girlfriend in the car with another woman, who as the series progresses is revealed to have been his best friend, wearing a wig.

Nearly all Chutney songs are about either infidelity, drinking rum (generally the men drinking rum, and complaining about the women telling them off for it) or whining. Whining means dancing like you are having sex. Again with Chutney this leads to a thundering collision of cultures, with twisty bollywood hand movements and side to side shaking hips combined with the low down and dirty grind of typical dancehall/soca dancing.

So altogether, a unique and spicy flavour, but it can be an aquired taste.

Video for 'catch me lovah' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtUZ

[Me again: Just to say thank you for your emails and text messages; I really appreciate reading about what you are up to, even though I often get over nostalgic when I realize that "my world and people" are changing without me being there.
Haven't received any snail mail yet, so it takes over a month to arrive...
Loving hugs to all]

B is for Bai & Bumper

2010-03-07T11:25:00.000-04:00

B is for Bai & Bumper

You read it “bye” and it means “boy”. People like describing you as they approach you in the road. So if you’re a guy, you’ll hear:

Wappenin whai bai? (How are you white boy?)

Talking about bais brings me to the next word. They like a good bumper!

The dictionary gives 2 explanations:

1 - a horizontal bar fixed across the front or back of a motor vehicle to reduce damage in a collision or as a trim.

2 - archaic – a generous glassful of an alcoholic drink, typically one drunk as a toast.

It also includes a phrase, that does seem more close to the point: “bumper-to-bumper: very close together, as cars in a traffic jam”

I suppose that from the above phrase you might imagine what a bumper is: buttocks.

All the Chutney, soca and dancehall musics (Dan will further explore these when the time comes) have to have this word in them. Or at least almost all of them.

So, nothing better than giving you some music: hold on to my bumper baby!

The other day Pam said that this word reminds her of me. She was my roommate at the Rima during the In Country Orientation and put up with my soca music. It was great fun sharing with you!

A is for armadillos & airstrips

2010-02-22T08:54:00.004-04:00

Armadillos
The Bradt Guide to Guyana says that “Armadillos are easily identified by their protective bony shell”. You can find 2 types of these animals: the Giant armadillo, and the Great long-nosed armadillo.

I’m not expecting to see any, or at least not too soon, because they are nocturnal creatures and I can’t yet imagine myself going out for walks in the forest during night.

Airstrips

From what I know (and I shouldn’t be writing this without being sure), Guyana only has one airport: Cheddi Jagan International Airport. It’s in Tamehri, about an hour drive (41 km) south of Gerogetown.

If you’re visiting me, you’ll probably be bringing me things; In that case, the Bradt Guide advises the use of a taxi (20 USD) instead of the minibuses.

So, because it is not easy to get around by car – in many cases it’s impossible – there’s a lot of other ways of getting around. Namely: on foot, by boat, on an ATV and on an aircraft. These are small, allowing for up to 12 passengers and generally speaking, old. Getting into detail, you can find some that are old, quite old, or extremely old.

My first trip from Georgetown to Mahdia was on the best aircraft and it was pretty old. I was lucky enough to sit next to the pilot; As you can imagine I was like a kid, wearing a huge smile on my face and wanting to ask him trillions of questions during the flight. Of course I asked none at all: the man was piloting, for goodness sake, let him concentrate!

The view is amazing. Again, I need the modem to upload some pictures; I’ll do so as soon as Guyana gets more! But so that you get an idea, imagine never ending fields of broccoli and long wide rivers. Oh, when you imagine the rivers, think of brown water, clay coloured. My brain kept telling me it was the wrong colour, but is slowly getting used to it.

Every now and then you see a clearing and lots of colourful (I saw brown, yellow and blue) puddles. Probably gold mining camps and/or abandoned mining camps. Unfortunately this is still a problem, nothing too surprising, of course. There has been a lot of discussion going on between the miners and the government and they are trying to make mining more sustainable.
So, a little about "my" airstrip, the one in Mahdia. No duty free shopping, no building at all. Just a rough, bumpy and good enough strip. Right now some sort of building is being built: I saw the cement blocks!

[This post is dedicated to Sandie, you can imagine why :-)]

Story recommended: Goodnight Gorilla, by Peggy Rathman. For a set of activities simply follow the link.

Redesigning

2010-02-21T20:57:00.002-04:00

Dear all,

After beginning to write lots of posts and not finishing any one of them; After having family and friends asking me for blog updates, I have now decided to do this blogging business in a different way. I love Carol Read's blog and hope that:

a) You check out her blog and pass it on to all the teachers and parents you know. It's packed with wonderful do-able, realistic and practical ideas about education and language learning

b) Carol Read doesn't mind me copying her a, b, c idea.

So, I'll be back with the "A is for..." soon!

Cheers from a very hot Georgetown

2010-02-21T09:16:00.000-04:00

Hi there again! The weather is just perfect for snoozing. Another thing I've found quite enjoyable is doing the laundry and being careless enough to take a shower at the same time! Pretty refreshing. This is the washing machine I've used at the Rima Guesthouse:

Confuzzling post

2010-02-15T18:05:00.001-04:00

I am a lucky bunny*, what can I say?

Guyana has 3 counties, one of them being the Berbice, which I visited during the weekend.
I went to Cumberland, New Amsterdam and made my 1st visit to a market: Port Mourant. And what a colourful market! Here's a photo to show you the colour of ripe oranges and tangerines (mangoes and bananas look like mangoes and bananas!):

After buying some fruit, veggies and spices, we headed of to the 63 Beach! Yeah! I love the names of the places in this road, numbers. It's perfect for a girl, because you know that the 63 beach is after 62, no worrying about north or south. Horrible sexist comments aside, this is the beach:

After readjusting my brain to the idea of brown water not meaning polluted water, I decided to go for a swim. According to Dan, it was quite cold, about 32ºC, so imagine how cold we felt, considering that the temperature outside was about 35ºC.

I also had the never-full-minibus experience: there were 22 people in a Toyota Hiace kind of van and there was space for more, believe me!

And this is the Rima Guesthouse, in Georgetown, where the new vols have been staying:

And to end, I leave you with a message, to the lord within each one of us ;)

[I suspect this post is pretty messy, but it's the best I can do]
Hugs to all, oh and send me snail mail:

Raquel Coelho - VSO
106, 107 Lamaha & Carmichael Streets
PO Box 12199
Georgetown
Guyana

Believe me, I am looking forward to reading your letters! Hugs to all and keep the love vibration!
*my surname, Coelho, means Rabbit, in English, ok??

Hello Guyana!

2010-02-12T06:49:00.000-04:00

Hello Georgetown and thank you for welcoming me so warmly. Literally.
After quite a long trip: Faro to Gatwick; Gatwick to St Lucia; St Lucia to Port of Spain; Port of Spain to Georgetown phew! Well, I was saying: after such a long trip and rewinding the watch 4 hours, I must admit I felt a bit confused. Nothing like sleeping and eating some delicious Rima Guesthouse food to make me come back to the world of the lively living.
I haven't been taking photos, as a security precaution, but don't be fooled by this, Georgetown feels safe! It's just that I'm already a bit too obvious in the street in my bright white skin, so why not try to keep as low a profile as I can?
I only have good things to say about my first days (and in spite of not asking any questions, I am dying to discover Mahdia! I'll get there when I get there): the weather is perfect for me: warm but not too much and I love the fact that there is no need to wear long sleeves nor trousers at night. I suppose the weather varies between 24 and 30ºC, but don't take these numbers too seriously, they are the temperature my body is guessing!
VSO is smart in the way they organised our training: calm and slow, with lots of good food and time. Today is the first day which with an early start for training: we're visiting the hospital to talk to a doctor and they say it can be scary!
Off I go now for a very British breakfast in "the cleanest guesthouse in town"!
(Will add some photos, eventually!)
Hugs to the people I love!

Just Giving

2010-01-26T18:50:00.001-04:00

The second post of the day is to thank every one of you who have contributed to accomplishing the 1000 pound target on my Justgiving page:
click here
Well done, you are really contributing to giving one more step towards a better world!

e-ticket in my hand

2010-01-26T18:33:00.003-04:00

Guyana is so close. I've always cherished each day and each day has always gone by pretty quickly. I usually say temos que viver muito e bem... which means we must live a lot and well! Well, getting a bit lost here, apologies to the 2 people who read this.

Today is a bigger than big day: Lots of good news and lots of love. Speaking reggae-ish already?

I received my e-ticket, which I have been expecting and it feels much safer to see it, than to just believe it exists!

Bad news is the lugage allowance: 25kg. Considering I was expecting 40kg, this could be dramatic. But it isn't! I'll manage to take everything I really need. Just means that the huge pile of "books I will really need every day" need to fly back to the bookcases where they came from.

Ok, let me get back to my friends and family! Lots of people to visit, lots of love to spread!

Almost there Stan!

drug mania

2010-01-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

The number of prescriptions I have in the house would make a hypochondriac's day!

1 month & I'll be there

2010-01-07T08:35:00.001-04:00

In one month's time I will be in the land of many waters: Guyana. Excitement is the word at the moment and getting all the final things arranged is what I'm trying to do.
The whole project is a mystery and I will only find out what I am getting into after being there, which makes me feel curious and happily anxious. I like this cloud of uncertainty because it brings some magic to the whole process (simple things make me happy, what shall I do?) and I trust the NGO I am going with: VSO.
I think the biggest fear I have right now is that I might not be as good as they need me to be. I'm quite a proactive person and a proper workaholic, but feeling that expectations might be too high makes me a scaredy-rabbit!
I've just ordered an extra battery for my Macbook, which died last month and has a new heart (300 GB disk inside him) and have loads of music, movies and TV series in an external disk.
The size of my check list is inversely proportional to the weight of my anxiety, but it's not killing me: pretty butterflies flying in my stomach!
Meanwhile, don't forget to share the link and make a donation!

A little peek into Mahdia

2010-01-07T08:31:00.000-04:00

<<“Mahdia is the most wonderful place in Guyana!”, exclaimed Omeica Alphonso, a mother of three and popular fast food vendor who told Stabroek News that she was born there and lived in the mining community all her life.
Omeica is one of several roadside food vendors who serve the bustling and developing Mahdia on a daily basis with a variety of foods ranging from fish and chips, roti and curry to Chinese food among other delicacies.
(...)

The main public road passing through Mahdia. (...)

Another resident, a father of five, said that the area has the potential to attract more tourists sometime in the near future. He said, however, there is need for marketing Mahdia to the tourism world since there are many natural and man-made sites there which can compete with other tourist sites around Guyana. He listed the majestic Eagle Mountain which stands behind the airstrip as a natural beauty. He pointed out that the community has an effective transportation system, by air or road, which makes access to the community from the coastland easy. (...)

... while the plane ride offers one the luxury of viewing the area from the top, it is equally adventurous to see the various sights by road. The buses leave Mahdia for Georgetown at various times before noon and around midnight. Miners in the community take advantage of the service offered by the minibus operators for the transport and delivery of their mail and ‘top ups’ for loved ones on the coastland.
(...)
As the sun rises above the mountains surrounding Mahdia the miners, inclusive of a few pork knockers (miners who work independently with their batels, shovels etc, among other tools), sit about in front of the various food shops waiting for breakfast to be served. Most times the food handlers are yelled at as some call for their orders which were put in 30 minutes to an hour before. While Omeica, the young woman who declared that Mahdia was the best, prepares her food during the day to catch the evening hustle, others prepare food for lunch time but these orders are not much in number.
(...) As night steps in, the community’s central spot, which is landmarked by a cenotaph standing at the junction of the main roads in the community, erected in 1986 in memory of soldiers who fought in the two world wars, dozens of persons mainly miners, walk to and fro as some search for dinner, some for entertainment and others for the sake of avoiding boredom. Music from the various roadside shops, discos and guest houses blares and any new visitor to the community would have a hard time settling on a sound system to tune his/her ears to since they are so many. Different types of vehicles can be seen around the community at this time with ‘bush’ trucks occupying most of the parking space available along the road. Miners can be seen standing along the road with various beverage bottles in hand and munching from Styrofoam boxes containing mainly fish and chips.
Approaching midnight, the hive of activity tends to subside as shop keepers close their doors leaving a few persons walking up and down the main public road. Most of them at this time are ladies of the night. According to residents in the area, these sex workers travel to Mahdia from the coastland and book rooms at guest houses in the area for periods of time and they are usually paid huge sums for their services, a few miners revealed.
(...)Approximately 4,000 persons live in the Mahdia. The figure also includes residents from the nearby Amerindian village of Campbell Town, a community which is governed by a village council with a Toshao at its helm.>>
Text from here

how many stories have you listened to?

2009-10-07T11:50:00.000-04:00

2009-08-17T15:57:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-31T20:10:00.003-04:00

lalala

big day

2009-07-28T20:14:00.000-04:00

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

Kaieteur Falls, sideways, Guyana

2009-07-16T16:55:00.001-04:00

breathtaking

VSOing, where?

2009-07-16T16:39:00.000-04:00

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, 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

2009-05-21T17:04:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-18T17:53:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-10T09:38:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-05-10T09:36:00.000-04:00

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

2009-03-01T10:58:00.001-04:00

2009-02-28T06:47:00.001-04:00

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:)