j is for jaguar

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

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

H is for high and low

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

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!

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

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

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!