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!

E is for Electricity and Ecotourism

... 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

1 month & I'll be there

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

<<“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