School Children, Dance Theaters and Museums - Kophie

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted my previous blog and I want to share the experiences I’ve had since. There were three major events I was able to take part in and I wanted to write about them. I visited Grove Primary School, watched a live dance show at the theatre and visited the National Museum.

I would first like to touch on my experience of attending the final day of class for a group of students at Grove Primary School. On July 3, 2009, we visited the Grove Primary School to meet the kids. As I walked through the chain-linked fence, children poured from the tan colored two-story building made of wood. I took a quick gaze of the surroundings and saw kids running, playing cricket and just having fun on their last day. The yard was small with half of it being dirt and the rest grass. We climbed up a flight of stairs to reach the library where we met some of the staff. After we greeted the staff, we headed to the classrooms to meet the children. The children were excited to see us and were very curious about a group of strangers in military uniforms. They were very shy in the beginning, but that quickly wore off. It was only a matter of time before they started to ask questions and we began to play games with them. An Airman named TSgt Jones was mobbed by the kids, who were begging him to lift them up with only one of his arms; he was eventually sent to time-out for his routines in the classroom.

I was no match for the children’s expert techniques in the form of thumb wrestling and lost about dozen times in a row; I guess I will need more practice. Of the subjects that were taught, math was by far the most popular choice followed by science. Unlike the U.S., where kids can’t wait for summer break (I was one of those kids), most of the children here were quite sad that the school year had ended, which is a testament to the hard working teachers and staff who ensure a comprehensive and fun style of teaching. After a couple of hours of answering questions and playing games, we concluded our visit and said one final farewell, but before we left, we were all given gift bags from the children which contained various cookies, candy and juice boxes for our trip home.

About a week ago, I was privileged to attend a dance at the National Cultural Centre. Now I haven’t seen too many live dance shows, so I was really interested to see one in Guyana. The name of the show was called Pitch Black & Tempo and it was broken up into two segments. The first segment consisted of slower, contemporary performances and local dances with amazing costumes. The dances were put together with beautiful chorography and elements of love and passion. After the first portion was completed, there was a 15 minute break. It wasn’t until the second session where things started to get interesting for me.

The second half was much more upbeat and drew a lot more reactions from the crowd. The songs were both of a local variety and by international artist like the Black Eyed Peas. The dances in the second half were much faster and many of them were similar to things you would see in dance clubs or a pop concert. It was quite amazing how the audience transformed over the night, it went from a theater completely silent as if we were watching a classical rendition, to a mad-house concert were people were screaming, yelling and even booing at some of the performers. It was a great night, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who visits Guyana.

A couple of days ago, I went to the National Museum of Guyana here in Georgetown. It was a very informative and interesting experience, and a great place to learn about the culture here. Unfortunately taking pictures of the exhibits is not allowed, so I am not able to post any pictures pertaining to the visit. The museum maintains many of Guyana’s important treasures. The museum is a two story building; the first floor had models of important structures here in Guyana such as the St. George's Cathedral which is said to be the world’s tallest wooden structure which spire reaches over 132 feet. Local paintings and sculptures were displayed behind glass windows to protect them from damage. The second floor was more oriented to unique rocks found in Guyana and the local wildlife. The wild life exhibits were amazing and it was very interesting to see what type of fish and animals there are here. One of my favorite exhibits was the Squirrel Monkey -- I have encountered a few while here. Tourist often feed them and they will take food right from your hands, the monkeys will even steal your alcoholic beverage if you are not careful. In all, the museum was very educational and a great place to learn about the many things that makes Guyana unique.

- Kophie

This is Guyana - Amy

Even though I have only been here one month, it feels like decades in Guyana time, where minutes seem to coagulate with the daily humidity and not go anywhere, sticking to you the way your clothes plaster to your skin after a long sweat-drenched run. The saying here is, “This is Guyana,” and it applies to pretty much everything. So the taxi cab you called for, and then confirmed an hour prior would be waiting for you, is no-where to be found. Well, guess what? “This is Guyana.” Or nobody shows up for the meeting you planned at 10 until 11. “This is Guyana.” It’s a hard custom for many of us in the military to acclimate to having been used to discipline and regiment. But, the lesson to be learned is to relax, not rush everything and enjoy life because, well, “This is Guyana.”

In my efforts to embody the lifestyle here I’ve decided to go running in the mornings along the seawall instead of cooped up in the gym on the treadmill. Now, I’m not one of those people who have ever enjoyed running, and to those who say how much they love to get up in the morning and go for a little 40 mile sprint – I think they’re all liars. In my defense, I love to play sports or participate in classes; aerobics, yoga, Pilates, etc. I just get bored running. So after dinner every evening I tell LTC Dillard, the doctor here, I will meet her in the morning to run. That way, when my alarm goes off and I pry open my heavy eyelids I do not decide to just roll over and go back to sleep, telling myself I’ll work out in the afternoon – which I probably won’t.

The seawall - it goes for many miles

So she and I meet downstairs to run during what I found out is the worst time of the day. All the locals actually work out in the evenings because the mornings are the hottest and most humid time. But determined to knock out our PT first thing before we get distracted by the days many requirements, we walk outside our gates to the ocean and I’m typically sweating by the time we climb the little steps to take us to the top of the seawall. The wall is about five feet high and maybe four feet wide where we start our jog. And though I grudgingly have to talk myself out of bed every morning, it is always well worth it when I get there.

The ocean is black and murky, like when you were a child and used to run in a shallow lake, churning up the floor bottom so it became mud. That is what the entire ocean looks like. Some say it is the sediments while others believe it is waste that makes it the color it is. The locals told us they call it “black water” and that’s just the way it always was. Sometimes the tide is close to the wall, other times it is far out and on those days you never know what you will see. The doc and I have run across some very interesting and adult items along our run. It’s a popular place to hang out at night; the Guyanese equivalent of hanging out at the mall or cruising the strip.
Several people also live along the wall. One has a tent, but most of the others randomly stay along the beach. This morning as I was running there was a man with a scraggly beard and skin darkened by countless days under the harsh Guyana sun. He stood on a small mound perfectly straight, holding a book prostrated in front of him as he looked directly ahead and prayed. Behind him were his yellow pup tent and a few belongings. I really wished I had my camera because it would have made a stunning picture.

Other mornings I’ve passed Hindu people setting up flags in the ocean, a part of their religious services. One of our drivers explained they do this at various times depending on their faith. Some do it weekly while other may only practice the ritual on random occasions when they feel so moved. A small group of people stood in the water and were sending gifts out into the sea. The sea faces the East and it was both beautiful and serene to see them wading in the morning hours as the sun began to burn overhead. And even though I don’t understand the rules of their faith, I still appreciate the metaphoric nature of their practices.

Further along the run is a large pipe going across the seawall jutting into the beach like a sore thumb. This is usually my turning around point. This morning, a young gentleman who looked to also live along the beach, though I had never seen him before, wanted to demonstrate his jumping skills to me. The pipe is about three feet tall and the young man, without a running start, easily hopped over it. He wanted me to give it a try but I just smiled, politely declined, and turned around to run back down the seawall. Right over the pipe is Salina’s, a restaurant set along the water on stilts with a wooden bridge leading out to it. It always looked very nice lit up by strings of small lights at night when we would drive by. But when I actually ventured over the pipe one day to see it, I found that it had a few more surprises than the average restaurant visitor would bargain for. It boasted having the world’s largest anaconda which was curled up in a chicken coup … with a chicken. Something tells me the chicken won’t be there the next time I go by. There was also a monkey and a Toucan in separate cages nearby. I think I’m going to pass on making dinner reservations. On second thought, maybe I should just give it a try -- “This IS Guyana.”

Amy

Visit to Joshua's House orphanage - Amy

I’ve been in Guyana for three weeks now and some things have not changed – the weather is always hot and humid with sporadic showers; the pineapples are always juicy and sweet and the perfect choice for breakfast; and the people have all been warm, welcoming and always smiling. I have no complaints.

Since arriving in Georgetown I have visited three orphanages and an HIV home for children. Yet, no matter where I go, no matter what condition their home is or whether they have grass to play in or simply an empty plot of dirt, one thing remains the same – they are smiling.

Sunday I went to Joshua’s House orphanage. It was my second time going. The first time I went to meet with Clifford Accra, the director there. He and his wife have been running the orphanage for over a decade.

You may think of an orphanage as a gloomy place because of the deeper situations surrounding it. Many of the orphans in Guyana have been abandoned due to financial hardship, diseases like HIV and AIDS or simply neglect. I was told it is common to get babies dropped off at the door steps. But there was no way in this world you could go to Joshua’s House and not end up smiling the entire time!

As soon as you walk through the gates you are greeted, or rather assaulted (but in a good way) by dozens of little hands grabbing, shaking, holding, pulling and trying to get you to play. One or two children may be masquerading as shy, but I assure you, it is a complete ruse. Give them a couple minutes and the few who have hidden under the stair well, their large eyes peeping from between the wooden steps, will sure as day run out and join in the mayhem.

There are over 60 children living in Joshua’s House ranging from age four to 17. They were recently expanding the home and have yet to finish. On the first floor I visited the office and dinning room. The dinning room has a dozen or so fold out tables and plastic chairs for the kids to eat at. To accurately explain what the house looks like, you would have to understand the structure of homes in Guyana. Many are open to the outdoors. The majority do not have air conditioners so they keep the homes open and fill them with windows covering all the walls so the breeze can flow through. The kitchen door opens to the outdoors and there is an old wooden staircase.

At the top of the stairs you have the boys room which is an open bay completely filled with bunk beds. They have a wall locker assigned to each child and an open area for showering. Down the hall there is a small living room – more or less an open room with mismatched couches and chair set up around the walls. They use it for their morning meetings. Pass the sparsely decorated living room is a school room. There are a couple benches and a chalk board. At the far end of the house is the girl’s room, another open bay but this one with unfinished floors and walls. They also have no wall lockers yet so the girls keep the little personal items that they have on their bed.

On our visit Sunday there were about 15 of us military members. After the children gave the new people a tour, it was off to a game of cricket played with a splintered wooden stick in their dirt yard. I still have yet to figure out what the rules are but one thing is clear – we weren’t any good! The kids thought we were hilarious and kept correcting us, “Don’t hold the stick (whatever it’s called) like a bat!” “Don’t throw your stick.” “Keep running, keep running.” I have no idea what we were doing and personally think the kids were cheating (not really, but it makes me feel better that we did so bad, he he).

After our pitiful attempt at cricket the children resorted to forcing us to sing every Michael Jackson song we knew. Did you ever stop and think of how many people actually know the song, “We are the World?” It’s amazing! These kids knew every bit of it! One million songs and five moon walks later we had to call it a day with the promise that we would return very soon. Our latest plan is to throw a birthday part for whoever’s birthday is in July at the orphanage. I think they would like that.

So here I am, watching the rain poor outside my window and reflecting on just how resilient children are. Despite the conditions, the hard knocks or whatever life has dealt them, play a simple game of thumb wars or sing a poor rendition of Beat It and you are sure to get a smile. I think we can all take a page out of their book.

Amy

My First Week in Guyana

Hello,

My name is Kophie Mathis, and I am a U.S. Air Force paralegal here in Guyana to assist with the New Horizons project. I wanted to do a little blog about my first week here.
It was Sunday morning, and I only had a couple hours of sleep. I had a plane to catch and I was heading for a wonderful country called Guyana in South America. Having traveled around the U.S.A. for TDY’s (Temporary Duty) and various deployments under my belt, I felt confident, yet anxious at the same time.

My travel to Guyana consisted of various flights, starting from Tucson, Arizona, which is where I live. Once I landed and went through customs in Guyana, I was greeted by a contracted driver, who drove me to my prearranged hotel. I threw my bag in the trunk and proceeded to the car door. Being new to Guyana, I naturally went to the driver’s side, but I soon found out that the passenger and driver sides are reversed. After a brisk scurry through bleak roads in the middle of the night, I arrived at my hotel and slept until the following morning.


My first trip off hotel grounds was to a store call Office Max, with a young Air Force officer. While walking, the officer obviously drew a lot of attention being a much lighter skin tone than the locals and starring became common place. There were a couple of street venders selling home-made food items. The food here is very fresh with little or no preservatives added. It’s quite normal for a chicken to be slaughtered a couple of hours before dinner. A common food item is Megemgie, which is a soup made with fish, cassava, coconut, plantains, dumplings and other various combination's. The food is also rich with local spices which give it a unique taste.




Walking down a narrow two-lane road with no side-walks can be perilous. There were numerous occasions where a car would blaze past only foot or two away. Driving is also a major difference between Guyana and the United States. To an average American, the driving would seem like a chaotic jumble on the roadways, with continuous honking of horns. With narrow roads full of pot-holes and cars parked on both sides, a two lane road can easily become a congested dead end. Passing on the opposite side of the road is typical and a head on collision adverted at the last second is also a common occurrence. Aggressive driving is really the only way to drive here.

Once we arrived at the store called Office Max, I soon realized that it was actually a small store on a corner of an intersection. We went inside and began looking at the selection. On the first floor, there were basic beverage and food items; there was also a small shoe section and an electronics section with TV’s, video games and copied software. The second floor contained various items from office supplies to household goods and the third floor contained ripped copies of movies and music of every kind. The third floor actually reminded me of a deployed location in the Middle East where you could purchase fake name brand watches and ripped CD’s for cheap prices, they even have three movies on one DVD. The store is like a small Wal-Mart, but with a much narrower selection and cramped aisles. Security is in abundance, watching your every move to deter would-be thieves. After we shopped, we headed back home and concluded our eye-opening experience to a local store.


Guyana is a beautiful country with a unique customs and wildlife. I will be blogging in the future about the cool experiences here in Guyana and hope you will check out my future blogs.


Kophie.