Summer Time ~ And the Livin' is Easy
Summer time and the livin' is easy....or NOT! How can it be that it's 1/2 way through summer and just now I feel like I can relax? Well, here's why.....
Toward the end of June I realized I had not been feeling 100%. I had a bad cough (I told PC Medical that I had a demolition derby going on inside) and generally weak. I had no fever or other symptoms but after 3 weeks of enduring it, I called the Nurse Jean. She authorized a visit to nearby Dr. Ganesh in New Amsterdam so that I would not have to travel to Georgetown. He put me on some medication and PC Medical restocked my vitamins. In a week's time I felt better. All the while, school was wrapping up and I still had lessons with children in my house. I said farewell to children at nearby Lockhaber School as they would soon have their own PCV assigned to them. I worked with villagers to begin preparation for a big village Emancipation celebration in August.
July rolled around and Term 3 was done on the 3rd. I brought in water balloons and the children who did come to school had a BLAST "pelting Miss Patty". It cooled me off and ended the year on a playful note. Then there were many trips back and forth to Georgetown. Our GUY26 group swore in July 3, 2014 so we gathered to celebrate mid service. Of course, being US citizens we also partied for 4th of July.
ME NOT ME!
The following week new trainees swore in an and it was an honor and pleasure to be in the audiene. I was able to visit a few minutes with my training host mom, Molessa Harris. Her family has been host family 3 years running - I think this family deserves a special award! The next day was fun gathering to watch USA Women's Soccer take the top award.
Getting back to business, I started planning the summer Literacy Program in my village, with the help of fellow PC Volunteers Erika Clodfelder , Michelle Weekly, and Fran DiFabio, we conducted a one week morning camp with a variety of activities.
Children drew interpretive pictures of the National Anthem. Interesting tidbit: The National Anthem of Guyana was written by Reverend Archibald L. Luker, an Anglican priest in charge of All Saints' Church in nearby New Amsterdam. He entered the lyrics into a contest in the 60's and won $500 for his efforts. Camp attendees enjoyed music, relays, games, stories, made bookmarks and play acting. We had 13-23 children daily depending on the weather. As a PCV, I cannot have a school key so there was the daily challenge of how to gain access. Mornings were enough and I always looked forward to a nap after lunch!
Sprinkled in between school acytivities I paired up with a local resident to film elders of Sandvoort. I found a nice format to follow on Story Corp. I feel it important to capture stories and memories of each person's childhood and youth. Gaining permission from them and establishing a time for 1/2 hour interviews is proving more time consuming than anticipated. Although I originally hoped to have discs ready for the Emancipation Day celebration, I feel it will more likely happen in time for next year's celebration. Even though I'll be gone by then, I can still prepare. The children prepared artwork for display and if that is my contribution this year, so be it. I feel happy that there will be masks, rain sticks, minature drums and puppets to have on display.
Zumba is still being done in the village. Ever so slowly, we are gaining people. The coin scarves are a good method to encourage particpation. I still have plenty to give away. BUT, they have to attend 10 meetings to earn one! I am proud that Nurse Austin is such a great supporter of Zumba at the village Health Centre! The Health Centre needs a lot of support so we had a food sale recently. It was not well attended but we'll keep up with fund raising. Surprisingly, the Ministry of Health expect grounds keeping and repairs to be done by village volunteers.
Somewhere in between all of the July activities, Fran decided to move from her originally assigned home in Lochaber Village. She pushed and I pulled and now Sandvoort Village has TWO white people! What is the neighborhood coming to? The community has given her a nice welcome and she's met some younger folks and hopefully she'll feel at home soon.
Lastly, I escorted five girls from the eastern part of Guyana into Georgetown recently. They are attending Camp Glow (Girls Leading Our World) and will leave August 1 after making new friends from all over Guyana. Check out Camp Glow on YouTube. It's been around a long time and is world wide.
So, now I look forward to volunteering the last year of service after getting the "go ahead" from the Peace Corps Medical staff. My teeth have had a professional cleaning...although I can say I felt like I was being waterboard tortured!
I am preparing to attend Mid Service training with fellow GUY26er's. The final day of training will end with me leaving for a Caribbean cruise with sisters, Laurel, Kay and Megan! Do come back back for a report about that more pictures in about 3-4 weeks! Unfortunately, I didn't get the pictures off of one device onto another in order to get into this entry. Always something.....
Until then, take care my friends!
Toward the end of June I realized I had not been feeling 100%. I had a bad cough (I told PC Medical that I had a demolition derby going on inside) and generally weak. I had no fever or other symptoms but after 3 weeks of enduring it, I called the Nurse Jean. She authorized a visit to nearby Dr. Ganesh in New Amsterdam so that I would not have to travel to Georgetown. He put me on some medication and PC Medical restocked my vitamins. In a week's time I felt better. All the while, school was wrapping up and I still had lessons with children in my house. I said farewell to children at nearby Lockhaber School as they would soon have their own PCV assigned to them. I worked with villagers to begin preparation for a big village Emancipation celebration in August.
July rolled around and Term 3 was done on the 3rd. I brought in water balloons and the children who did come to school had a BLAST "pelting Miss Patty". It cooled me off and ended the year on a playful note. Then there were many trips back and forth to Georgetown. Our GUY26 group swore in July 3, 2014 so we gathered to celebrate mid service. Of course, being US citizens we also partied for 4th of July.
ME NOT ME!
The following week new trainees swore in an and it was an honor and pleasure to be in the audiene. I was able to visit a few minutes with my training host mom, Molessa Harris. Her family has been host family 3 years running - I think this family deserves a special award! The next day was fun gathering to watch USA Women's Soccer take the top award.
Getting back to business, I started planning the summer Literacy Program in my village, with the help of fellow PC Volunteers Erika Clodfelder , Michelle Weekly, and Fran DiFabio, we conducted a one week morning camp with a variety of activities.
Children drew interpretive pictures of the National Anthem. Interesting tidbit: The National Anthem of Guyana was written by Reverend Archibald L. Luker, an Anglican priest in charge of All Saints' Church in nearby New Amsterdam. He entered the lyrics into a contest in the 60's and won $500 for his efforts. Camp attendees enjoyed music, relays, games, stories, made bookmarks and play acting. We had 13-23 children daily depending on the weather. As a PCV, I cannot have a school key so there was the daily challenge of how to gain access. Mornings were enough and I always looked forward to a nap after lunch!
Sprinkled in between school acytivities I paired up with a local resident to film elders of Sandvoort. I found a nice format to follow on Story Corp. I feel it important to capture stories and memories of each person's childhood and youth. Gaining permission from them and establishing a time for 1/2 hour interviews is proving more time consuming than anticipated. Although I originally hoped to have discs ready for the Emancipation Day celebration, I feel it will more likely happen in time for next year's celebration. Even though I'll be gone by then, I can still prepare. The children prepared artwork for display and if that is my contribution this year, so be it. I feel happy that there will be masks, rain sticks, minature drums and puppets to have on display.
Zumba is still being done in the village. Ever so slowly, we are gaining people. The coin scarves are a good method to encourage particpation. I still have plenty to give away. BUT, they have to attend 10 meetings to earn one! I am proud that Nurse Austin is such a great supporter of Zumba at the village Health Centre! The Health Centre needs a lot of support so we had a food sale recently. It was not well attended but we'll keep up with fund raising. Surprisingly, the Ministry of Health expect grounds keeping and repairs to be done by village volunteers.
Somewhere in between all of the July activities, Fran decided to move from her originally assigned home in Lochaber Village. She pushed and I pulled and now Sandvoort Village has TWO white people! What is the neighborhood coming to? The community has given her a nice welcome and she's met some younger folks and hopefully she'll feel at home soon.
Lastly, I escorted five girls from the eastern part of Guyana into Georgetown recently. They are attending Camp Glow (Girls Leading Our World) and will leave August 1 after making new friends from all over Guyana. Check out Camp Glow on YouTube. It's been around a long time and is world wide.
So, now I look forward to volunteering the last year of service after getting the "go ahead" from the Peace Corps Medical staff. My teeth have had a professional cleaning...although I can say I felt like I was being waterboard tortured!
I am preparing to attend Mid Service training with fellow GUY26er's. The final day of training will end with me leaving for a Caribbean cruise with sisters, Laurel, Kay and Megan! Do come back back for a report about that more pictures in about 3-4 weeks! Unfortunately, I didn't get the pictures off of one device onto another in order to get into this entry. Always something.....
Until then, take care my friends!
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