Continuing the drama in the ghetto that is Blairmont, we have had the police round this morning to file a report about the stolen camera. They questioned our front neighbours yesterday as they saw a man go in through our back door in the blackout on the night it was stolen. They didn’t mention any names. The police took away the brother of our next door neighbours this morning who they said was looking suspicious (he has also just come out of prison). Now our next door neighbours are threatening our front neighbour and her daughter, as they believe she told the police it was their brother. There are heated arguments going on across the street and we are just staying inside trying not to get involved. We just don’t really know who to trust but haven’t been keen on our next door neighbours since we arrived as we regularly hear her shouting at and beating her young daughter. Domestic and sexual abuse is pretty common in Guyana and is actually seen as a bit of a joke.
Megan would also like to mention stupid hospital number one. She had to be rushed to hospital this weekend as she couldn’t breath. She lost her voice from shouting too much at tutorial on Thursday. By Saturday she was coughing profusely and on Saturday afternoon she couldn’t breath so was rushed to hospital. The first hospital she was taken too first directed her the wrong way while telling her to mind the wet paint (whilst Megan was staggering and struggling to breath). The doctor then seemed more interested in what they were doing in Guyana than in treating Megan’s lack of breath. Jolene’s rage at this situation triumphed again and she persuaded them to put her on oxygen. They then however left her on her own in the room on oxygen after she had collapsed walking to the room. The nurses refused to let Jolene and Nicola be in the room with her, claiming it was ‘hospital policy’, but would also not stay with her themselves even though there were no other patients in the hospital (they preferred to fold bandages than look after a patient who is struggling to breath). They then went to another hospital which, thankfully, was far better. They diagnosed Megan with asthma which was probably brought on by all the dust and cleaning products we used whilst cleaning our house. She still has a cough now but is getting much better.
On the brighter side of things, we have discovered the supermarket in New Amsterdam. We all got incredibly excited after finding cheese, milk and bacon! We made an excellent spaghetti Carbonara to celebrate. We have also got involved in a school called school of the nations, which is across the road from tutorial. It is a private school inspired by the Baha’I faith. It based on teaching positive virtues and good character as well as the academic content. We really enjoy going there since everybody is friendly and helpful. There are also several teachers our age, including a Canadian volunteer. Went there on Tuesday for the celebration of the birth of their prophet, Baha’u’llah. Learning about the baha’I faith (we had never heard of it before we came here) was really interesting and thought provoking. Every Friday they have ‘firesides’ where they discuss community issues and teaching methods for encouraging positive virtues etc.
I also went up to a chemistry workshop last week in Georgetown. It was run by one of the few dedicated chemistry teachers in Guyana. She has been teaching chemistry in Guyana all her life and taught a large proportion of the chemistry teachers at the workshop. It was really refreshing to see someone so dynamic and passionate about teaching. At the same time I was shocked by the lack of enthusiasm and initiative from the other chemistry teachers. Out of at least 25 teachers there I was the only one willing to type up the work we had produced during the workshop so it could be emailed to everyone, despite most people having access to a computer.
We did not teach for the whole of last week as the whole school had to prepare for graduation on Thursday night. A ridiculous amount of money was spent on the event, especially on the trophies. About thirty trophies were awarded to the students, which they got to keep. Hundreds of pounds were spent on these trophies when the school can even afford enough stools for the lab or text books for the children. It was quite sickening to watch the school waste money on something so superficial in an attempt to try and be something it is not or something it used to be. It was also incredibly frustrating to not be able to teach for yet another week especially since I am six weeks behind with some of my classes simply because school activities mean I have not been able to teach. We now only have one teaching week left because two weeks are taken up by exams and the last week is taken up by Christmas parties. I have now taken to emailing my student’s notes and homework as it seems to be the only way we will get through the work.
Whilst I have been typing this we have just heard that the police have arrested our neighbours brother which will no doubt cause a lot of friction and arguments within the community. We are definitely looking forward to moving out!