Well yet again, the lack of blogging reflects how busy we have been. Three weeks ago we finally moved! The whole moving experience was hard but ‘character building’ as always. We are now incredibly bitter and angry with the government and have experienced how the government in third world countries work and how they treat their people. We feel pretty empowered though after discovering how to get things done despite this. I found a speech in one of the past volunteers work books this week which pretty much sums up the problems we have faced with being in Guyana and the problems facing the country. I don’t know who wrote it but its pretty accurate:
‘The problem with Guyana is that it is populated with Guyanese. But before I get lynched let me explain some properties of the typical, average Guyanese and why this counts against them. First off, Guyanese love delegation. This comes from the top, in the government and ministries. Everything is someone elses responsibility. Nobody accepts any responsibility for any failure, it is always someone else who they are relying on. What this means is that the common people always see it as someone elses responsibility to change things.
Secondly, Guyanese are defeatist by nature. They have a great tendency to resign themselves to the way things are what ever you suggest, theres always a reason why it cant or wont work. Even if that reason is purely just that that is the way things have always been and so therefore it wont change. This is a vicious circle, people believe things wont change because they never do but they don’t change because people don’t make an effort to change them because they believe things will never change.
Lastly, nobody is prepared to set the example. The Guyanese will complain that everyone is always late and yet those complaining will turn up late themselves because they know that otherwise they will have to just wait for other people. All this wouldn’t be quite so annoying if the Guyanese didn’t have a tendency to complain about their situation 24-7. Most people I know will complain about the government but most don’t vote.
Now I’m making a plea to all Guyanese. If you don’t have any ideas on how to change things keep stum and don’t criticise those that do. If you do have an idea, try it and don’t leave others to do it. And those who have tried, don’t give up and go to Canada or England in your despair. Please, you are the only people who can fix your beloved country, don’t give up on it.’
We are all finding it incredibly frustrating dealing with the characteristics of the Guyanese everyday, especially when there is so much potential in the students at school but they are just being let down by the education system. We are trying to mamage in our own way to get things done. We (Jolene and I) had a meeting with the HOD , Head mistress and lab assistant after the lab assistant did not turn up as usual and had not prepared anything we had asked him to. We had spent the week planning five SBAs so we could spend the whole day on Friday in the lab. We turned up in the morining and the lab assistant was not there, nor were the keys to the lab which he was supposed to leave at school. Since no one else has the keys, there was no way we could get into the lab. Not wanting to let the lab assistant get away with it and determined to complete our SBAs we marched down to the lab assistants house to find him outside fixing his beloved motorbike. We demanded the keys but he refused to give them to us. We then went back to school and started writing a letter of complaint since it is not the first time he has failed to turn up or prepare our equipment. He then turned up and started preparing our equipment, at which point we had a meeting about the whole situation with the Headteacher and our HOD. Our HOD was pretty unconcerned and very unhelpful as usual but the head mistress was very supportive and helpful. after our long and rather heated meeting, we eventually got into the lab but only got 1 out of the 5 planned SBAs done. Since then there has been no improvement with the lab assistant – I have planned more SBA for tomorrow but he hasn’t even picked up the equipment list from the head teacher. We will be finishing that letter of complaint and sending it to the board of governers.
Aside from problems at school, we have also had various problem with the house since the move, especially with the drainage system. Our toilet was blocked for three days and could not be unblocked by any ingenious method we could come up with. The plumber came and it turns out that there was actually plants growing in out drain and no cover. After clearing out the plants, it turns out that the sewer it actually blocked underground. We now have to get sewage workers in from the ministry, surprisingly enough they still have turned up after a week of promises. Meanwhile we have an open sewer in our back garden (which the students grow plants in) and have to plunge our sewage pipe with a big stick if we want to flush the toilet. The whole thing is not particularly pleasant but yet again very ‘character building’.
Despite this, we are a lot happier here though as it gives us so much more time and the opportunity to get involved with New Amsterdam more. Last weekend was town day in New Amsterdam. This is the day it was officially declared a town. There was plenty going on in town with food, very loud music etc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many amps stacked one on top of the other blazing out a variety of rap, hip hop and r + b at 12 in the afternoon. The party continued into the night so we got a good opportunity to sample the night life of New Amsterdam for the first time! I’ve never felt so white in my life, but loved it. We all stick together and have learnt how to deal with all the attention (usually fairly rudely). The whole thing was pretty gangsta – we even came across a spontaneous dance off in the middle of the street. It was amazing! Back at school, things have been incredibly busy as I am trying to get as many SBAs done (school based assessments) with the 4th and 5th form as possible, as well as writing and marking exams for all my classes. On top of this I have a mountain of paper work including lesson plans, schemes mark books etc all of which must be filled in using the right colour pen (the Guyanese love beurocracy). I also took my biology students on a field trip to one of my students father’s labs on Friday. Despite the late start due to a teacher deciding to put her test in the morning, when we were supposed to leave (she was gambling in the staff room with the other teachers when she should have given them the test), the trip was a success. The students had the opportunity to see onion cell, blood slides, a leukaemia slide and urine sample containing a bacterial infection under the microscope. They were all really interested and inquisitive which made it all worthwhile. There used to be 16 microscopes at school (most of which were donated by VSOs) which we could have used but they have all been stolen so there is now only one which we are not allowed to use. As for this weekend, we took a trip to Moruca again as Monday was another public holiday. Despite the rain we had a pretty awesome time, discovering that a Guyanese picnic in fact involves a ride in the back of a pick up with 12 other people along with a generator, amps, cd player, water pump to wash the car, plenty of food and large amounts of vodka and rum. The night before a snake was found dumped in a bag at the bar. It was a rainbow snake which is not poisonous so was safe to hold (which Nicola took full advantage of!). It was a beautiful snake which apparently someone had caught but couldn’t sell so we let it back into the jungle where it belongs.
Anyway, I think this has been a record-breakingly long blogg so im gonna wrap up with the fact that we are going to Barbados in four days, which makes everything seem a lot better! Six of us are going to Barbados for a week and then meeting most of the other volunteers on Tobago for two weeks. I am very much looking forward to a well deserved break. Merry christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!