Weekend and the Market

Other than this past weekend, I’ve had fairly low key weekends here so far. I like to walk down Sherriff St on Saturday morning and pick up a few things. There is some variety/grocery stores, a bakery, fish place and a Royal Chicken (kind of like KFC). One of the stores is set up with shelves behind bars. You order what you want at the cashier and they pick it up for you. I like the other one because I can pick things out and read their labels. I hesitate to call either of them grocery stores because the supply of fruits and vegetables is non-existent. There are other grocery stores that do have fruits and vegetables. Funny story – most of them are imported.

Luckily, there is the market. Kala took me the first time with another office worker and Navin drove of us. It’s about the length of a block with stands on either side forming a walkway in the middle. It started to rain and we only had one umbrella. Navin dropped us off and waited while the three of us took turns standing under the umbrella and tarps at the different stands. Kala introduced me to some vegetables and fruits that I have never seen and I got an idea of how market interactions work. I was catching up with the umbrella after buying carrots and apple bananas when a man dumped the water pooling on his tarp… on top of me! One half of me was completely soaked and then I laughed because what else could I do. As if I didn’t stand out enough in the market… I can go to the market with $1000 in my pocket (aka $5 CDN) and leave with change, and bags heavy from fruits and vegetables. One of my favourites to pick up is a small watermelon for $300 ($1.50CDN) and cut it up so that I have bags of fresh watermelon in the fridge. It is so red and sweet! Between Wallis and Kala, I have been introduced to bora [which looks like a long string bean and is used for flavouring in dishes (but Afrianda tells me that it will cause the food to sour if you keep any for leftovers)], sapodilla [which is a very unique fruit, a shell like a kiwi but not fuzzy with great big flat seeds inside, and the flesh is white and sweet and stringy, very good anyway) , pawpaw [just another word for papaya but I didn’t know for the longest time], and two other random fruits that I don’t remember the name of. I tried one which has a tough outside, but you bite it and suck on the pit. Usually it should be sweet but the one that I tried wasn’t ripe yet and tasted like a sour candy, so good in another way! The other was a bitter/tart berry that leaves a coating on your teeth. Oh wait! It’s called sorrel. Why do I remember? Because you don’t eat it, you use it to make juice and Wallis made me sorrel juice. It made me think of Christmas – the juice has Christmasy spices in it and the red berry became a very sweet, flavourful juice.

And yes, my last weekend adventure: There is nothing quite like taking a nap in the afternoon on a weekend under a mosquito net.

Can’t wait until market days this week! (Wednesday and Thursday).

Take care.

Periwinkle Dinner

The same week of Breast Cancer Awareness on Tuesday, I attended a meeting for Wallis’ group The Periwinkle Club. They meet the third Tuesday of every month at their new headquarters. There were about twenty members present. As well as discuss various events coming up like a Fundraiser dinner and a presentation of hampers to cancer patients plus getting the Club officially recognized, AVON representatives came in for makeovers for select members and gave everyone a free gift back. I am now melony fresh!

Maria and I have decided that our official titles for the Periwinkle Club, though we are new members, are the Public Relations – Social Events Managers which we have shortened to Public-Social Managers or PSM. The Periwinkle Club held an Anniversary Dinner and Fashion Show as a fundraiser on Saturday night. We were busy last week running errands to pick up material and flowers for decorations, and picking up tickets and money here and there. We decorated 30 glass globes for the centerpieces by painting them with the periwinkle flower logo. I helped Wallis create a Powerpoint presentation as a reflection on the club’s first year and another for the dutch auction with the items. I spent all of Saturday at the Georgetown Club decorating for the evening’s events, hanging pink and white netting, and setting up tables. I got ready in half an hour wearing my black cotton dress and polka dot shoes. The whole event was a success. Everyone had a great time. And yes, of course the food. Appetizers were vegetables pastries and cheese with pineapple. The meal was buffet with baked fish in lemon sauce, chicken with stuffing, rice, a soya bean and sweet potato bake, cooked veggies and a tossed salad. Dessert was lemon meringue pie and fruit trifle – but I didn’t get any! I tried passionfruit juice for the first time. I was the slide changer for the Powerpoint presentations. A dutch auction is an interesting concept. Bids work the same way, but when you increase the bid, you pay that amount. Say the bid is at G$5000, if you increase it to G$6000, you pay G$1000 right away. The auction raised G$172 000. The items were beautiful, three of which were done by local artisans. The whole event was done by 11pm and we finished the evening dancing as we cleaned up.

Breast Cancer… in Guyana

As I am sure many of you are aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Something you may not know is that AVON has a franchise in Guyana and Suriname which led to Guyana’s second annual Breast Cancer Awareness week that took place two weeks ago now. Along those same lines, I mentioned in an earlier post that Wallis has a cancer support group called Periwinkle Club. I am sure that you won’t be surprised that I have become involved with this and help her out where I can. She was a lecturer at the University of Guyana and was presented in her Research Methods class with a proposal by students about breast cancer in Guyana. This proposal inspired her to do the research interview breast cancer patients in Guyana who expressed a need for a support group and networking opportunities. If you want to get something done in Guyana, it happens faster if you know somebody. Or know somebody who knows somebody… Anyways, now that you have some background information – here’s my current community involvement in Guyana…

On October 14^th, I attended the AVON Afternoon Tea and Fashion Show with Wallis and her three year old daughter, Samara. The event was a fundraiser for AVON’s Breast Cancer Awareness committee. I opted for fruit juice (surprise!) and everyone got a little plate of goodies. For the record, that was a hot pepper on the devilled egg and I’m okay. The next day or so, the AVON committee tied pink banners advertising breast cancer awareness around the trees of a major road in Georgetown. On the 17^th, they held a Breast Cancer Awareness Symposium. The Guyanese Minister of Health (MOH) Leslie Ramsammy spoke very well. It sounds like he works very hard and feels very passionate about the health of the people in Guyana. Guyana had its first open heart surgery a few ago, successfully (http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56531009), something that a lot of people didn’t think was possible. I had seen it in the news, but he made me really think about what an amazing feat it was for this country. The Minister is incredibly support of the Breast Cancer Awareness committee. He was inspired by a meeting last year where a group of women came into his office, and one of them took off her shirt and asked him whether her breasts were a thing of beauty or a thing of death.

Most women in Guyana, IF they are diagnosed, are diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 breast cancer. In a country of 700 000, 90-100 Guyanese women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Cancer is among the top three killers in a country with the highest HIV/AIDS infection in South America and the Caribbean, and is ranked above HIV/AIDS deaths. Of cancer types, breast cancer is the #1 killer of women and prostate cancer is the #1 for men. There is a Cancer Institute which has a relationship with a company, Global Imaging Services, which does mammograms among other tests like ultrasound. A mammogram costs $4000 ($20CDN), but for the month of October, they are offering them for $3000($15 CDN) in honour of breast cancer awareness month. In my mind, I was like wow that’s not bad for a mammogram, but then I remember that it is a big deal. That is a lot of money for some people. So much money that they leave it until it is too late. Periwinkle Club offers to subsidize half of the cost of mammograms for its members. The MOH will pay half the cost of cancer treatment. The Minister has a dream that some day the cost of cancer treatment will be free for all Guyanese like HIV drugs are. The best choice for saving lives from cancer is early detection and prevention, but awareness and cost are currently road blocks.

After the Minister, Wallis spoke about cancer and nutrition, looking at it from effects of nutrition on cancer, preventing cancer with food, what to eat while a patient and after treatment. We put the presentation together that day and she did a great job. She is an excellent public speaker and very knowledgeable. The Avon Franchise owner lives in Suriname and she brought with a breast cancer survivor to speak. She has been a survivor for 10 years. She spoke better answering questions than in her original talk. I get nervous when people give advice that they have been given and are treated like experts, it’s the telephone game with your health, but her story of coming to terms with the fact that she had cancer was effective. The last speaker was Thomas Everly from Global Imaging. He was originally a nurse in the States, but my understanding is that he is the manager/owner of the company. He performed mammograms there, but since this is Guyana, there is a woman nurse that does the mammograms. He spoke about breast self exams (BSE) and how to do them and when. He shared some more facts about breast cancer in Guyana and his version of the stages that he sees: Stage three - walking dead and Stage four - as good as dead. He ended with graphic pictures of cancer that got across a message quite effectively.

On Saturday, I woke up early to walk in the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. It was supposed to be at 6:30am, but it started closer to 7am. The walk was probably around 4km and I was definitely a glowing image in pink by the end of it. Look at me: http://guyanalive.com/gallery/gallery.php?g2_itemId=26846 and

http://guyanalive.com/gallery/gallery.php?g2_itemId=27006 . I was also on the Evening News!

" ... of the week"

I just have time for a quick update so I thought I would share what I shall call the "food of the week". Just one aspect of my experiences here, but having had some beautiful watermelon this morning (I took a picture - will share soon), I am inspired by the food I eat.

Fruit of the week: tangerine. Here, they have green peel. And I was a little nervous about them because green to me means not ripe, but I trusted Wallis and bought them AND oh my goodness! SO GOOD! Full of seeds of course so I make a juicy mess but they are very sweet and bright orange inside. The "skin" (is that what it is called?) is thick, almost like a large orange, but the pulp is definitely soft like a tangerine.

Dish of the week: channa. It's made of chickpeas. I had the "soft version" so it is boiled (not fried) and then I think baked with garlic and onion and other spices... Oh so good... Very flavourful, good source of protein and very little fat. Samuel had his mom make me a different version so I will try that this weekend.

Restaurant of the week: Roti Hut. They have everything. It's where I had the channa with fried plantain (which is like a banana met a potato, so looks like a banana, but starchy carb like a potato) and greens (very expensive, mostly cabbage and not very green at all - vegetables are rare when eating out). It is kind of like a buffet with all the dishes out in front and you just tell them what you want. They have traditional Guyanese foods (like the channa, and so many different kinds of curry), but they also had Shepherd's pie and macaroni & cheese. I know where to go when I am craving some comfort food! It was kind of neat when Maria started to explain what Shepherd's pie was to me - they usually do with most dishes, but I told her that I might have had it before. Nobody makes it like my mom though! Roti Hut also has a bakery and a mini grocery with it.

Juice of the week: guava. It's just good. But, cherry juice is still winning for my favourite juice. Ever.

Work and "extras" update in progress... Probably Monday? Have a great weekend! Take care.

Apartment Rules

Let’s see. More about my apartment.

Rule #1 in my apartment: Don’t drink the water. In some places, it can be contaminated, but there is a filtration system of sorts in place for water coming from the taps. I learned from Glenn that it actually used to be a good system and you could drink the water, but management along the way sacrificed quality (hmm… sound familiar?). The water is fairly clean and chlorinated, but has high levels of iron that can irritate your throat and bodily systems. Now bottled water is a huge industry. I have an 18.9L gallon of “Tropical Mist Pure Artesian Well Water” in my apartment. It cost $2500 (around $12CDN) and can cost anywhere from $1-200 to refill (about $0.50-$1). Worth every penny!

Rule #2: Shower in the morning or night. Why? Because that’s when I have water. My landlady is supposed to be getting me a pump, but currently the water doesn’t work during the day. It’s an experience to turn on the tap and not getting any water, then to remember that it’s 11am and you won’t have any water until closer to dinner time. Water pressure is a fond memory. I like to think that I valued water before, but now I watch every drop.

Rule #3: Look at everything before you eat it, you never know if the ants have found it before you did. Let’s just say I had a bad experience and I don’t want to talk about it. Now I am the ants’ worst nightmare. New sport in the evening: wet paper towel and kill the ants. Follow their paths and spray it with FISH. Probably the best insecticide in the world. Probably not legal in Canada, but it works so I'm not going to question its health effects now.

Rule #4: Know where your flashlight is at all times because you never know when the lights are going to go out. Blackouts are common. I have a flashlight and a head lamp, one in the living room and one beside my bed. Blackouts usually last about half an hour. Fortunately I can still heat water with my gas stove for cooking and have things to keep me busy that don't involve electricity. Very thankful for Nicole's tip for a head lamp. I feel like a miner. It’s kind of crazy how dark the world gets when all the outside and inside lights go out. It gets dark at 6pm here so with a blackout shortly after that it's dark. The first couple of times, I was pretty sure that my fridge, fluorescent light, TV and fan were blowing the power grid. Now I know it will happen regardless of what power I am using because it just happens. My first night, the power went out for half an hour. Phone rings. "Are you afraid of the dark?" Could be incredibly creepy except for it was Mrs Boodie and she really was concerned if I was afraid of the dark and offered for me to come upfront in the house with her.

Rule #5: Don’t be scared of the dog. My landlady didn’t tell me that she had a dog. I “met” him the first night I moved in and he cried outside my window. He has a vicious bark, but is an absolute sweetheart. I guess he is a guard dog because I think she lets him off the chain at night. I was out one morning before Mrs Boodie and Jeff (the dog) met me at the gate, just grinning and wagging his little stub of a tail. Not a vicious guard dog at all. I think it’s because we bonded. Not a fan of the crying at 6am in the morning, but he calms down a bit if I talk to him. I think he's just lonely.

Rule #6: It’s okay, the fans won’t fall out of the ceiling – well, atleast the one in the living room. I don’t like to test the one in the bedroom and now my mosquito net is hanging from it.

That's all the rules for now! Take care.

Snapfish Picture Account

Hey everybody!

I created a general account for viewing pictures at Snapfish. I'll still try to add some to Facebook, but most will go on Snapfish - because my mom can't see Facebook! You can use the following account and password. The group room has already been added. Look on the left hand side for "Adventures in Guyana". Enjoy!

account: biz_e_biz@yahoo.com
password: guyana

The People, Part 1

Dr. Wallis Plummer-Best is my Guyana Mom #1 and the local project manager. Her emails were just a fraction of the caring woman she is. I felt immediately welcomed by her. She is one of those women that you can just feel the power. She's tough, but compassionate. She has her PhD in pharmacy or some related field and used to teach at the University of Guyana. She helped me find the apartment by her house and went through the pros/cons of other places we looked at. I thought I couldn't like her anymore for how welcoming she has been and helpful and for her hardwork on the project, until I learned that she created Periwinkle which is a cancer support group, which essentially does support services as far as counseling, help getting drugs, to places, whatever cancer patients need. She has a fundraiser coming up this weekend or next, but I am going to talk to her about getting involved. We also share a love for chocolate cake and éclairs from Oasis Café. Kindred spirits.

Emilia is the project coordinator based out of Ottawa. She arrived last Monday and left this Wednesday. This was her first trip to Guyana. She is such a hard worker and doesn't realize how great she is. She is the glue that holds the whole project together. She is the only staff member on the project that has been with it since the beginning and she knows everything! She thinks that she is only a small player and doesn't have a lot to contribute to the project with expertise. This has been a great project because of the quality of the consultants (experts in their field) and the consistency of them (apparently on other projects they change all the time so they don't build any relationships with the local people). She is so funny in thinking that they could do this without her. I have enjoyed her company.

Dr. Paul Fisher is like Dad meets Burt Reynolds meets computer nerd meets biologist. He is the HIS consultant. The first time I met him, he was introduced and was like, "so, gene sequencing…" I feel like twenty minutes later he interrogated me on my database experience (zero) which I clarified I never claimed to have, just spreadsheet experience. That first night we went to GuyExpo and he made some reference to log cabin building. I must have given him a funny look because he replied that yes, somebody had read my CV. He had told the project manager (Lori who interviewed me with Emilia- I'll meet her at the end of October) that anyone who worked on a log cabin was alright by him. I had forgotten it was still on my resume, but he liked it because it showed I was up for any task and wasn't afraid to really work. I think I'll send him pictures. I teased him later when he asked me if I had any experience editing things – "didn't you read my CV? I did writing consultations!" to which he replied he was more interested in gene sequencing and log cabin building. He is a professor based out of Brazil.

Dr. Ramotar made sure that I was fed for the few days when I only had US cash and didn't know how to exchange it. I felt bad, but he was more worried about me being fed when he left. He is the microbiologist expert and works largely with the STI program and a bit with the TB program, both in the lab training and in manuals. He left Guyana in his early 20s, so he understands the people and has a different perspective than the other consultants. He was really great about explaining how Guyanese people work and calming Emilia down when she stresses about the sustainability of the project and what will happen when it ends.

Afrianda is the office staff at PHSG. She is probably about my age and is very sweet. She answers the phone, files things and runs errands. She is going to Barbados for university/college for computer programming soon, I think. Glenn Millar is the project driver. The project has a van and he drives people to appointments as well as runs errands with it to pick up and drop stuff off. He is also the money exchanger, for which I am thankful. I used to think he was very quiet, but yesterday he warmed up to me and shared everything about the water, the fruits/vegetables, Christmas... Everytime I got in the vehicle he had a different story. He and Afrianda helped me go grocery shopping yesterday. Last stop: bakery - and we celebrated a successful shopping trip with chocolate cupcakes, my treat.

Kala is my Guyana Mom #2. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect when I met her. She wanted to know what the High Commission had talked about (which really wasn't a lot except don't go in certain areas and avoid minibuses, here is our contact information). We had our own security debrief, but we also talked more about health and personal life in Guyana. She is originally from Malaysia and came to Guyana thirty years ago to volunteer and got married two years later. She is a very worldly woman and has definitely been changed for the better by her time here. She has offered me her home if I ever need space to get away. We had a two hour session and I wanted to hug her by the end, but I wasn't sure… But she got up and she was like, I like to end these with a hug, and I was like, oh good, I wanted one! We are going to the market today and she is going to introduce me to her market people, show me the best places, and teach me about the fruits and vegetables here. She'll also get to see my apartment and will show me good places in the neighbourhood to eat.

I met Mark, Anna and Imran at the Canadian High Commission. The meeting with Mark was more of an inquiry about the project than a get to know me. Anna gave me her contact information (CIDA Project Coordinator) and Imran gave me a security debrief and his personal contact info as well.

Naajiyah is the HIS coordinator for the MIS. She has been working with HIS the longest. She is very sweet and I love it when she smiles or gets excited about something - she just bubbles and you wouldn't expect it because she is so quiet normally. Maria and Samuel are students led by Naajiyah to help train staff on the HIS at the various clinics. They were recommended by Dr. Plummer to the project. They have both been really great about offering to help show me around, something that I will take them up on now that Emilia is gone. The three of them are all very excited about the project and passionate in thinking that the HIS will work. They work hard and are always at the clinics which is the best way to remind people to use the HIS. The software itself is mostly ready to go, but it is still not widely accepted.

Joyce is the STI lab coordinator and I met her through Dr Ramotar. She is a medical technologist and though we will not directly be working together, we share a love of Sean Paul and have had some great conversations together so I am sure that I will see more of her now that I have a phone number and an address!

The Apartment

I never thought that I would be sad to leave a hotel, but the staff at the Eldorado Inn has been amazing. As strange as it may sound, I think I will come back and visit them. They introduced me to so many things and enjoyed teaching me about Guyanese food and places. They were always ready with hellos and smiles in the morning or when I come home. I also broke my first heart in Guyana here – the hotel manager’s three year old son is quite taken with me. The first time we met, he became my shadow and followed me around with a huge grin. He wanted me to go to the barber’s with him and cried and cried when I didn’t go and he thought he wouldn’t see me again. Broke my heart a little bit – I almost went to the barber’s with him! I didn’t think his smile could get any bigger until he saw me again and knew that I had meant it when I said I’d see him later. The last couple of times he believed me when I said I’d be back so now I have to! If you call me ‘aunty’, gaze at me adoringly and talk even though I don’t understand a word, how could I refuse?

Yesterday, I moved into my apartment. I think it’s funny that I was looking for a place in Guelph all to myself and never found it – but now I have it in Guyana! It’s cute. A little on the small side, but I like to think it will be cosy. I live with Denise Boodie (Mrs. Boodie) in a separate apartment at the back of her house. She is very sweet, but also a good business woman. I believe she owns a pest control company. Her handy man Mickey (I’m assuming that’s how it is spelt because that’s how it sounds!) is currently trying to hook up my gas stove top for me (clamp was too small) and came in perfect timing to help me stop the toilet from flooding the bathroom. It’s not my fault! There is an overflow built into the toilet tank that is supposed to connect to a pipe that drains outside, but it doesn’t connect anywhere and just drips on the floor. It was actually pretty exciting when it started working because it meant that I had water! There is only water in the morning and at night, but she is going to get me a pump so that I can have water during the day. My address is: 39 Dadanawa St. Section K Campbelville, Georgetown, Guyana. I am told that this will work as my mailing address. Dadanawa is an Amerindian word and is the name of a place/town in the interior. I’m not quite sure where in Georgetown I am or how to get anywhere yet because every time someone has driven me, they’ve taken a different route, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to a section on the map. Rather centrally located, but I could be wrong. If you feel so inclined, my phone number is 0011-592-225-6911. I don’t have the password yet to dial out, but I’ll ask Mrs. Boodie the next time I see her.

In the “living area”, there is a love seat, two lovely wooden chairs, two end tables and a television. The kitchen is mostly fully equipped as far as dishes/pots/pans go (and they all look new) plus a sink, a gas stove top, a microwave and a little bar fridge (not too little, but still). The bathroom has the essentials, but it is missing a door which will make it interesting if I ever have company. The bedroom has a double bed, night table and a cupboard for clothes. There are random pieces of art everywhere and the curtains are kind of funky. The windows are interesting – the panes themselves open and clothes. They look like blinds? Thankfully there is mesh on the windows which is rare, but I still think that I will need a mosquito net. There is a fan in the bedroom and the living area, but they make me a little nervous that they will fall on me. They just move around hot air too so we are looking into getting an air conditioner installed in the bedroom.

I’ll take pictures soon! Unfortunately my couch isn’t big enough for visitors, but I believe they will always have a room for me at the Eldorado Inn if you’re interested in visiting!

Take care

xoxo

Still working...

I have spent all of my days since the day touring the hospital and clinics in the CSIH’S PHSG project office. Dr. Fisher left on Friday, Emilia and Dr. Ramotar left early yesterday morning. I’m the last Canadian left!! I have been editing manuals for the HIS for Dr Fisher and started my own, as well as entering data for Emilia into the HR module about staff and the workshops that they have attended. I had forgotten how you can get lost in front of a computer and all of a sudden the day is over. I am working with Open Office which is the open source software (that’s for you Netcorps interns!) or free software version of Microsoft Office. It’s just like Microsoft Office, minus the license fee and I’m having difficulty making clear graphics in my manuals (so I’ve cut them out for now!) Next week I will be working more with MIS, but I am sure that Emilia will have all kinds of plans for me once she is back in Ottawa and knows what I have access to in Georgetown. Dr Fisher is my mentor too so I will touch base with him to review my role.

I met with the Canadian High Commission’s office on Friday. A little bit of a meet and greet followed by a security briefing. They were all very nice and I have their contact information for direct phone calls (and not all the screening) which is nice to have. If anything happens, they’ll know where to find me and how to get me out of the country. They are also going to let me know about any events that they are having with other Canadians.

I work in essentially the CIDA building at Main and Newmarket, Georgetown. It is full of CIDA projects as well as the UNAIDS office. It also houses the PSU or Project Support Unit which is designed to assist all of these projects, either with IT or drivers, all kinds of things. Navin was from PSU. Kala is his boss. The first time I met her, I knew she was a strong, tough woman. I was supposed to meet with her last week, but I finally met with her on Tuesday. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but I have found my Guyana Mom #2. We had our own security debrief, but also talked more about health and personal life in Guyana. I am glad to have another person to add to my Guyana “safety net”. She introduced me to the guys my age in her staff and will introduce me to her daughter who works in alternative medicine.

Thanksgiving Adventures

Thanksgiving Adventures

My first choice to celebrate thanksgiving is at home with my family and enough turkey to make you sleep for days. I hope somebody enjoyed my share of the stuffing and I am very jealous of anyone who ate whatever my grandma whipped up. My second choice is to fly out to the Amazon Rainforest then hop over to the savannah and spend the day looking at the beauty and power of nature. Though I was not at home for Thanksgiving, I happen to live in Guyana and it is only one hour by plane to Kaiteur National Park, home of Kaiteur Falls in the rainforest, and half an hour from there to Orinduk Falls on the Guyana/Brazil border. Perfect!

I saw a toucan!

There isn’t really more to that statement. He was flying. He was a toucan. I was too slow to get a picture (my finger was on the trigger after that). But I saw a toucan in the rainforest!

This past weekend was Emilia’s first and last weekend in Guyana. At first we were going to go to a resort in the interior or on the coast, but that type of trip requires the whole weekend, perhaps even a three day weekend. Though most of the population lives in Georgetown, they will all claim that Georgetown is not Guyana and to really see Guyana, you have to leave Georgetown. A quick call to Rainforest Tours showed that there were openings on their trip to see both Kaiteur and Orinduk Falls on Sunday – perfect! For those of you who don’t know, Kaiteur is considered to be the highest single drop waterfall at 741 ft and Orinduk is just pretty (it borders Brazil and Guyana and if it holds any records, nobody told me). Both are completely different (except they both involve water) and have their own beauty.

If you look at a map of Guyana, there are quite a few communities around the coast and located along the main rivers. I live in Georgetown and the farthest community south that I will probably travel to for work is Linden. That is also apparently where the road ends and a dirt road starts. Guyana is a small country, but what would take us three hours to drive from Georgetown (north part on coast) to the border with Brazil (southern tip) will take over a day to drive in Guyana because of the roads. There are two options to get to Kaiteur which has its own difficulties to get to because it is in the rainforest and is situated within a mountain range on the Guiana Shield (a plateau that is one of the world's oldest and remotest geological formations). Option 1 goes something like this: Drive until the road ends, get in a boat and then hike for three days. Option 1 is better if you want to see the fauna because most of them are nocturnal (it’s actually advertised as a wilderness trek), though I don’t know how I feel about meeting a jaguar or an ocelot. Option 2 is easier: get in a 12 seater Cessna and fly for one hour. We took option 2!

Again, I’ve been to Newfoundland and Guyana by plane. They weren’t big planes, but they were big enough. Moment of panic when I see the plane we will be getting into, but I had a talk with myself and this is something that I really wanted to do and this was how I had to get there. So I did. Emilia and I sat in the back for the first trip (and I mentally calculated to make sure the weight was evenly distributed in the plane). They loaded up our picnic lunch and we were off. I actually really liked it too! The windows are bigger than in a big plane (weird, I know) and you are riding below or through the clouds most of the time so you can see so much! I’d like to thank my dad for his ears because though they went a little funny sometimes, they always cleared.

I like planes. Flying over Guyana reminded me of models that people create of towns, etc. From the air, everything looks perfect in every detail. Houses are perfect little houses. Trees and grass look fuzzy and fake. Clouds look like cotton balls. Rivers wind in perfect squiggles. I had a little moment thinking of the song “From a distance…” and how true it is. I have seen those houses up close, they aren’t perfect and some I would hesitate to call a house, but they are somebody’s home. The newspaper in Guyana is more depressing than at home, and at times, much more graphic with descriptions and the pictures that they print. Flying above, you forget that.

Upon our arrival to Kaiteur National Park, we were greeted by our tour guide who I will let speak for himself: “I will be your tour guide today. Lawrence Gibson is the name. Welcome to Kaiteur National Park….. Remember to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but your footprints behind”. He was a wonderful character. Full of facts on everything and even more stories to share, one of which I will try to remember. Kaiteur Falls is named after Kai. He was a chief of the Amerindian people in the area long ago and they were experiencing some difficulties with the gods. He felt that the only way to make amends with the gods would be for him to sacrifice himself which he did by throwing himself off the river’s edge. Kai is the chief and “teur” translates to fall. So really it is Kai’s fall Falls.

Kaiteur has three viewing areas that are designed to give you three different perspectives of the falls: Boyscouts View (full view of the drop and river below), Rainbow View (closer and can see rainbows in mist, as well as a full view of the “great green canyon” – we walked under the rainforest canopy to get there!) and what I will call River View because I don’t think I even looked at the sign (right on the edge of the river where it drops and becomes the falls). The last one has what I like to call “Freddie’s cliff” after a family friend who saw a picture of a man standing on it and wanted a picture of me standing on it. So I have one – sorry Freddie, it’s a different angle because I didn’t have a photographer at the correct location. I also took a video standing on the overhang for him and of the sign warning me to proceed at my own risk (I’m okay, Mom!)

We spent about an hour (hour and half tops) at the three viewing areas of the falls and walked back to the plane for our picnic lunch of potato salad, chicken legs, rice and veggies with the most delicious watermelon I have ever had. On the tour was Emilia and I, two guys from McGill, a husband and wife with their sister in law and mother in law from England/Scotland, a husband originally from Guyana with his American wife (now both from Brampton) and a husband and wife with their mother in law from Barbados. The last woman was over eighty, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her or to see her get around! It wasn’t an intense walk at Kaiteur, but not a flat walk for sure. One of the guys from McGill graduated from the University of Guelph in 2005 – what are the odds that out of 13 people in the middle of nowhere Guyana, two would be U of G grads? I thought it was cool. He lived in South and still after how many years, was jealous that I lived in Johnston.

It was about half an hour from Kaiteur to Orinduk by plane. The landscape changed completely. We were originally in the canopy of a rainforest, but it was like a line was drawn with one side being forest, one side being the grasslands of the savannah. Orinduk Falls is more of rapids, though definitely still beautiful. The rocks are all jasper. It was an interesting trek down to the viewing point with a rocky path that looked just like a pile of rocks, but we made it. The two guys took a swim which I would have contemplated except for being warned about swimming in fresh water by the public health unit and about the dangers of wet jasper. Dr Ramotar broke five ribs slipping on the jasper at these falls. I’m sure my insurance would cover it, but I’m not that adventurous to test it.

On our way back to Georgetown, Emilia and I sat at the front of the plane and the group from England was dropped off at an island resort. They were doing more of a bird tour by the sounds of it. One of the daughters and the mom would be returning to England for three days before heading off to do a polar bear trip – talk about temperature shock! We landed safely in Georgetown and took our little Rainforest Tours mini bus back to the hotel. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of veggie burgers from JR’s – little bit of spice, little bit of pineapple and so big that you think you can’t eat it, but so good that you do!

Snapfish Photo Albums

I found a Facebook alternative to view photos. Check out:: http://elizabethinguyana.snapfish.com/snapfish. To enter the group you need to create an account and know the room password which is 13579, but the access shouldn't be blocked. I don't think anyone is addicted to Snapfish at work like Facebook! Enjoy!

New blog post (or two) in the works. Take care. Thanks for all the emails!

Facebook photos

Still trying to figure out how to load pictures onto my blog, but here they are on Facebook. You should be able to access them if you click on the link (and if Facebook isn't blocked). I'll keep trying for a more accessible web album.

New Amsterdam photos
http://uoguelph.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155899&l=303ef&id=120810227

Chinese dinner in Georgetown
http://uoguelph.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155900&l=2aff0&id=120810227

Not just a tourist…

I have been working. Really. Kind of. Actually my first day, I was taken by Dr. Fisher to meet the staff at the Ministry of Health (MOH) responsible for the training and implementation of the HIS at the various sights. I was given a training session which everybody else knew I was getting except me until we got there. I might like organizing things. Maybe. So I enjoyed my introduction to the system and could immediately see the potential. I think it will take a while for me to find my place working with the staff as there is a different way to do and approach things here, but they have been very welcoming and I am sure that once I am more settled and oriented, I’ll fit right in. From my understanding, Naajiyah is the primary supervisor of training and responsible for the updating of the system, and I will also be working with Maria and Samuel who have taken me under their wing or at least offered to. When the CSIH project ends, they will be the team that I will be working with. Currently it seems that I will be divided between CSIH and the MOH.

Yesterday I was on the road by 6am to travel to New Amsterdam with Emilia, Dr. Ramotar (microbiologist expert consultant from Canada), Joyce (the new STI lab coordinator – of all the labs!) and of course, Glenn. The Berbice River is one of the three rivers that divides this country (definitely the land of many waters) into regions and we had to take a ferry to cross it. I hear a bridge has been in the works, but I also hear that it has always been in the works. The main visit was to check out the STI/TB lab at the new hospital (a project between Japan and Guyana, with some equipment in the lab funded by CSIH) and the Family Health Clinic established by CSIH. The hospital and lab were definitely an eye opener for me and I am not sure how or if I am ready to describe it, but here is a glimpse. I don’t think that I am over estimating by saying that there were probably about one hundred people waiting in and around the hospital for treatments, tests or emergency visits. Most of the hospital is open air which I guess never occurred to me that hospitals could be like that. The offices and labs are air conditioned. A big moment for me was walking into the STI/TB diagnostic lab and seeing regular pipette tips and serological pipet tips being soaked in the sink, presumably for re-use. It made me think of every time over the past three years that I have racked tips and thrown them out when I dropped them on the counter or floor. Dr. Ramotar and Joyce talked to them about STI lab plans and reviewed gram stains with the MPTs (multi purpose technicians) which was also kind of fun for me to review as well.

Today I visited the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and specifically the Central Medical Laboratory (CML) for training sessions with Naajiyah, Maria and Samuel. The training sessions themselves were brief, probably 10-20 minutes, but my understanding is that they find it more effective to go through it and then hang around for questions later or just make themselves visible by frequent visits. The official training of receptionists, technicians, doctors and nurses apparently only began a couple of weeks ago and they would like to have the system operating more fully by the end of October. Pharmacists are next on the list after there is somewhat of a routine between the clinics and labs, with the final goal being the whole hospital. Samuel gave me a tour of the hospital and I was more prepared for it after yesterday. It is also all indoors, but I got to see every area not just the waiting room and lab (emergency, pharmacy, eye clinic, pediatrics, surgery...). We also visited the TB chest clinic and the GUM (genito-urinary medicine) clinic which are both test sites for the HIS. I felt semi-useful at the GUM clinic as I cleaned a STI counsellor’s mouse and helped change the date on her computer so that the system could calculate patient ages correctly.

For those of you who would like to know more about the project, check out the website. I realize that I didn’t get to go into a lot of detail with some of you (mostly because I didn’t know a lot), but this is a good overview. http://www.csih.org/en/projects/guyana/index.html

Alright, I am about all posted out. I'll try for atleast weekly updates after this, but I think this has been a pretty good introduction for where my adventures have taken me so far. What do you think? :)

Take care
xoxo

Starting to explore…

The Eldorado Inn is a quaint little hotel in the middle of Georgetown somewhere (Check it out àhttp://www.eldorado-inn.com/). The staff is extremely pleasant and I think they find me amusing with my questions and smiles. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I can, but though I have wireless internet here at the hotel, it is temperamental and crashes routinely, especially if I try to load files.

We started apartment hunting today and I will probably have a place by the weekend. The two we saw today were very nice and run for about $60 000-90 000 a month. For the record, $1 CDN = $G200. I’m still getting used to people throwing around number and paying $1000 for a meal (which is actually on the expensive side). I don't have much money in my wallet, but I feel kind of rich carrying around a $1000 bill. The first apartment was $300CDN, one bedroom, fully furnished while the other one was $450, two bedrooms, fully furnished (discounted from $550 because it would just be for me). The first was really cute, but the second one does have air conditioning in the bedrooms (beginning to think it’s a necessity for my sleeping success) and the bedrooms are on the second floor which apparently decreases the number of bugs and frogs. The second one is the size of a large townhouse which might be a little much for just me! Wallis has a couple more places lined up for me to see – and of course all the places we are looking at has someone (either herself, a friend or a co-worker) within a block in case of an emergency. She is wonderful.

My first night here we went to GuyExpo which is like a fair with all the booths, but minus the rides and somewhat more commercialized, especially with all the cell phone companies. The booths sell everything you could think of and also present a lot of information from places like the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health. As I was still adjusting to the heat and probably half asleep, I didn’t try any of the food, but I did enjoy all the sights and sounds (especially the Hindu rock music), and the smell of the food was very tempting. We actually didn’t get a SIM card for my cell phone, but hopefully soon.

For those of you who are concerned, after three days, I am still the same pink-white that I was when I left Guelph. I wouldn’t be caught without sunscreen and my biggest concern is that I don’t know when to re-apply because I don’t know how much I have sweated off. And I do sweat! I’ve spent my days in and out of offices, walking around and traveling. Any distances more than a couple of blocks are done in the project vehicle driven by Wallis or by Glenn Millar, the project driver, or a taxi hired by the project, as the roads are definitely not designed for pedestrians. I feel the heat, but even the people who are from Guyana complain about how hot it is, so I don’t feel out of place. I’m going to attempt to unpack my suitcases to find my umbrella which is apparently not just for rain anymore, but will be my new sun protector. Also trying to find a balance between sunscreen and bug stuff – I haven’t met a mosquito yet, but I don’t want to meet one with dengue fever.

Ah, the best for last, the food. So far so good (knock on wood), but I am actually agreeing with everything that I have eaten which is fairly impressive for my sensitive stomach. Some of the highlights include phoroullis (obviously spelt wrong, but are kind of like chicken balls without chicken, made with spices and chickpeas which you can get covered or on the side “sour sauce” which is misleading because it’s actually spicy), roti with fried eggplant and potato, plantain and cassava and sweet potato chips (like potato chips, only not “potatoes”), and a little bit of fried chicken. And the pineapple. I don’t even have words to express how beautifully sweet this fruit is – I like it before, but I had no idea. And there is pastries with pineapple filling and they make pineapple jam! And they have this “cherry” juice which is amazing. But it doesn't taste like cherries, because it's not a cherry really. I’m still trying to find out what this fruit looks like and it's relation to the cherries that I am familiar with, but I crave the juice now. Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow, that’s for sure!

Take care.

xoxo

Something tells me we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto…

I don’t even know where to start, so I think the safest bet is to start at the beginning. For those of you who don’t know this, I’ve never been out of Canada and I’ve only been on a plane once (well twice, if you count the return flight from home in Newfoundland). I’m actually quite a home body, but this idea started developing in my head last fall when I stumbled upon CIDA internships that this would be the perfect way for me to travel, see a country from the inside and use my various skills where they were really needed. I actually didn’t get a “real” CIDA internship, but here I am in Guyana, on a CIDA-sponsored Netcorps internship with the Canadian Society for International Health’s Public Health Strength in Guyana project.

The whirlwind of activity before my flight is a bit of blur, as are the goodbyes at the airport, airport security and actually boarding the plane. I do remember thinking that it was a good sign when the manager took me under his wing and assured my mother with pink priority stickers on my luggage, asking for no tears and promising that I would have a wonderful time “liming” in Guyana (hanging out/relaxing). Sleeping on the plane wasn’t as successful as I thought it was going to be. I felt my sleep was quite restless, but the guy beside me in his Trinidad accent claimed that he had never seen someone sleep so much in his life, as I ignored the movie (briefly awaking now and then to see images of Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Ocean’s 13) and didn’t eat my snack (which looked like a ham sandwich). I know the moment when I really woke up (in more ways than one) was when I looked out my window before we landed in Port of Spain to see lightning brewing in a cloud and looked across the aisle to the window on my left to see the sun rising bright orange-red, sending streaks across the sky. They are both sights that I’ll never forget and re-kindled excitement for my adventure that had been slightly dampened by trip preparations.


Transferring in Port of Spain went smoothly. A couple of motherly Guyanese women kept an eye on me, assuring me that I was going the right direction and explaining customs forms. I stand out in a crowd for some reason - a fact that I sometimes forget, but often get reminded of with double takes and strange looks. We landed at Cheddi Jaggan Airport and a truck pulled up with stairs to the door of the plane. I saw my first real palm trees walking across the runway, thankful that I had taken my sweater off . I just followed the crowd into the airport and everyone was quite helpful showing me which forms to fill out for immigration. I of course picked the slowest line to stand in, but it worked out well because my luggage waiting for me when I stepped out into the main area of the terminal. I went through customs successfully (apparently not a suspicious person) and was immediately attacked by taxi drivers wanting to drive me anywhere. I will never forget the sight of a project driver casually leaning against a railing holding a sign with ‘Elizabeth’ on it. Navin was surprised by the weight of my luggage (which by the way were actually under the weight requirement) and calmly asked me whether I really wanted to drive as I automatically went to the right hand side of the vehicle in a country where the vehicles are right hand drive on the left hand side of the road. He laughed at my shudder and quick no. He rolled down the window so that I could smell the molasses in the air outside of the famous El Dorado Rum factory and definitely knows the rules of the road, whatever they may be. Before dropping my stuff off at my temporary inn, we stopped at the office where I felt immediately welcomed by Dr. Wallis Plummer Best, the local project manager that I had been corresponding with and is definitely the motherly figure I thought she was, as well as the health information system (HIS) consultant, Dr. Paul Fisher and the rest of the staff. It was nice to see Emilia too, who is the project coordinator based in Ottawa and also visiting Guyana for the first time (just for a couple of weeks).

I think I’m going to break up my posts. It’s getting very long. Please write comments or email me to let me know you’re reading it and whether you’re enjoying it. It takes awhile to load everything so I'd recommend avoiding Facebook messages - just email me instead! This is something I’d love to keep up, but I have a fear that I am writing out into empty space so let me know what you think. I’ll reply to emails as I can, but just know that I love hearing from you.

Take care.

xoxo