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!
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