People, Part Two

I realized that I have done a part one with the first people that I met in Guyana, but there are quite a few people since then that have had a big imact on me and influenced my day to day life.

I can't imagine living anywhere but where I live with Mrs Boodie as my landlady. She adopted me as part of her family and has taken great interest in sharing Guyanese history, stories, culture and places with me. I'll never forget my first blackout when she called me, no formal salutation, just "Are you afraid of the dark?" - which I do happen to be afraid of and this probably ranks among one of the great lines in scary movie history (my assumption since I am not a scary movie watcher) - but the line said with such genuine concern and in a sweet old lady voice (she's really not old and would kill me if she read that, but you get the idea) that I couldn't help but smile and reassure her, that no I was fine. Since then we have had various shopping adventures together, meals together, walks together and conversations about my health, her life in Guyana and England, history in Guyana and reassuring support about my future whatever direction I choose. She has also introduced me to new beverages like a lovely chocolate cream liquer and the equivalent of homemade egg nog (obviously containing Guyanese rum)!

The next set of people that have made my life more complete here are the people who work in the CIDA Program Support Unit at the building where I work. Kala of course (from Part one) as well as her staff. Where to start... I believe I mentioned OJ before who works at the reception area and always greets me with a "pleasant good morning" and a smile, with maybe some teasing about my frequent arrivals and departures. Marcy cleans the building and is the woman kind enough to stay with me during my random shopping experience on Regent St and getting my vehicle trapped. Rani and Anu are the office assistant and part time accountant respectively. I think. Kurt, Navin and Prem are drivers and general support guys (computers, workshops). Those are the job titles I will give them, though when I go visit, I'm usually distracting them from whatever they should be doing. They kept me company when I was all alone in my office. Wallis likes to tease me that I'm a shared intern between CSIH and PSU. I love our conversations and random visits, occasional lunch dates and I will endure a certain amount of teasing from them because I know they mean well. I don't know what I'd do without them. Definitely a special place in my heart for each of them. I'm getting a little teary thinking about leaving and who and what I will miss. It's people like at PSU, Wallis, and Maria that will make it hardest for me to leave. And the fruit. :)

I am also a shared intern with the Ministry of Health, officially with the Management Information Services Unit (MISU), but also now partly with the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU) because the MISU director there has tasks for me to do where as MISU itself doesn't really know what to do with an intern. Roland is the MISU director at HSDU and we have been working on a project together and I also keep updating him on what I am up to. At first when Wallis was leaving, he was concerned about me working by myself, but discovered quickly that I am a very good independent worker so he stopped checking up on me. He is very impressed by my quick replies and comments on documents we have been working on. Ish is the director of MISU and officially signed my contract, but I don't think he knows or cares how I spend my time. Paul is responsible for the software department under MISU so we have a bit of communication about updates and the status of things. I feel for him because everybody thinks that their requests are number one priority and he is only one person and the unit itself can only do so much at one time. Ozell is the programmer, Naajiyah the Clinical Coordinator and Maria has been hired as her assistant. I am thankful that I am still based out of the CSIH office because I often have difficulty at MISU because the GHIS is my priority but there is a lot of demand on the unit about other sotware applications. There are also some differences that exist between work ethics with me and some staff so the setup is probably for the best.