Tuesday, June 03, 2014

A Piece of Week 5 from Georgetown

Hello everyone!

It's another steamy night in Georgetown as we are all comfortably tucked into our cozy bug nets. The Georgetown PE's have had yet another fun-filled week of teaching, meetings, TV appearances, and lesson planning that we cannot wait to share with you! 

Marni and Steve with their St. Pius Primary School class! (try and spot Marni)

Last Thursday, we visited the Guyana Planned Parenthood Association in order to gain information on sexual health and collected male and female condoms to distribute to our older students. The meeting ended up being a great success and we were fortunate enough to get to know the management staff at the centre. We exchanged contact information and are looking forward to having them as a contact and potential partner for next year!

Last Friday, the Georgetown Team had a meeting with Dr. Anthony, the Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. The Minister was very excited to get on board with us to help expand our project for next year and those to come. The focus of the meeting was to devise a concrete schedule for next year's incoming Guyana group. Specifically, this year's PE's are working hard at integrating a teaching schedule consisting of fewer schools with more visits per week (to cover more in-depth content) more TV appearances, hosting health workshops for parents, as well as implementing a Peer Educator program for Guyanese youth. A very promising meeting! 

This past weekend, Steve and Marni made the trek out to Berbice to visit Ali and Eric. Although it poured rain the whole weekend (the rainy season is amongst us now), the four of them kept busy playing cards, cooking meals and visiting youth spaces. Back in Georgetown Casey and Colleen enjoyed a sunny girls weekend that consisted of romantic walks by the seawall, collecting sea shells, and taking cheesy photographs-- much needed relaxation. In Steve's absence, Colleen grabbed the opportunity to sleep in his double bed by the horns (Colleen was outsized by Steve when calling dibs on the bigger of the two beds). 

One of the many cow crossing delays on the way to Berbice! 

We visited the David Rose Centre, an after-school youth space in Ruimveldt, yesterday afternoon to teach a mini lesson about sexual anatomy and puberty, followed by dividing the group up for Girl Talk and Boy Talk to answer any awkward questions the students may have. Boy oh boy, do we love awkward questions!

Marni and Colleen demonstrating the steps of condom use!

Casey and Steve teaching about the male anatomy!

Today, we visited our favourite stall at the market to buy pineapples and watermelons for snacks. The owner, Sunil, was sporting a Canada t-shirt just for us! It made us feel so welcome and at home here in Georgetown. We were also recognized at the market from our appearances on NTN This Morning! Almost famous? We think so. 

Colleen at our favourite pineapple and watermelon stand at the market!

We cannot believe we only have two and a half weeks left in this beautiful country that feels very much like home. To our fellow PEs on other initiatives who are wrapping up their projects this week, congratulations! We can't wait to see all of you back in Kingston in September to trade stories. 

Sending out lots of QHO love,

The G-town Crew, also known as The Fantastic Four 
(Casey, Marni, Colleen and Steve)



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