The Beginning of the End

Here we are, writing our final blog post, trying to think of ways to summarize what this amazing experience has included. We can say with confidence that this initiative has been one of a kind, and we are forever grateful for all that it has taught us, the relationships we have built, the people we have met and the connections we have made.

Shayna and Grace with their Business/Science class at Sophia
Training Centre after the final class 

Week 6 consisted of lots of teaching, mixed in with the beginnings of preparations for our departure. We taught numerous lessons covering a wide variety of subjects. We continued to welcome the development of relationships with students and enjoyed some of our one-on-one chats and girl talk boy talk sessions at the end of each lesson. Engaging with the students in a peer to peer environment has continued to prove successful in facilitating difficult discussions amongst youth. We have loved and valued every question asked by the students and hope that our discussions have shed light on some hidden areas of health.

Squad on-air at NTN-Radio! 

Tuesday evening, we were welcomed on to the NTN-Radio Show entitled Reality Check. Facilitated by the wonderful host Frederick Rampersaud, we spoke of mental health, mental illness, stigma, depression, self harm and suicide. It was a wonderful experience and we thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the listeners who called in!

At the Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre, we broadened our repertoire of hand games, refreshed our memory on hopscotch and played a version of cricket in the rain! We continue to be amazed by the enthusiasm of all the children and the dedication of the centre's staff.

St. Margaret's Grade 6 Students 

Looking back on the past 6.5 weeks, it is crazy to think back to where it all began. We are excited about this year's developments and are look forward to seeing how these partnerships continue to develop in the upcoming years. While days may have felt like weeks, weeks undoubtedly felt like days, leaving us here at the end of our journey searching for where the time went. To all the people we have met, the organizations and groups we have fostered partnerships with, the schools that welcomed us, and the students and youth that continue to amaze us, thank you. This has been a once in a lifetime experience and it could not have been done alone.


Signing out,

The Georgetown Squad 2016
Rebeca, Andrew, Grace + Shayna

Week 5- The Mosquitos are Alive!!!

Well hello there!

Here we are, another week later, still trying to understand where all the time is flying. We had another jam-packed week, filled with non stop lesson planning and teaching. This week, we had the pleasure of starting at yet another new school, The Business School. With 3 new classes, we jumped right into mental health and mental illness, focussing on stigma and the importance of reaching out for support. Following with this trend, on our weekly news segment, we spoke of depression and suicide. While it is a difficult topic, our commitment to starting the conversation and spreading awareness continues to grow.

Andrew teaching a Grade 6 class about peer pressure

At our other schools, all teaching pairs taught a variety of lessons including puberty, sexual health, menstruation and pregnancy, STIs, bullying, peer pressure and self esteem. Over the past few weeks, we have loved watching classes open up, as we have seen through increased participation in discussions and the desire to ask questions.

The ladies of both initiatives reunited!

On Friday, we connected with the Ministry of Public Health's Mental Health Unit. While it is only 4 weeks old, they are already making great strides to providing the best possible resources, information and awareness to the Guyanese public. We are excited to watch this unit unfold, are looking forward to following its developments and implementations. Later that afternoon, the four of us made our way to Berbice where we were reunited with our other half of the initiative. We had the honour of watching the Berbice PEs teach one of their weekly classes, and can't wait to use some of the techniques and teaching points we took note of in the rest of our classes! It was great to see how the other half of QHO Guyana's initiative is engaging with their community, and we loved meeting some of their friends from the Letter Kenny Youth Space! We headed back for Georgetown with a weekend of memories, new ideas, and one million new mosquito bites.

While it is crazy to think that this experience is coming to an end, we are excited to head into our last full week of teaching back here in Georgetown.


Still sweating,

The Georgetown Crew
Shayna, Andrew, Grace + Becca