How is it possible that we have been here for five weeks? Our fifth week
in Guyana was very eventful, and certainly one to remember. Most of us taught
lessons involving contraceptives, which include a demonstration of how to put a
condom on a plantain, in our case. No matter the age of the class or the time
of the day, there always seemed to be smiles and giggles coming from the
students, and a couple of laughs from us as well! Even though it is a bit of a
sillier lesson, the students seemed to really engage and remember all of the
steps of how to properly use contraceptives.
Our life outside of the classroom was quite exciting this week. Ravi
(the owner of the bar below us) taught us how to make fried plantains, a
popular side dish in Guyana. Not only were they so delicious, but he gave us
about 5 pounds of them, so we were eating plantains all night! On another
night, he taught us how to make two types of cake. One was similar to a vanilla
cake back home, and the other was made of cornmeal and fresh coconut milk! For
our first time baking, and with no measuring cups, we like to think we did a
pretty good job!
On Friday evening, all 6 of us got to teach our second lesson to the
young men at the Guysuco Training College. Although we thought that teaching
contraceptives to 13-year-olds was funny, teaching the same lesson to
20-year-olds was hilarious. Surprisingly, they seemed to enjoy the lesson the
most! We coupled the contraceptive talk with a lesson about abuse and consent,
and we are thankful that we were able to cover a broad spectrum of topics in
only two visits to Guysuco.
Saturday morning was very happy, as our friends from Georgetown came for
a visit to Berbice! We showed them the market, and then all 10 of us, along
with our friends from the Youth Space made the trek to the Letter Kenny beach.
After a full day of laughing, swimming, and spending time in the hot sun, we
were all pretty exhausted Saturday night. We introduced the Georgetown gang to
our favourite meal, pumpkin curry and roti, and they enjoyed it just as much as
we do! On Sunday morning, we had an especially early start, as we wanted to see
the sunrise. We threw our hoodies on and were out the door by 5 AM. The sunrise
was breathtaking, and even though we have been here for five weeks, we often
forget to stop and realize how stunning Guyana really is.
The rest of our Sunday consisted of a visit to the Letter Kenny Mandir
with our friends, some much needed naps, and a plethora of games and charades
as a group.
Although it was sad to say goodbye to our friends, we know that we will
be seeing them in two short weeks!
Until next time,
The Berbice Family <3