Week 1 Complete: Incredible People, Successful Lessons, & Fun Games!

Hi again! Georgetown team here!

Beth, Allie & Janet outside of Sophia Secondary School.

We’ve just finished our first full week of teaching and we cannot believe how smoothly it’s gone! Throughout this week, we’ve met some very inspiring people; the women who run the youth spaces, spending all day selflessly providing a safe place for children; the youth volunteers who act as role models, giving up their free time to lead within the community; and finally the teachers who have so much passion for their students and make many personal sacrifices to contribute to the schools. One of the teachers established a school and continues to fund it with personal money from a side business. Other teachers go beyond teaching in their regular classrooms, volunteering to teach students who cannot afford to go to school. We feel so inspired by these amazing people and are so honoured to be able to work with them.

In the time leading up to our arrival in Guyana, we’ve stressed about our ability to be effective peer educators. So far, our doubts have been put at ease when reading the anonymous question box (slips of paper students fill out at the end of class to give feedback on the lesson; what they’ve learned and any questions they may have). We eagerly read these slips of paper on the cab rides back to Rima’s Guesthouse, and continue to feel fulfilled with the amount of information the students have retained and their motivation to learn more. 

The Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre where we volunteer after teaching.

On top of teaching structured lessons in schools, we’ve spent much time in youth spaces after school hours. Following a busy week of teaching, we unwound with the children at Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre by joining their games day on Friday afternoon. Having met the children on Wednesday, they greeted us upon arrival with many “Good afternoon Miss/Sir’s” (...and a couple of excited “AHHHHS!!”). We were really eager to learn some of their favourite games, and in return Haily taught them her favourite camp game, Huckle Buckle, which the children loved! Although, it did take some time to break into partners (“No, I want to be partners with the Miss!” and “No, let me be partners with the Sir!”). Janet surprised the boys with her basketball skills and gave some pointers on how to do lay-ups. Allie showed off her mosquito bites (“Miss, what’s on your elbow? Miss, what’s on your feet?”) and played on the swings and seesaw with the girls. Adam bonded with the older boys and also took some unreal photos (see below)!

We’ve had a great week and have already started preparations for our lessons and activities next week. We cannot wait to spend more time with all the incredible people and friendly children that we’ve met!

Sending love from Georgetown,

Allie, Adam, Haily & Janet