Georgetown Update

We've had a busy first week in Georgetown and we're just getting started! We have been finalizing our schedule and are looking forward to working within the schools this upcoming week. We are starting to get into the swing of things and officially feel at home. 

On Friday morning we met with Rayaz, the principal of RBI and the host of NTN This Morning. He introduced us to all of Georgetown on his television show and set the stage for our future lessons that we will be teaching weekly on his programs. Unfortunately, Steve is significantly taller than the girls which made it difficult to see all of us on television at once. It will definitely be a challenge teaching but looking forward to our big debut!

Following our television premiere, we taught a lesson at Sophia Training School, an institution designed to foster individuals in different trade skills. It was amazing to be able to teach at this school since the students are all around our age. We will be teaching them just as much as they will be teaching us and we cannot wait for the next six weeks with them. 

We have exciting news! Earlier last week we met Dr. Karen Bailey from McMaster University out for dinner. She noticed the QHO t-shirts and mentioned that she is apart of the Canada-Guyana Medical Partnerships Coalition (C-GMPC), which is an informal grouping of the numerous Canadian-Guyanese medical outreach groups working to identify and address health care needs in Guyana. She invited us to the C-GMPC meeting held this past Friday where we were introduced to many promising contacts. We are setting up a meeting this week to meet with the Ministry of Health to discuss our potential partnership in the upcoming years of the Guyana project.

After the exciting meeting, Kate met us back at the guesthouse after leaving Ali and Eric in Berbice. She was able to join us for our second visit to the Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre and meet all of the wonderful kids. We were thrilled when the kids came running up to us as we arrived, indicating that they remembered us and were so happy to have us back and ready to play. Janet was sad to say her goodbyes but she knows she is leaving the kids in good hands. 

Colleen and Steve with some kids at Ruimveldt!

Janet-- we feel so lucky that we got to spend the week with you here in Guyana. You made the transition easy and painless. Thank you for showing us around and introducing us to all of the schools. We will do our best to make you proud. 

Friday night we were fortunate enough to be invited to one of Rayaz's weekly cricket matches. Although it was our first time watching cricket, we tried our best to learn the rules and we believe we somewhat understand. We felt so welcome at the match and are hoping to go back soon to watch again. 

We were reunited with our Berbice friends yesterday and were so happy to be back together. The six of us had a great day catching up. At night we attending a pre-wedding Hindu party, a first for all of us. We had an amazing time eating from leaves, dancing and getting henna done on our hands. It was an experience none of us will forget.

The six PEs ready for the wedding! 

Eating dinner out of leaves!

The beautiful henna!

We look forward to the week ahead as we begin to get into a routine. 

Until next time,

The Georgetown Team (Marni, Casey, Colleen and Steve) 

Berbice Update: Settling In

Hi Everyone,

After spending a couple nights in Georgetown, we (Eric and Ali) headed up to Berbice with Kate to get us settled in to our new home for the next few weeks in Letterkenny. We're lucky to have such gracious hosts that have made us feel so welcome in their houses. We have also been able to meet some wonderful families and kids in the Letterkenny community. We've enjoyed participating in our first cricket match with them and trying some home made Guyanese dishes- the hospitality here continues to astound us. 

Our project has hit the ground running and after visits to the Regional Ministry Offices we were granted permission to teach in four new public secondary schools- an exciting opportunity! After talking with various Headteachers we are in the process of finalizing our weekly schedule and we're very eager to begin. As of right now we will be in Rose Hall and Port Mourant, as well as Wednesdays spent in Skeldon and Fridays in New Amsterdam.

Today is our first day in Berbice on our own, our lovely Project Director, Kate has headed back to Georgetown and is flying out from there tomorrow. We want to thank Kate for all of her hard work throughout the year to get us this far. Kate's enthusiasm and endless positivity has helped us adjust almost seamlessly to our new life here in Berbice; we are lighting mosquito coils and catching cabs on the regular. Kate- we'll miss you!

Now that we are settled in, look forward to more updates about our ventures in teaching!


Love,


Ali and Eric

A Successful First Day

Hello from the Georgetown Crew!

Since Monday was the Arrival holiday in Guyana, there were no classes taking place in the schools. We waved goodbye to our Berbice Team as they headed off, wishing them luck in Letter Kenny.

Waving bye to Kate, Ali and Eric as they head for Berbice!

On Tuesday we met with the head teachers of Adult Education Association (AEA) and Chase Academy teaching schools. We received our schedules and began to plan our lessons right away. We called multiple other schools and set up times to meet with them to continue building our schedule-- needless to say we have been busy!

Today we taught our first lessons at Chase Academy to the secondary students. We started with introductions about ourselves and QHO as well as name games to start getting to know the students better. After getting the ball rolling we dived right into teaching a lesson on values and goal setting. The kids were very well behaved and enthusiastic when answering our questions. They loved getting to know this years Peer Educators and seemed very excited for the weeks to come. Colleen loved dancing with the girls and singing "Happy" by Pharrell. Casey loved the energy in the classrooms and the kids eagerness to participate. Steve loved joking around and making fun of himself in order to get the kids engaged. Marni loved sharing stories with the kids and talking to them about their favourite activities. Overall it was a great success and Janet was so proud to watch her PEs in action even though she was struggling to stay seated instead of teaching.

Steve, Colleen, Marni and Casey at Chase Academy getting ready to teach!

Right after teaching our second lesson we went to Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre where Janet introduced us to Ms. Patsy and Ms. December. They were so happy to welcome us and we established that we will be going back every Tuesday and Friday after teaching to hopefully facilitate some lessons and play with the kids. The Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre is a place for kids of all ages to go hang out after school and have dinner. Janet was so excited to see all of the familiar faces from last year. The kids have so much energy and loved running around outside. We are so excited to go back in a few days!

Janet and the kids at Ruimveldt! 

Rima's Guesthouse has become our home away from home. The ladies have welcomed us into their home. Though the bug nets were hard to get used to, we now enjoy feeling as though we are sleeping in princess beds. Georgetown has become familiar and the PEs can now somewhat navigate through the streets without Janet's help. We are looking forward to learning more about Georgetown and the weeks to come!

Until next time,
Georgetown team (Steve, Marni, Colleen and Casey)

Hello from Guyana!

Good morning from Georgetown!

We made it! After Marni's dad got us on a earlier direct flight we arrived in Georgetown at 5:30 am. The heat and the delicious smell of the jungle hit us right when we stepped off the airplane. We settled in at the guesthouse and we feel very at home here.

After a quick power nap, Kate and Janet took us to Shanta's Snackette to try some Guyanese food. Our favourite foods were roti, channa, cook-up and pumpkin curry. After lunch we went to the grocery store and the market to get some fresh fruit.

Later in the day, we had our first meeting with Miss Toney, our partner with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. We discussed plans for the following seven weeks, and we can't wait to start teaching!

Kate and Janet have done an excellent job showing us around the city and exploring the markets. They feel like they never left Guyana! Colleen has a total of 28 mosquito bites and a sunburn and we have only been here for 30 hours - but the smile has never left her face. Eric enjoyed our group run this morning, it was nice to run home in the rain to cool us off. Marni loves falling asleep to the vibrant sounds of the Georgetown streets. Steve forgot his water bottle at home, so now he's drinking out of a kids water bottle with a kitten that says "Dreamy Kitty" on it. Needless to say, he has a new nickname. He's dying to play basketball at the court near our guesthouse! Ali is really enjoying all the delicious tropical fruit and loves the hustle and bustle of the market. Casey loves the Guyanese food and is doing her best to learn all the names of the new dishes.

Tomorrow is a holiday in Guyana, so we will be spending the day lesson planning and getting organized for the week ahead. Kate, Ali, and Eric will be heading to Berbice tomorrow afternoon. We're so excited to get started!

That's all for now, we will post again soon!

Kate, Janet, Colleen, Marni, Casey, Steve, Ali and Eric

The Guyana Team boarding the plane to Georgetown!

Good-bye Guyana!

Hello everyone,

Wow, these past 8 weeks of project have flown by! We cannot believe that today is our last day in Guyana and that it is time for us to pack up our suitcases, while we head off on our separate journeys. 

This past weekend, we traveled as a group up to the Essequibo River; we thoroughly enjoyed the mini-bus ride (thanks to the driver for playing some of our favourite tunes that begun the sing-alongs!) and the beautiful (and bumpy!) boat ride. Once arrived, we were stunned by the pristine beauty of the coastal area. We also explored several Amerindian villages and met with the captains and leaders of the communities. Our guide, Mr. Alves, from the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, introduced us to many other local young volunteers and peer educators. We exchanged resources and activity manuals with them, and are excited to incorporate some of their awesome activities when we update our manual. We even joined some of the volunteers on their Information Technology outreach in an Amerindian community, Theresa’s Village, where we got to camp out in the community centre! Before their IT classes began, we taught a lesson on sexual health to some youth and young mothers from the community. We had met with the nurse of the community the previous day, and tried to incorporate the relevant health concerns that she discussed with us. Although we did not do as much teaching as anticipated, we had a great time and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see more of the country, meet local volunteers, and do some health outreach. 

All 6 of up at the Essequibo River

This morning, we had our final appearance on NTN This Morning, where we discussed self-esteem and leadership. We want to thank Reyaz Husein for welcoming us not only to his school, but also introducing us to the rest of Guyana via his morning show. We had so much fun and can’t wait to continue our partnership next year!

We cannot say thank you enough to all of those who have helped make our project extremely successful:

• The wonderful teachers and students we have worked with

• The selfless ladies who run the youth-friendly spaces

• The warm hospitality at Rima’s Guesthouse and Shivani’s house in Berbice

• The friendly cab drivers and restaurant staff

• Friends and family back home

• All donors, sponsors, and each individual who helped contribute to the funding of our project!

• Our partners at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (Ms. Toney and Ameshwar) 

• Our AWESOME project directors, Beth and Joe, for preparing us and supporting us throughout project

Although we are sad to be leaving Guyana, we are extremely grateful for this experience and all the wonderful people we have met and worked with along the way. 

We may have been the ones up at the board with the chalk in our hands, but the most valuable lessons were the ones we learned from the students and youth of Guyana. 

Lots of love,

Allie, Adam, Haily, Janet, Kate & Kevin

Good-bye Georgetown, Hello Essequibo River!

Wow, so we have just wrapped up our final week here in Georgetown! Hard to believe how fast those 7 weeks have gone by! Kate and Kevin are permanently re-joining us tonight, as tomorrow morning all six of us leave for the Essequibo River to do some work up there before heading home. 

In our final classes, we answered many questions, left contact information for resources around Georgetown, and played a game we invented - “QH-uh-O” - where students would answer review questions in hopes of gaining points (and risk the chance of an “uh-O” where they would loose all points)! The students loved it and had so much fun working together in teams to make sure they answered questions correctly. We were so impressed by the amount of information they remembered! This game was a super fun way to wrap up everything we had taught during the past 2 months. 

In many of our classes we awarded personalized QHO completion certificates to each of the student at the end of our final class. In some of our larger classes, we awarded a framed certificate to the school as a whole. We hope that it is able to signify how proud we are of all the students and their hard work during our time here. So many of the students have touched us in ways that words will do no justice. 

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for all of us; so happy to have had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people, yet so sad to be having to say goodbye.

Lots of love,

Allie, Adam, Haily & Janet

Exciting New Initiatives and Adventures!

Hey again everyone! 

It’s been an exciting week of new initiatives added to our regular teaching routine. We’ve participated in environmental outreach, toured a national landmark, and taught to a (MUCH) larger audience.

Last Friday (June 7th), we participated in some environmental awareness activities with students at the Sophia Training Centre. We planted some trees and shrubs and helped collect garbage around the classrooms and compound. It was so wonderful to see students passionate about the environment! Although the day’s activities were not directly health-related, it was a healthy activity for a few hours and was a great way to bond with the students!

Kaieteur Falls - As seen from the air plane!

Kate and Kevin joined us in Georgetown for an exciting weekend. We taught at our usual youth space in Rasville on Saturday, and prepared for an adventurous Sunday. As Sundays are our only days off from teaching and working in youth spaces, we took advantage of the opportunity to visit one of Guyana’s most iconic sights; Kaieteur Falls. We took a small plane out of the city, over acres and acres of dense rainforest and winding rivers, to Kaiteur National Park. On foot, we had a tour guide lead us to several vantage points of the infamous falls. It was absolutely breathtaking! The pristine wilderness surrounding the falls, is just as beautiful as the falls themselves. We now understand why Guyana is known as the “Land of Many Waters”! It was an amazing experience to get to see such natural beauty and have some quality time together with all six of us.

Right before take off! 

The group at the second view point of the falls

Allie, Kate, Haily, Adam, Kevin and Janet at the top of the falls!

Another exciting recent opportunity has been teaching on live national television! Reyaz Hussein, administrator of one of the schools in which we teach, invited us onto his morning show on NTN (National Television Network). We appeared briefly last week introducing our organization and what we are doing in Georgetown, and this week we taught half hour sessions live on both Monday and Wednesday morning. Luckily, Kate and Kevin were still in Georgetown on Monday morning and were able to join us for our first experience of teaching live on the air. We focused on nutrition, hygiene and physical fitness in our first lesson, and then covered substances in our second. It has been such a different yet incredible experience, and we are so excited to be returning to teach on the show once a week for the rest of our time in Guyana (a total of 5 episodes!). Not only is it exciting for our students to recognize us on TV (“we saw you on the tv miss/sir!”), it is such a valuable opportunity to reach out to a greater audience. In addition to television, we have also been interviewed on various NTN radio programs, raising awareness of health-related issues and the work that we are doing in Guyana. We were excited to have such positive feedback from listeners and viewers; their recognition of the value in health education has increased our motivation in these last few weeks.

Janet and Adam on Live NTN Television 

Adam and Janet on NTN Radio

We are now entering our last week of teaching, and are busy planning review games and sentimental goodbyes. It’s going to be a busy and emotional few days, but we are fortunate to have had this incredible experience that will be so hard to say goodbye to.

Lots of Love,

Georgetown Team:)

(Janet, Haily, Allie and Adam)

Inside the Classroom, New Connection & Fun G.Town Visit...

Hey Everyone!

Time is flying by here in Berbice, it's crazy to think that we are leaving for Georgetown a week today! Lots has happened in the past week and half.

10 Steps to Condom Use Relay Race at No.59 Primary School

Last Monday, we had our jam packed day full of teaching at the four schools out in the Skeldon area. We taught our first lesson at the Tagore Secondary School. It was a lot of fun teaching our Puberty lesson to a great grade 7 class. We then headed to Massiah Primary School where we taught a new class of grade 6's. Since it was their first lesson with us we taught our Values and Goal Setting lesson, as we had done with the other grade 6's at the school. After, we went straight to Newmarket Primary to teach our Puberty Part II lesson. We had lots of great anonymous questions from them the week before, so we made sure we allocated enough time to answer all of them. We finished our day at No. 59 Primary School where we taught a lesson on contraceptives.

On Tuesday, we headed out to our home away from home, the Letter Kenny youth friendly space, behind our house. We ran our "Pat on the Back" self-esteem activity with them. Both us and the kids had a great time colouring our paper hands and reading all the nice things people wrote about everyone.

'Pat on the Back's' at the Letter Kenny Youth Friendly Space

Wednesday morning we met the principal of the Berbice Islamic School to discuss teaching opportunities there. The meeting went very well, as the principal made time for us to teach twice this week despite their busy exam schedule. He was very keen on having next year's Peer Educator's come and teach multiple times a week throughout the two months. We are really excited to work with this school in the future!
After our meeting, we headed straight to the Guyana Business College where we taught a lesson on Peer Pressure.

Thursday morning we set out to New Amsterdam to teach at the Vryman's Erven Training Centre in the morning and the Smythfield Drop-in Centre in the afternoon. The session on STI's went really well at Vryman's as the students participated a lot. Our session on Physical Activity was a lot of fun. We first discussed the importance of being active, and for the second part of the session we went outside to play Huckle-Buckle, which we all had a lot of fun playing.

Playing Huckle Buckle at the Smythfield Drop-In Centre

We were fortunate enough to be invited to join in on Vryman's Erven's field trip to Georgetown on Friday. We left for Georgetown at eight in the morning. The trip included stops at a Hair Salon and Barbering School (this part was especially interesting for the students in the cosmetology program), the Guyana National Museum, the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, and one of Guyana's TV/Radio stations (this visit was especially interesting for the students in the IT program). The trip was a lot of fun and it was a great experience to hang out with the students outside of the classroom and to explore more of "the City" (Georgetown). Thanks so much for inviting us Vryman's Erven!

After our last stop on the field trip we joined the Georgetown team for the weekend. We had a lot of fun exploring more of the city and eating at a variety of local restaurants. The highlight of the weekend was our trip to Kaieteur Falls on Sunday and teaching on TV which the Georgetown team will tell you more about in their next blog post! 

Contraception Lesson at Newmarket Primary School

On Tuesday we went back out to Skeldon to teach at the Tagore, Massiah, Newmarket, and No. 59 schools. Massiah asked us to teach both their grade 6 classes, so we split up and each taught a class by ourselves and both classes went really well!

Wednesday afternoon we taught at the Berbice Islamic School for the first time where we taught Values and Goal Setting to an amazing class of 50 students. When we talked to the teachers after class they asked us if we could extend our lessons there and teach for 2 hours instead of 1. We were really excited to hear that they liked the lesson and we can't wait to teach there again this afternoon!

Quick Stretch Break at No.59 Primary School

The Berbice Team at their Finest

Lots of Love,

Kate & Kev

Lots of Teaching, Cooking and Fun Visits in Berbice

Hey Guys!

We can't believe that we're already half way through project! We've been here for four weeks now and only have three weeks left in Berbice and one final week in Georgetown with the rest of the group.
After an amazing Independence Day weekend in Georgetown we headed back to Berbice early Tuesday morning to make it back in time for our afternoon lessons. Tuesday afternoon we went out to No.59 Primary school to teach the second part of our puberty lesson to the grade 6 class. We've been teaching this class for a few weeks now and it is clear that the students have become much more comfortable with us and are participating lots! After teaching the grade 6's we had the opportunity to speak at a parent seminar that was being held at the school. At the request of the headmistress we ran a session on Nutrition and Healthy Eating Habits. There were two other guest speakers at the seminar, a representative from Child Protection and the president of the region's Parent-Teacher Association. We really enjoyed listening to both of these speakers and learned a lot!
On Thursday morning we went back to the Guyana Business College and taught a lesson on Sex and Contraceptives to a very interested and enthusiastic class.

World Challenge Day Walk-a-Thon

Thursday afternoon we were invited to participate in a walk-a-thon at the Vryman's Erven Training Centre (a school we teach at on Friday mornings). The walk-a-thon was celebrating World Challenge Day and was a huge success! The walk began at the school and went through the community finishing up at the Smythfield Youth Friendly Space. Throughout the walk students handed out brochures on topics such as STIs, contraceptives and family planning. At the end of the walk a speech was given by a Regional Minister about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and we were led in a series of physical exercises. The whole event was broadcasted on national television (some of our students from other schools told us that they saw us exercising on TV!). To conclude the event we ran a session on Physical Activity and Healthy Eating for the students. A big thanks to the organizers of the event for inviting us to come out, we had a lot of fun!
On Friday morning we taught a lesson on Sex and Contraception to the students at the Vryman's Erven Training Centre. It went really well and the students asked some really great questions. In the afternoon we went to the Smythfield Youth Friendly Centre where we led an activity on the importance of having positive self-esteem. The activity was called a 'Pat on the Back' and everyone received an outline of a hand that they put their name on. Then everyone took turns writing nice things about their friends on their paper hands. At the end of the activity everyone got to read all the nice things that everyone had written about them. The kids got really into the activity and added some awesome decorations to their paper hands! We were very excited to get home on Friday night to meet Haily and Janet who had arrived at our house earlier in the afternoon for a weekend visit! When we got home we took them for a walk around the neighbourhood and introduced them to some of the kids from the Letter Kenny Youth Friendly Space. After our walk we all headed home and we taught them how to make one of our favourite meals, stuffed boulangie (eggplant for our North American readers).
We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and Janet led a 'Tabata' workout for us all which was both challenging and fun! We then went to the Port Mourant Market to pick up some fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner.

Us at the Port Mourant Market

We had a blast showing Janet and Haily around this exciting and busy market. After a delicious lunch of a chickpea salad and fruit salad, the four of us went to the Camal Shelter to run the 'Pat on the Back' activity with the youth there. Kate and Haily worked with the older kids while Janet and Kevin worked with the younger kids. Everyone had a lot of fun and the kids told us that they're looking forward to our next visit, which we are too!

Kevin leading the 'Pat on the Back' activity at the Camal Shelter

Saturday evening we decided to put our Guyanese cooking skills to the test by cooking Pumpkin Curry and Roti. With some advice and tips from the vendors at the market and some of the girls at the Camal Shelter, we managed to pull it off and make a delicious meal! We're excited to share this meal with our family and friends when we get home!

On Sunday morning Kate, Haily and Janet went for a run around Letter Kenny and were amazed by all of the beautiful colours of the houses. After breakfast the four of us walked down the path behind our house to the beach. On our way we were joined by some of the Letter Kenny kids. After our walk we hopped on a minibus and headed out to #63 beach which is Guyana's only swimmable beach. It was very refreshing to go out for a swim in the ocean. While we were swimming a family invited us to play catch in the water with them which was a lot of fun! Overall, it was a great weekend and we had an awesome time showing Haily and Janet around Berbice.

 

 

Cookin' up some pumpkin curry and roti

The final product!

Some goats joined us on our walk to the beach

The four of us on our walk to the beach

Lots of Love,
Kate & Kev

Teaching Inside the Classroom, Learning Outside the Classroom

Allie and Haily teaching sexual health at Valmiki Vidyalaya High School.

My oh my, have we ever been busy since our last post! 

Janet with her and Allie's class at Sophia Primary School. 

Our teaching schedule has been as busy as ever, and we have been covering some very interesting and important topics. Over the past two weeks we have finished up our unit on substances and peer pressure, and have entered into the much awaited sexual health unit, focusing on puberty, sexual anatomy, contraceptives, STIs and HIV. It’s hard to believe, but we are in our second last week of teaching here in Georgetown, and the time is still flying by. 

Over the next couple weeks we will be covering healthy relationships, mental health, and doing some review. It's hard to believe we've reached the halfway point of project! Between our busy teaching schedule and planning fun activities at youth spaces, the time is flying by. We are feeling motivated to make the most of these last few weeks.

The 4 of us and our AEA students in front of the bus.

We have also had a number of exciting experiences in the past couple of weeks. Friday May 31st, we were fortunate enough to be invited along on AEA’s field trip to the Suriname border. AEA is a school that we teach at multiple times a week and have developed a great relationship with, so we were thrilled to have the opportunity to not only see more of the country, but also to interact with the students in an informal setting outside of the classroom. We drove together in a bus for about 3 hours along the coast, passing some absolutely stunning scenery, driving through countless communities and villages. At the Guyana-Suriname border, we were given a ferry tour and took in the spectacular view of Suriname and the river that divides it from Guyana. After a lunch break, we had a quick tour of Guyana’s beautiful #63 beach, where we got to stretch our legs for a bit and play some games. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to join AEA on this trip!

Enjoying the super fun (and long) bus ride!

The view along the northeast coast of Guyana
(Note: Suriname can be seen across the river!)

Adam, Janet, and Haily at the Suriname Border.

Allie, Haily and Janet at #63 Beach. 

Adam in his typical lunge position at #63 Beach. 

We have an exciting last few weeks ahead of us, and are very much looking forward to making the most of each day that we have left!

Lots of Love,

Allie, Adam, Janet & Haily