Running through G-town with my QHOs

Goooood Afternooon!!

Coming to you live from Georgetown, it’s QHO! This week went pretty much according to our routine, with a few exciting and eye opening things thrown into the mix. At the beginning of the week we were finishing up teaching lessons on healthy relationships, peer pressure and abuse at Chase Academy, AEA, Reyaz Business Institute and the Red Cross, with our lessons later in the week focusing on depression, suicide and coping at the Sophia Training Centre, AEA and Chase Academy.

Our Thursday morning lessons on The National Television Network are generating recognition farther and wider then we realized. The Berbice team was recognized by the QHO logo on their t-shirts the other day by their cab driver, who had seen our most recent lesson on “How to talk to your kids about Peer Pressure and Substance Abuse.” Reyaz connected us with his colleague who runs the radio at the National Television Network in Guyana. We are extremely excited to be featured on his show
“Reality Check” for our final two weeks here. We will be holding live discussion based questions as well as taking in calls from listeners and answering peoples questions. Make sure to tune in on Tuesday at 8pm Eastern Time, we are really excited to have made this new connection, which will only further our reach in Guyana

***see link to tune in live: http://tunein.com/radio/NTN-RADIO-891-FM-s214151/

It has been a special week with the Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre. On Wednesday, the boys began the process of painting the playground in their yard which added some colour and brightness to their equipment. There will be more painting to be continued this week and we are hoping to add a mural to the side of the building as well in the next couple of weeks. We will be sure to keep updates coming! After our regular Friday evening, playing with the children and feeding them dinner, we went for a walk through the community behind the center where majority of the kids live. This was an experience that is hard to put into words, but exposed us to a side of humanity that is both eye-opening and shocking, demonstrating the resilience that these incredible kids have.

It was great having the Berbice team in Georgetown  for the weekend again- we had a quiet Friday evening as we all had such busy weeks, so it was great being able to catch up with each other. On Saturday, we felt super privileged that that Reyaz had invited us all to the Anna Catherina Islamic Complex for a dinner and awards ceremony. The new government was honouring the complex for their achievements in the community- and Guyana at large- with the Golden Arrow Award, the highest National Award of its kind. Due to the nature of the event, both the Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Moses Nagomootoo and His Excellency President David Granger were present, and we were fortunate enough to exchange greetings with both of them. Don’t worry, we will follow up with pictures to prove it!!

Just this afternoon we were shown great hospitality by our good friend from the market, Sunil! Sunil is our go to guy 4 times a week, when we stock up on all of our fresh fruits and vegetables. We have just returned from spending the better part of our day with him and his lovely family, who cooked for us a wide variety of the most mouth-watering dishes!  Curried channa (chickpeas), stewed spicy pumpkin, stir fired garlic chokka (okra), dhal and rice, baggony (eggplant and onion fritters), roti straight off the griddle, and homemade passion fruit juice… Are you hungry yet?! They are an incredibly generous family who have taught us a lot about Guyana, both in the market and in their home, and have truly made us feel like family.

Hard to believe we have only two more weeks ahead of us in this wonderful country, hope June has been good to everyone so far!

Ciao for now,

Anna, Maddy, Jesse & Ali

Week Five and Still Alive

Hello once again everybody! It is your favourite Berbice Peer Educators writing to you from Rima's Guest House in Georgetown.



What a week it has been and things are starting to move much quicker. There are only two weeks left for us in Guyana, which is a sad realization. However, we are continuing to learn every day and every day presents new opportunities for us to grow the Berbice initiative.

A beautiful morning from our balcony in Letter Kenny.

Erin with the female students at #59 Primary after a successful lesson. 

On Monday, Jamie and Ben were in Comprehensive Corentyne for their regular lesson. They have been fluctuating between two Form 3 classes there, changing which one they teach each week. However, for the past two weeks, they have spent the entire lunch hour with the kids answering all the questions they have about health, science, and life as a teenager. It is incredible how eager they are to learn. By Wednesday, things really started to pick up with five lessons being taught between all of us. We have nicknamed our midweek day as Whirlwind Wednesday for the busy excitment that comes with it. Erin and Ben headed to Skeldon for lessons on puberty with Grade 6's at Massiah and #59 Primary as well as a lesson on healthy relationships and abuse at Tagore Secondary. The students are getting very comfortable with us teaching and are including us in lunch/snack plans as well as inviting us to play games with them after school. Jamie and Vinyas were at Lower Corentyne and Rose Hall Primary for lessons on puberty. These topics were covered on request from the students who were all eager and enthusiastic to  know more about developmental changes.

Jamie and Vinyas teaching Grade 6's at Rose Hall Primary about puberty.

Ben and Erin showing their enthusiasm for teaching. 

Let's talk about sex! A lesson on puberty and sexual anatomy with Ben and Erin. 

On Thursday we were once again busy teaching with lessons at Berbice Islamic School, Central Corentyne Secondary, Lesbeholden Primary and J.C. Chandisingh. Most of these were regular lessons with the exception of Lesbeholden Primary. Located in Blackbush, this is QHO's first time teaching at Lesbeholden. It was awesome to get into a new school and while the students were timid, they were extremely attentive and asked lots of great questions.
Later that evening, we had a campfire with the youth in the surrounding area. We have developed incredible relationships with the Letter Kenny kids over the five weeks we have been here. There have been lots of learning and fun happening at the Letter Kenny Youth Space after school hours. On Thursday we took the time to build a bonfire (which had the added bonus of keeping away mosquitoes) and bring the kids a little taste of Canadian culture in the form of S'mores! Everybody had a great time and it was great to see how creative the kids got in putting Guyanese twists on their s'mores.

Ben and Jamie with their Grade 5 and 6's from Lesbeholden Primary class after an engaging lesson on Peer Pressure. In the back right of the picture is Kenneth Pearson who has been instrumental in helping us with talking to schools int he Blackbush area. 

Our weekend was spent in Georgetown with the entire crew. We were invited to a ceremony at the Anna Catharina Islamic Complex by the main Georgetown contact Reyaz. The complex was receiving the Golden Arrow award, which is a national recognized award. Reyaz is very involved in the complex and the QHO team was therefore able to attend the incredible ceremony to experience some Islamic culture and witness them receiving their award. Since the award is a national award the newly elected President and Prime Minister of Guyana were in attendance! The entire QHO team were actually able to meet and exchange words with His Excellency Mr. President David Granger and the Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Moses Nagomootoo. This was an incredible experience that we won't soon forget. The entire QHO team is hoping to work more closely with the new government to increase the sustainability and effectiveness of our initiatives. Picture evidence will be forthcoming!

The beautiful Anna Catharina Islamic Complex

That's all for now. Soon we are heading back to Berbice for another exciting week of instruction. Stay well everyone!



The Berbice Crew,

Ben, Erin, Jamie, and Vinyas

Week Four in Berbice

Hi everyone! Today marks the first day of our fifth week in Guyana. Having an established teaching schedule has made the weeks pass with seemingly increasing speed. We already have only three weeks remaining!

Monday marked the end of our lessons at Vryman's Erven Training Centre. Throughout our lessons here, we did extensive work on mental health covering topics such as peer pressure, healthy relationships, abuse, self esteem, depression, and suicide. It was sad to say our first goodbye, however the students left the clear impression that they enjoyed having us in their classroom and now feel more comfortable both speaking about their own mental health and acting as resources in their communities. QHO looks forward to continuing to collaborate with the training center for lessons next year!

Ben and Jamie in Blackbush meeting with faculty members at Joanna Primary school to discuss implementing QHO programs at that school for the first time. 

On Thursday, Jamie and Ben visited Blackbush, Berbice to meet a new contact and introduce QHO to schools in the area. Through collaboration with some wonderful local contacts we were able to get in touch with four primary schools, a secondary school, and a youth space in the Blackbush region. Our teaching at the schools will be limited this year, but we look forward to building upon these relationships for future QHO initiatives. We look forward to teaching sporadic lessons at the schools over the next few weeks and a weekend seminar at the youth spaces. We are all ecstatic over the new opportunities arising in Berbice, which is increasing the number of youth we are able to reach!

After a week of teaching, we ended the week by accepting an invitation to the Guyana Independence Day celebration at Lower Corentyne Secondary. In the morning, we taught lessons on self-esteem and leadership and then ended the day by attending an assembly full of singing, dancing, and Guyanese pride and then participating in games with the students. Chatting over cola, cricket, and a cook-up cookout made for quite the Carribean experience and an enjoyable end to the week!

A big pot of cookup being made at Lower Corentyne for their Independence Day celebrations. 

Erin teaching self esteem and leadership in front of an attentive Lower Corentyne Form 3 class. 

Stay tuned for a future post regarding a day in the life of a member of the Berbice team! Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for taking the time to read our blog.

We've just passed the half way point!

This week started out like any other- we had a busy Monday and had to reschedule all of our classes that were the following day, because Tuesday was a national holiday, it was Independence Day and the new president was introduced at the presidential inauguration. The entire city shut down for this holiday, so we spent the morning watching the flag raising ceremony on television, and then headed to the national stadium for the afternoons events of cultural performances and the inauguration itself!
People had travelled from all corners of Guyana, camping out overnight to ensure a seat in the stadium. We were lucky to be able to find a spot way up in the back and witness this colourful celebration!

Wednesday we picked back up with lessons and teaching. We taught our first lesson to the Red Cross table tennis team. We also managed to spectate some of these athletes in a tournament this past week. It was really cool to see them in action! The rest of the week flew by with classes at Chase Academy, Sophia Training Centre, and of course another segment on TV. At Ruimveldt this week, we worked with the kids on some reading comprehension and still had lots of time for fun and games.

This week, in addition to our classes and regular activities, we are preparing for the training day that QHO is hosting on Saturday. We are super excited for the Berbice team to come again his upcoming weekend, so we can train this group of individuals on how to teach about different aspects of health to their communities, when QHO is not present.

At our guest house, our hosts are affiliated with a semi-pro basketball team here in Georgetown, and they invited us to watch a basketball game at the park across the street from where we live. It was really cool spending the evening watching them play under the lights! Waking up to the sound of torrential rain, on Sunday was totally normal, but when we stuck our heads out the window to find the streets flooded with at least a foot of water (more in some places), we were shocked! We weren't going anywhere fast! Just like we have snow days in Canada, it seems they have rain days in Georgetown.

Hope you are all staying dry in Canada!
The G-Town Team
Anna, Maddy, Ali, and Jesse

Making Moves!

Hey Guys!

This week flew by as every day was packed full of teaching and lesson planning! We we're happy to jump right back into things after our week in Berbice, and started by planning lessons on puberty and anatomy as well as STI's, contraceptives, and HIV/AIDS. As we were walking out of the Chase Academy on Monday morning, we happened to strike up a conversation with the coach of a table tennis team in partnership with the Red Cross. He was very excited about the topics we cover, and began asking if we could come in to talk to his athletes who often travel for the sport. After continuing meetings with him, this week we are going to begin teaching during after school practices, focusing our teaching on topics such as peer-pressure, goal setting, stress, and time management. We are excited to be partnering up with a new organization that is community-based in addition to teaching in schools.


On Tuesday, we taught our first classes at Reyaz Business Institute. This was an especially interesting class as it was our first on mental health, depression, and coping. We had the entire school divided up into two classes, so it was a new experience teaching to so many kids of all different ages. Many of the children at this school come from an orphanage nearby. Reyaz, the head master of the school, has organized time for us to go to the orphanage and cook dinner with them and spend time getting to know each other better.

This week was also our first time teaching on the National Television Network. Maddy and Anna taught a lesson on healthy diet and nutrition, while Jesse and Ali taught on physical health and fitness. We are really happy that we have this weekly segment to reach not just our peers, but to reach out to the rest of Guyana as it creates the ability to reach people in communities that we are not based out of.

Friday at Ruimveldt was the most wonderful mayhem. We brought a new basketball and soccer ball as well as two buckets of sidewalk chalk. The kids were so excited to draw and play. By the end of the afternoon, there were chalk drawings on every outdoor surface and the chalk had been completely devoured. It was so amazing to watch and see how happy and excited all of the kids were, it always rubs off on us in the best way!

We were also excited to have the Berbice team join us this weekend in Georgetown for a little bit of adventuring and taking in some of the natural beauty that Guyana has to offer. It has been a very busy and fulfilling week and we are excited to have so much in the works for this coming week!

Big hello's to everyone at home, stay tuned for more adventures!
Jesse, Ali, Anna, and Maddy

Getting Into the Swing of Things

Hello again from Berbice!

After a break from teaching due to school closures, we are happy to report we have completed our first full week of teaching! Jamie and Ben began the week on Monday with a lesson at Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary School while Erin and Vinyas started their week at Berbice Islamic on Tuesday. We have now begun our curricula in almost every school we have planned to teach. After meeting with the Headmasters, teachers, and other members of the community, we have shaped our teaching plan to include a focus on mental and sexual health. Our first lessons have covered an introduction to mental health and stigma surrounding mental illness. Thanks to training provided by the Jack Project, we entered classes prepared with a variety of activities helpful to develop students' understanding of the potential negative impacts of stigma on the individual and the community. Through our anonymous "question box" (a method used to receive feedback from students at the end of each lesson), we have witnessed wonderful growth from our students' regarding awareness of their own mental health. We have also learned the most effective methods to engage our students. Their participation in our activities and enthusiasm for learning health continues to surprise us each day.

Jamie and Vinyas with a few students from their Lower Corentyne class! 

Jamie and Erin taught QHO's first lesson of the year at the Letter Kenny Youth Space to the kids of the local community. After speaking to the youths in the community, we have developed some ideas for topics to cover over the remaining weeks. It has already proved interesting to adapt our teaching to such a diverse group of experiences and interests. We look forward to the coming lessons with them!

On Tuesday, the community members surrounding the Letter Kenny Youth Space organized a birthday surprise for Jamie's 21st. We learned the Guyanese tradition of each guest feeding the guest of honour a bite of cake. This event emphasizes the incredibly warm and welcoming hospitality we have received from the members of the community. Whether it involves a game of cricket, being invited to a ceremony at their local temple, or participating in extra lessons at the youth space, it is humbling not to be treated merely as visitors, but to be so seamlessly integrated into the community.

Surprise Jamie!!! 

After a nice visit with the Georgetown P.E.'s this weekend, we are excited to see what the next week holds! 

That's all, folks!!!!

Erin, Vinyas, Ben & Jamie

We're back from Berbice!

Hello Everyone!

Wow time has flown since we last posted, yesterday marked our two week anniversary in Georgetown- we can't believe it!

Last Saturday we left for Berbice making the two hour car journey through the beautiful countryside to the rest of our team. We spent most of our week there while we waited for elections and the results to be finalized and released- the opposition is now the new party in power, We find it very exciting to be in Guyana while the country is experiencing it's first regime change since 1992.


It was so lovely to meet some of the Letterkenny kids that the Berbice team spends their time with. Last Sunday they took us all to the seaside to show us their beach, we had so much fun trying to race them through the sinking clay sand that afternoon! Through the rest of the week we lay low and spent lots of time together lesson planning, and preparing an agenda for our upcoming workshop on Mental Health. We will be partnering with the Guyana Foundation to train a group of young professionals from Georgetown on how to talk about and teach mental health to their communities. We're super excited about this project, as it allows us to pass on the resources we have to continue the conversation and break the stigma that surrounds mental health. In helping to initiate a support system here we hope to contribute to the sustainability of the QHO Guyana initiative during the rest of the year when we are not present.

On Friday we made it back to Georgetown in the early afternoon, just in time to experience the beginning of monsoon season in the city. We witnessed our first major rainfall in Georgetown, and since then it has become quite a frequent yet spontaneous occurrence! No amount of rain could keep us from Rumveldt though, it was so wonderful to see and play with the kids on Friday. Even after such a short period of time, we feel so strongly connected to them, and are happy to be back to our regular schedule.

This upcoming week we will be focusing on puberty on TV and in many of our classes, so we are lesson planning the day away in preparation for classes that will starting up again tomorrow. Looking forward to a busy week ahead, and being reunited with the Berbice team next weekend for our day trip to Kaiteur Falls!

Happy May Long Weekend to all of our friends and family back home!

Anna, Maddy, Jesse & Ali

Back In Berbice For 2015!

What an exciting couple of weeks it has been! We have finally arrived in Berbice and found our home away from home in Letter Kenny. All four of us arrived last Monday with Ali at our side. Our first day was spent getting settled in our new surroundings and meeting the local kids in Letter Kenny. On Tuesday, we explored our new surroundings and were invited by one of our local contacts to visit a celebration for the Guyanese holiday Indian Arrival Day. We viewed some traditional Indian dances and music, while also meeting our local contacts in Berbice.

Home sweet home! 

As Wednesday rolled around, we were busy visiting schools and discussing with Headmasters where we can be most effective teaching over the next few weeks. Thursday was more of the same, which made for two persistently busy days. With most of our schedule solidified by Thursday, we were able to begin teaching on Friday! Vinyas and Jamie visited Lower Corentyne Secondary and Vrymans Erven Training Center where they delivered introductory lessons in general health and mental health. Ben and Erin were able to contact a few new schools and develop weekly teaching times there. In the afternoon, they taught a different class at Lower Corentyne. The Berbice crew was very excited to get in classrooms and in front of students! Unfortunately on Friday we had to say good-bye to our wise and endlessly patient Program Director Ali as she headed back home to Canada. She left us with so much wisdom and we are eager to carry on the Berbice initiative!

The PE's from Georgetown have been in Berbice for most of this week because the majority of schools were closed due to elections. We have enjoyed each other's company and have been hard at work on a few new projects. We are hoping to develop a training day for Guyanese volunteers to instruct mental health as well as a commercial to promote mental health awareness. These projects have provided an opportunity to stay engaged in our work here while schools have been closed.

On Wednesday, the Berbice PE's were glad to be able to resume teaching. Ben and Erin headed to Skeldon for a full day of classes at Massiah Primary, Tagore Secondary, and Number 59 Primary. Vinyas and Jamie also had a busy day as they instructed a class at Lower Corentyne and solidified their curriculum for Rose Hall Primary.

Today has been a rainy day with schools closed again, but spirits are high amongst the Guyana PE's as we look forward to a new beginning next week and developing a steady schedule. We have had brief glimpses of our teaching impacts and are looking forward to what future weeks will hold!

Ben, Erin, Jamie, Vinyas

QHO Georgetown: First Week Flying Solo

This week marked a lot of firsts for the Georgetown team. Our first time without Colleen, without the Berbice kids, our first classes, our first time ordering roti by ourselves, and our first time being on TV. We've spent the week acclimatizing to the heat and learning our way around Georgetown and into the different classrooms. This week alone, we've taught in 5 different classes in 3 different schools. We focused our lessons on introducing ourselves and gauging what each of the different students knows about health. So far, it has been a very eye opening process as we've taught a broad age range, from 11-21 years. Many of these students are interested in learning but have not yet has access to the resources that we are here to provide. We have been in many positive meetings with the head teacher from St. Pius public primary school as she would love for us to provide our services to her children. This is a groundbreaking experience for the Georgetown team as we are hoping to set the standard for years to come and permanently open the door for teaching in public schools. Just another on the list of firsts this week! The approval process has meant dealing with the Ministry of Education, which has taken longer than we would have liked, largely due to the upcoming election. The city has been abuzz with activity, and while it is a super exciting time for Guyana, we will be heading to Berbice to take advantage of the national holiday for Election Day on Monday and the fact that schools aren't in session until Wednesday. In other news, we've spent lots of time dedicated to making new friends, both through playing with the kids at the Rumveldt Children's Aid Centre and playing/feeding the manatees at the national park. We're excited for a second week of new firsts, wish us luck on our journey to Berbice today.

Georgetown out,

Anna, Maddy, Ali, and Jesse

QHO Guyana 2015 is Underway!

We have touched down and gotten settled in Georgetown, Guyana! Our flight arrived at 8:00 am on Saturday and we were all greeted by our two excited Program Directors (Ali and Colleen). A short bus ride later and we arrived at Rima's Guest House in the heart of Georgetown. The Berbice and Georgetown crews have spent the weekend bonding at Rima's and acclimating to the somewhat warm weather.

Over the weekend Ali and Colleen have shown us the ins and outs of Guyanese living and we are all extremely excited to get started with teaching. There has been fresh fruit galore and we sampled some of the local cuisine at Shanta's, which consisted of roti and a feast of delicious curries. We couldn't get enough and all love the food down here thus far. We also toured the town and familiarized ourselves with some of the major landmarks.

Jesse, Ali, Maddy, and Anna are all planning for their first lesson, which is tomorrow at Chase Academy. The Berbice crew (Ben, Vinyas, Erin, and Jamie) are heading out to Berbice tomorrow to get settled with their permanent accommodations. We will be sad to split up, but we are eagerly anticipating helping each of our communities wherever possible. We cannot wait to continue the proud tradition of QHO Guyana.

More to come soon!

Ali, Anna, Ben, Erin, Jamie, Maddy, Jesse and Vinyas

The Guyana team at the airport, ready and excited!!