Last post from Guyana - In the Air Next Saturday

500 Years of Martin and a Lutheran Celebration

Coincidence:  Wayne Keddy
sent me this that very day.

I had to get up early at 4am to get to Ebenezer Lutheran Church New Amsterdam... I am usually up by 5 .....  So I set the alarm. Got up to take a leak and then check the clock; it read 4:01 - good timing.  I shut the alarm off, made coffee, read some, turned the computer on... and it said 1:15am.   I had not clicked the small travel watch back from Alarm Set Time .....   I went back to sleep till the real alarm at 4.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana started on the east coast of Guyana in the area known as Berbice.   Now New Amsterdam is the capital with the headquarters of the ELCG and the National Psychiatric Hospital.  (I think that this is pure coincidence.)    So my friend and colleague, Peter  Kuhnert, left at 6 ..... to get there by 9 ..... and we got there by 8!  No traffic at all...

Shaneika at 12  - me at old

Shaneika at One

Shaneika's Baptism

I found a nice concrete bench to lie down on and have a nap.   I was awakened by lots of voices who were probably wondering who the homeless guy was...  As I got my bearings a woman asked me if I was Pastor John.   She then said, "Do you recognize this young girl?"   I didn't have a clue; maybe if I could have figured out who the first person was .....   A tall thin 12 year old girl came over, "I am Shaneika."   "Wow!  You are changed!" ..... a less than brilliant comment as she was a baby 12 years ago.   She has her baptismal picture on her bedroom wall.  

Meeting Shaneika was a joy, and to be greeted so warmly by her family was a definite highlight of the trip.    In a rash moment, I told the present pastor at Mt Zion Sand Hills, that next year I'd love to cover for her and preach up river there.   I do hope that Rev. Gloria will have forgotten that by next year for all our sakes.    Gloria made me a stole that was multicoloured and made from rags they tear up to make floor mats; it is my favourite stole.

The actual service was well attended and a rousing affair ..... at least for Lutherans.   There were persons from every congregation, including Sand Hills, which I think is the farthest from New Amsterdam.  They started in the dark, coming down the Demerara... I didn't dare complain to them that I had had to leave at 6.

The service was a true Guyanese blend of Guyanese hand clapping, Pentecostal songs, Caribbean Folk Mass and some Old Lutheran favorites,  They sang, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God".   And it must have been a sign, as it was sung at Maryknoll when we seminarians were invested in the order in 1967.  It was played with trumpets and organ -  a really rousing memory.  Back then, in our RC seminary, they changed the verse that mentioned the "Papist foe"..... and we did not sing that verse this week. either!

I might be hard to recognize with hair.

 There were so many memories that it even made the three hour service go quickly.   Everyone was dressed in red and was quite impressive.  The service started with a traditional march around the town, as a witness and to raise awareness of Lutherans.   I am not sure how much positive awareness we generated, but the (already impatient) drivers added to the celebration with their horns as they waited for us!   There were also  many friends who greeted me from all my previous trips to Guyana; I was impressed to be remembered so well.

I'll post a collage of the event; it will give you a feel for the celebration ..... and a celebration it truly was, with a good lunch, lots of greetings and at the end a Martin Luther Quiz with different teams.  I was disqualified from participating, perhaps because they were afraid I'd dominate the competition (!) so I was the timekeeper.    To let you see my Lutheran history skills:  one question was, "When did ML translate the Hebrew Bible into German?"  And I wondered to myself, "He did?"

National Psychiatric Hospital - Bearing Gifts

Pastor Rose and Peter

 Over the years, when the nursing students and I visit the hospital, I take lots of pictures of everything.  I am usually very careful of what I post online.  Most years, I have copies printed of all the patients that I have photographed and send them back by post from Canada.  I don't think they have ever gotten to any patient.   So this year, I had them printed here and planned to distribute them personally after the service. 

This worked out really well as there were two nurses interested in Mental Health in Guyana who were keen to visit the NPH.  We arranged to meet them there at 3:30 after the service.   Well, neither one showed up - ugh.  But Peter and I had met a local pastor Rev. Rose who was also a local health council representative and a frequent visitor to the hospital.  We had much to share and he was to be a great contact in improving mental health there.



While we were walking around the hospital and I was giving out pictures, a senior nurse there ran out to Peter and greeted him warmly.  He wanted to tell him how much he and other staff had valued his presentation last year on Restraints and "Code Whites".   He expressed a wish that they continue to do more workshops on his next visit. 

And there was a patient who remembered (from a few years ago) Peter and a chunky bald-headed guy (Ram) who distributed some clothing  to the men there.     And I met lots of patients who remembered me from years before.



When I handed out the pictures, the people were really amazed and grateful to see themselves.  The staff had said that they would just tear them up, but that was okay by me; I wanted to give them the pictures directly.  And while we were there no pictures were harmed in the process.   In fact. two interesting things happened:

• First, as it was a little confusing with everyone crowding around , I laid the pictures out on a table or held them up one at a time.   Each picture was identified as "That's me!"  (There were a few patients who claimed that every picture was them, but their friends convinced them otherwise.)   They told me whether that person was in another section of the hospital or  had been discharged.   I realized that this really was a community that seemed to care about each other in a way I had not appreciated before.  They and I continue to become more human to each other.
• Second, many people were mad at me!  I had not taken their picture and they wanted one now.  I do try to get permission, though I doubt it meets the demands of an actual consent.  Anyhow, I ended up taking another 50 people's pictures.   (I got them printed and brother Bhiro will distribute them when he goes next time.)   There is a women's ward that now prohibits men, but they too wanted their pictures, so I took them with my camera pushed through the bars. Then a group wanted a picture with me.  I guess that is why I couldn't go in; I'm irresistible.  
• 

 Back at Mercy Hospital:  the Ethics Trial. 

Yes Jessie got convicted of murdering her Husband Elmer again for another year. The students are true pro-lifers... There are no exceptions for any lack of quality-of-life ..... Not for Jessie who was married lovingly to Elmer for over 50 years ..... She became a cold-blooded killer.  (Can you see how hard I am trying to stay neutral?)

The Cavalry Arrived

With one day of overlap Drs. Peter and Shrenik took over the education of the psychiatric residents from Dr. Tony.   They have continued the intensity and quality of education ..... and I even got into the act during one teaching session.   I would tell you more about what they have accomplished but I am hoping that they will feel the need to write a blog for me -- I mean for you!  Stay tuned .....

The Psychiatry Brain Trust:
John, Peter. Bhiro, Shrenik and Tony...not teaching.

World Food Day - No Classes

The first year get a reprieve from classes in order to raise awareness about food, poverty and healthy eating -- and they make money for a party later.   All equally important reasons.  My biggest problem was that no one made my favourite pickled onions!

Another Teacher from Canada

Nurse Rosie  a Guyanese psychiatry nurse, from our Specialized Mental Health Unit at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo.  She delivered several lectures at GPHC and Mercy.  The pictures are from her talk to the Juniors.  I don't get to talk to the Juniors as they have said, "You told us everything you know last year."    She came to Guyana with her dad, Sam, as he was making his first visit back after having left 45 years ago to attend a reunion.   I hope that Rosie had some Labba and black water .....


I think this was a "deportation hearing".

Thanks for reading... I'll write a closing blog, though not next Saturday ..... as Tony told me to bug him till he does one.   I plan on having a happy last week here .....  I wish you the same.  John