Sylvia Wilvert Takes Over Command of the Net... At Least My Blog

This Week's Star at Mercy

Juanita Khan

Juanita hard at work...
It is tough to get an action shot of an Executive Secretary.

Juanita was born in Santa Rosa, Moruka, Barima-Waini Region not too long ago.  How did you get to Mercy?  It was a long story, but part of it was her mother died when she was only two weeks.  She was looked after by the priests and sisters there until they brought her to Georgetown and St Ann's Girls Home.   She worked hard at schooling and mostly through private courses for secretarial and computers.  She began work for Guyana Stores and eventually to Mercy Hospital in 1998.   When I arrived my first day here it was Juanita who greeted me as she was Sister Sheila's Secretary;before that Margorie Park, then after she was the same for Helen Browman, David Jimenez and now CEO Dr. Bridgemohan.   [Wow over 17 years and survive 5 bosses; she must be good.]

She is the proud mother of four children: Molly, Johanna, Shekeila and Vince.  For all of them Juanita has put their education in the foreground and made many sacrifices for them to become the best they could be.

"Come to Guyana it is a beautiful country" though she has not been to many places herself.  If you come, you could take her to see Bartica, Rosignol, New Amsterdam and Santa Rosa.   She did get to Kaieteur Falls because of a close friend and volunteer Jane Greiling.

And the best part of working at Mercy Hospital?  It is meeting new, various and different people - the good and the bad - everyday.   It is interesting and challenging.  Actually, I just get used to something and then...It changes.

What wisdom might you share with my readers?   Always pray to God for guidance.  Trust him; all things are possible.  And if you love yourself, you will love others even better.   When life gets dark, trust God and Listen.   [I think her next job will be as a preacher.]

But in 10 years, she says she would like to be at home.  Her daughters want her at home and not working. Such a loving set of daughters... Almost.  They would like her at home to be there when they get home with food cooked and laundry done...  So she may be still working as it would be easier.   I will see what God has in store for me.

Miss Sylvie, Guest Blogger

Sylvia pondering her words...

One of the first things I overlooked this past week, being Canadian Thanksgiving, is the fact John and I share a portion of a large house that is ALMOST free of cockroaches and ants. Thank goodness for the bug spray John has on hand, but I seldom find any of these critters a nuisance. On the other hand, I continue to sleep under netting for fear that mosquitos will get the best of me and I would succumb to Chikungunya the current rage at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital these past few weeks. That, and Dengue fever seem to be filling the Emergency Dept.  Both of these are spread by mosquitos, so in spite of us having screened windows, they find their way into our apt. John feels the gaps in our floorboards with standing water in the trench below us has something to do with the critters attacking us.

Some people get an ocean view..
This is the view from our flat:
Chikungunya Creek.

 Even the local people are complaining about the heat that we have endured for the month of October. It means that we are wet most of the time. Thank goodness for a “rainforest” type shower, but even that is not cooling as the water heats up in the pipes that are exposed to the sun. Our classroom is the breeziest, and in fact can be comfortable for us in spite of the class time being the middle of the day. However, the house is another story. The major breezes off the ocean are blocked by the large house adjacent to our home. We use a large fan that is constantly in use, but it sounds like a 747 and we need to shout to be heard....but we could not do without it. Which brings me up to the times we go without power.....and those “blackouts” happen on a regular basis. Usually early evening, without warning everything goes black and very still, except for the neighbours generator. It seems that in a couple of hours, everything is back on, and life goes back to normal. Speaking of normal, the students often remind us that they are unable to get their homework sent in to be marked because they had “blackout” in their neighbourhood the night before. Such is life here.

Blackout picture

In an effort to ensure that our safety is of the utmost importance, six large flood lights were installed a couple of weeks ago around the house. Never mind that it feels like the moon is right outside the windows, and we seldom need night lights, it was revealed that the lights were there to protect all the materials that were moved into the apartment next door. So much for the utmost concern for our safety. But really, I truly feel safe while on the hospital compound. There are guards everywhere, including downstairs at our a door. There is a gate onto a busy street at the back of the house, and the guards job is to ensure no one jumps the gate and tries to break in to get those precious materials, mainly paper....reams and reams of paper and if you are old enough to remember, carbon paper. That is were all our old stock went, not in the trash, but was shipped to Guyana to be used by all government officials.

The problem at the back gate is that there is a two foot gap between the gate and the fence next door. So that is the way I travel to the swimming pool, I take the back gap shortcut. In fact that is the way John and I avoid the front entrance when we have had a couple of beers at the Everest Cricket Club. All these little perks get us through the day.

Helping the Everest Cricket Club Break even...

The staff here are wonderful to us. This past week I ran out of minutes on my cell phone. No problem. Just go to the ER, ask for Ryan and pay one of the nurses the $2,000 ($10 CAD) to be “topped up” and by doing it remotely, he doesn't need to leave his duties in surgery. Now that is service. I also appreciate the women in the kitchen who work with those restaurant sized ovens that usually bring the temperatures up over 100 degrees. I don't know how they don't have sweat poring down their faces like John and myself. My other favorites, are the women in the laundry. Every Monday I bring my bag of laundry to them, and with smiles they greet me. I don't get that reaction from any of you at home, especially bringing in my dirty clothes. They return them clean to me the same day. Recently, their dryers broke down. So they hang all the bed sheets on lines throughout the hospital. I have no idea how they can work in the heat and humidity in such a cheerful mood.

This past week was mental health awareness week. John attended the “fair” where he was to be available for counseling at a booth called “counselor available for teens”. Well surprise, no one came, he crossed out teens and said “for anybody”. That didn't fly as well. But I guess there were a few that showed up, especially the runners who came in from the Breast Cancer walk, as they shared the few posters advertising the day that were placed around town. Guyana has a long way to go.

Our days are filled with unexpected events, and I look forward to those daily surprises. The students teach me so much about their culture, beliefs, fears for their future, and the awe of the prospect of becoming a nurse in the not to distant future. Hopefully they are able to take a fraction of the messages we have imparted on them these past few weeks. If not, they certainly have enriched my life.

John invited his friend Dennis to come down from Mass. for 3 weeks. They have been friends for the past fifty years, and let me tell you, they have stories! Dennis is helping with Problem Based Learning classes, and I so appreciate a new perspective. I just hope the students appreciate him as well.

Look closely:  
Dennis is 2nd Row, 3rd from Left
John is Last Row, 4th from Left.

Wednesday night both Dennis and myself wandered down to the sea wall where we were able to find a place to sit among the throngs of people. All of Georgetown comes to watch the Diwali parade, or Festival of Lights, a Hindu holiday. All the floats were well lit up with bright colours and loud Indian music. It was magical for all to see. Now typical Guyanese style, there were vendors everywhere selling food, toys, and my favorite, fire crackers. Now as we walked we needed to dodge the “roman candles” that the 4 and 5 year olds were holding in their hands while the firecrackers were lit. You know, the kind that says you need to be 20 ft. away before lighting. I didn't pay attention to the papers the next day to see how many were injured.

The next day, Thursday was the actual stat holiday, no classes. So once again Dennis and I left John behind, (he was working), and went off to St. John's parish fair. This is their major fun raiser for the year, and did they do it up big. I was helping Donna with the “clown booth”. For just fifty cents, you could try to get the 3 tennis balls in the clowns mouth. And for the rare person that actually made this happen, they won a prize. All the booths had been hording all year for these coveted dollar store prizes. People walked away with a plastic cup,and were happy. The boys from St. John Bosco Orphanage helped us in our booth. These “eager beavers' dove for the balls, ensured no one was cheating and collected the money. They were so excited to just be at the fair, let alone help with the events of that day. I said to Dennis, that both the children and adults could not be more entertained or excited if they were at Disney World. We left at the end of the afternoon with our ears ringing from the loud music......what else, we are in Guyana.

John met us at the Brazilian Churrascaria 
where he treated us to “Brazilian Barbeque” what a treat.    

Even though it was a holiday his girls at St Ann's were waiting for their Educational Class.  So he dragged himself out before dinner.





We look forward to the Canadian Mental Health team of 20 coming down on Monday. 
Stay tuned......  Or better yet Tune In Now and hear Ram talk about the upcoming trip for the radio.   It will become a rare collector's item as it may be the only time in recent history that Sujay has said the fewer words!  In a published review Upe Mehan said, "Great job Sujay and excellent interview Ram--you spoke very well and it must have been hard for you to share your family's experience but you did that so eloquently."

CBC interview with Ram and Sujay

Thanks for reading.
Now I'll head back to the Seawall and
"Catch a Breeze."

Miss Sylvie

Whamning Squaddy?

Thanks for the Assistance and Friendship

Dennis is in the air as I write, heading north and homeward to Greenfield, Massachusetts.   He did get to say goodbye -several times.  Here is his "speech" at the end of our last Problem Based Learning Day.

[I hope you like the video as it took me hours trying to post it.]

It was strange in many ways having Dennis here and not simply because he is strange .....    I don't want to say too much about his time here because he promised to be the Guest Editor for the next blog on November 16th, but .....  you can learn a lot from someone's toothpaste.  Can you imagine trying to live with someone who uses a fortified paper clip to keep his tube looking neat, rather than the free spirit squeezing of a mature male?   Don't miss next week's post!

Divali Festival and Parade

This is the Hindu Festival of Lights - in many ways similar to festivals shared by many cultures/religions around the world.   The festival's main figures are Lakshmi and her brother Ganesha who is portrayed as an elephant  (see pictures of the floats).  Lakshmi is my favourite as she has blessed me with many of her qualities - wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), fortune, and the embodiment of beauty.  I may have to offer more prayers for the wealth part.     One of the Bajans (Hymns) sung during the festival is one that could be sung by many other faith groups in the world:

Asato maa Sadgamaya
Tamaso maa Jyotirgamaya
Mrityorma Amritam gamaya
Om Shantih, Shantih, Shanti

Lead me

From untruth to truth

From darkness to light

From death to immortality.

(No, it is not Ganesha.)
The crowds  are huge and the parade goes for miles.

While Guyana is by almost all standards a developing country, it seems to me to be way ahead of the North in its tolerance and acceptance of other faiths.   While I have been here the country has also celebrated the holiday of Eid Mubarak (an Islamic Festival), and the country is already geared up for Christmas...  The religious leaders have been a combined voice for peace for many years.    All are welcome to participate in all the festivals, including flying kites on Easter Monday.

I don't want to get too romantic about all the tolerance and equality of faiths, as most Guyanese of whatever faith do not know much, if anything, about the other's religion... and yet they are friendly and hospitable to all. It's not totally different from North America:  there people don't really know anything of another's faith but they fear them. I guess I like the Guyanese choice better.

More Canadians

 Over the years there have been dedicated lay volunteers from the Scarboro Fathers; it just seems this year that I have had more contact with them [though Sylvia Wilvert was around in 2011].  This year there has been Donna Joy Tai and Beverly Trach.  If you are considering volunteering a year of your time, both Bev and Donna say that the programme is a good one - community and support.

Beverly and Donna having dinner at
The Princess, Taju's Fine Dining Establishment in Durban

Proprietors of The Princess,
my friends: Allison and Taju 

Double Beverley's at St Ann's

Actually, Bev was here in 2011 and working at St. Ann's with the girl's homework almost every afternoon.  (Wow, I get there usually once a week and am tired.)  Before that she was with Scarboro in Brazil, and now one of her main responsibilities is ministering to the Brazilian population here in Georgetown.

Donna is a newish volunteer as she came down in the Spring of 2013 and has signed on for only one year with an option of more.   I first met her when I had scheduled my students to go on the Hospice Ward at Mercy and they told me that there was this "old nun" leading hymns.   Well, the nurses had it partially right: she does come to the hospital (I think twice a week).   And she is a daily volunteer at the Boys' Home in Plaisance, John Bosco.

Dennis explaining to Donna at Bosco,
"I was that small once.

Donna going incognito at Bosco

Donna's main work is running games
 of chance at local Church Fairs.

St Ann's Photo Contest

The first [and maybe last] Father John's Photo Contest has closed  and all the Finalists have been chosen by me.  They are all posted on the walls at St Ann's in the four categories: Girls at Play, Girls at Study, Girls at Work and Action Shots.  I am arranging to have special outside judges -as I do not want to be responsible for the sad faces of the girls who don't win!  The winner in every category will receive an MP3 Player and everyone else will get nothing!   Yes, I have already heard from the girls that it is really unfair .  Some of the more creative Social Justice girls have told me that every one of them should get an MP3 Player even if they didn't enter a photo because didn't I think they were all special?    Nice try; they have brilliant legal careers ahead!  I was going to have a "vote-online" winner as well but I wasn't tricky enough to figure out how to do it!

My Nursing Students

I have made another life-saving change to the PBL schedule and philosophy .....  I have combined several pages into one.   When I counted the days remaining before I leave I found I could either omit a whole problem, compact several pages into one day's work, or delay my return until I properly finished the pages.   Well, the last one would have involved my death, so that was the worst option.  Now with that gone, I chose the lesser of the two evils .....  So instead of only researching two questions, they need to do three questions!  The students seemed to like it as they responded with a huge outcry ..... which I took to be positive.

We also had the annual Rite of Passage to the Georgetown Public Hospital Pathology Department and the autopsies.  Dennis joined us as he wanted to see what had changed since Dennis and I had seen our first autopsy 45 years ago at Boston City Hospital.   I can still remember the man's name on the autopsy table - Jim Bishop.   It must say something since I can't remember any names today.   I'll let Dennis do the reflecting on his experience..  Stay tuned til next week.

Outside huddled together waiting for the experience to begin.

And the Week Went Bye...

I can't believe that I am writing another blog; it seems just like yesterday that I finished the last one.  (I guess it is better that  I feel like that, rather than that the reader does.) 

I know I complained last week that we get very little down time and it was true again this week.  Right after I finished writing last week we headed out to Agricola  (a town up the Demerara River) by minibus.   We had been invited by Pravesh's brother Parvesh (I am not making that up!) to see the only Flour Mill in Guyana .....  Parvesh is in management there and I think wanted to be nice to two Canadians as he is planning a visit to Canada to see his girlfriend and wanted some advice.  Almost, in unison Tony and I said, "Do NOT mention ice cream."  (As you can tell, Taju's visa refusal still pisses me off; I wish that there were some appeal.  Maybe I need to take up chanting?)

On the tour of Namilco with Parvesh.

It is a small plant by comparison with all the others in the Caribbean chain and even worldwide (5th smallest), but has a high efficiency rate and throughput of almost 6,000 Kilos of ground flour an hour.   They do different kinds, but the total was staggering.   I was impressed how they handled staff as it was by a positive reward system. If you have less than 5 days sick absence a year, you receive a large bonus... and that continues to increase with each year.   And they do not have an absentee problem -- that in itself is almost unknown in Guyana.

We were only there for a couple of hours, so my conclusions lack rigorous evidence; however, it did seem to be a model employer with health and safety standards and community outreach.  (In fact, Parvesh called and invited us to a breast cancer walk that his company was sponsoring - starting at 6 AM last Sunday morning.  My 8 o'clock church service was looking better all the time.)  I  am left to wonder how they can do it while so very few other companies can accomplish similar results -- and I think I must include Mercy in that comment as well.

Tuesday, we finally got around to doing our blindfold walk as it has become a tradition and staff have been asking me about it.  This year, I had to find 20 volunteer guides (actually, not too hard as they get a candy bar too) and stay away from the construction section.  I tried to find people that I haven't used before, such as laundry, security, secretaries, doctors. This year we added an "easy" (according to Tony) neurology question to the event.   In order to get their chocolate bar, the blindfolded student had to correctly answer the question.  The volunteer could give them two chances if they wanted to be nice and if not, they had to return blindfolded to Tony for the right answer... and then go back!

I have them reflect on the experience of both being without sight and being responsible for someone else...  They develop some sensitivities for the blind as well as appreciate the difficulties of language in giving directions, the amount of talking the guide has to do and the responsibility.   It is also fun -- and to continue the fun in the afternoon, Tony talked about Test Anxiety and strategies .......

And then the highlight of the year... Tony and I hosted a swim and dinner at the Grand Coastal Hotel for the class in appreciation for all the hard work they do.   We had arranged to start at 4:30 (we had gotten them out early from school so they could get there); however, Guyana being Guyana, at the appointed time only Tony, I, Marysia and her husband Ian were there.  They straggled in after 5 and most got a swim, and then dinner -- they chose the menu -- was served.   They all thought that Tony and I were the greatest ..... And so pride goeth before the fall .....

This West Indian  is Bravo and they also had their pictures taken with Chris Gayle.

It just so happened that the West Indies Cricket Team was having dinner there... AND I actually thought that I was back at a Beatles' Concert; the girls were swooning over several players ..... the two old guys were forgotten.  They did thank us before they told us they were going over to the seawall before the Divali Parade and would be back to keep us company -- but they never returned.   We chaperoned just enough to make sure that they didn't leave (or stay) with the cricketers.

Notice the name on the float, which will pop up again shortly.  Guyana spelling is flexible .....

We had a great view of the parade as we were out on the East Coast in Le Ressouvenir; however, it took the parade well past my bedtime to get that far and there was still to be a big party when it got to its final destination.   Divali (spelled Diwali almost everywhere else and pronounced in Guyana as if it had a "w") is a Hindu festival, though as with all religious festivals it is celebrated by everyone.  It celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness.

Then, next class day, the students officially thanked us.  Rhonedella who was elected to thank me went on and on... her batchmates were yelling for her to just thank me for the evening; however, she was already thanking my parents for having given me birth...   a true Guyanese thank you speech.

Tony really appreciated his thank you.

I appreciated mine as well, but with proper reserve.

A bald but capped swimming instructor.

On the actual holiday, we helped take the girls from St. Ann's swimming at a private pool, courtesy of the Biharry family -- remember the float?  The noise level was almost as much as the two concrete mixers outside my window.   They all loved it and the family provided snacks and drinks.  I tried to teach some of the girls to swim when I wasn't getting jumped on from the sides by very young girls who sank like stones.

Then, I guess because we were good boys, Sister Barbara invited us back for a Guyana famous JR Hamburger with the girls.  A pretty good burger though the pineapple and ubiquitous carrots were surprising.   I went home for a long nap...

Godfrey preparing to lose to his uncle.

So then I could go out for a beer with a student from my very first class, Godfrey.  We had been trying to do this for some time, but never connected.   He had arranged to meet at a local rum shop up-scaled with pool tables.   I did have a few beers as Godfrey was buying and the gods were with me in that I won a bunch of games.  This was good, as the guy that lost to me first was going to have his picture hung on the wall as the only guy ever to lose to an old white guy! 

The only real trouble with the rum shop and pool was that I liked it; I kind of belonged there.  I have always been a beer-and-pretzel [or Cutters in Guyana, sort of a meat equivalent of pretzels] type of guy masquerading as a minister and academic.   Oh well, not many more years left to continue the facade...

But this is clearly the end of this blog!  Thanks for reading this far.   John