Farewell Bev and Hello Rain!

My showers have become a recurring theme this year.   I was running around in the heat and I was sticky with sweat.  How I was looking for a cold shower... Except that it was afternoon and the sun had been on the water tank.. It was so hot that I actually wanted a my cold shower back.  (There is no way to please some people's children.)

Today the weather started out with a 30% chance of showers... by 6 am it was a 50% chance -- and it was raining so hard that sitting 5 feet from the window, I was getting wet.  A real Nova Scotia Nor'easter!  And by noon when it hadn't stopped storming for any length of time, the weather icon changed to rain!   I think the weather people here trained in Canada .....  Well, I needed my "wellies" to go get lunch -- in foot-high water on the paths -- with little fishes and some small snakes .....

I said goodbye to my colleague Beverley Clarke on Friday morning after having worked her hard for the three weeks she was here.    She has lots of experience with designing Problem Based Learning courses, as well as leading them in Rehabilitation Sciences at McMaster University in Canada, and she had great suggestions for improving the course .....  if I have the energy to do half of them - wow!

She had to take her turn with the daily Guyanese Proverb and Puzzle.

Bev spent extra one-on-one time with many students who were eager to learn from her.

She taught them to love anatomy, but maybe this isn't what she had in mind.

One last clap!

Hugs all around

And a Floral Farewell

Some Reflections
I may have become too used to Guyana to see properly.   One of the things that amazed Bev everyday was that nothing went as planned.   There were always unannounced screw-ups.  One day there were only half the students there as the other half got dismissed to go get bank accounts for their new direct deposits for their stipends. The half that was there were to go the next day .....   Some rocket science by administrators ..... I sent them all away and told them all to be back the next day.   You do have to wonder:  a month into the term -- why that day?   Anyhow, all is well, but the students still have to line up in Accounting and sign a little piece of paper saying that they acknowledge their deposit though they haven't seen it!  

Efficiency is hard to come by in Guyana.   Anther day, housekeeping was told that they had to clean all the classrooms everyday, so in the middle of a class -- someone else's -- they had everyone stand outside while they cleaned and mopped the room.   And this was agreed to by the director of the school ..... because housekeepers are people too.  Because of The Fire (how many years ago was that?)  there is still no large meeting room, so the students are evicted for Board and committee and general staff meetings with only same-day notice. Bev was right:  not one school day she was here went as planned ..... It was only fitting that her trip to the airport was familiar; here's her note:

 

The trip to the airport was interesting. We sat outside the hospital gates for about 15 minutes because the driver was waiting for someone to bring him a cheque. So he talked to Waja and then his parents in the U.S. and then he asked me if I was a Christian and did I think a tattoo was a sign of the beast?  I then heard about his girlfriend’s mother who doesn't like him, and the politics of Guyana. Finally, I asked him if we could just go to the airport. (You know what a wreck I am when it comes to flying.) He was a really nice gentle guy  and reassured me we would get there in time -- and we did . 


I had failed to notice all the inconveniences and disruptions day after day to doing anything that's been planned .  Now I know why I am tired at  8 PM.

And unfortunately, I had become almost blase about the sometimes horrendous lives of my students.   One by one the students shared some of their struggles with trying to study ..... nothing to eat, sexual assault and abuse, robbery, total household chores for the whole family, over an hour travel by minibus... We had one student withdraw from the programme because her parents refused to work and she was previously the only wage earner for them and her siblings and had to return to a better paying job.  She was such a bright young woman .....  Bev was overwhelmed by all the stories, and asked me how come I wasn't?   I do not know how to answer.   These stories are a given ..... but maybe they shouldn't be.   Actually, I do cut them a little slack!

In the slide show at the top right of the blog are the pictures that the girls from St. Ann's took of our swimming trip to Bounty Farms on Saturday.  They shot over 1,000 pictures ..... and the only reason there weren't more is that they had filled a huge GB Card .....  I have shared less than 10%.  (Be grateful.)

I am on my own for a while now as Dennis does not come until the 19th of October - right after the faculty from St Joseph's College and before the Canadian Psychiatrists...  I'll rest now.

Thanks for reading.  And the next blog will hopefully will be a guest one by Beverley.

Ups and Downs

I got out of the shower this morning (try to control yourselves ladies!) and I hadn't even noticed that the shower was freezing cold... Humans are sure adaptable - even me.  With routines, you really don't have to think and feel, it is like an automatic pilot turned on at the beginning of the day and off at bedtime .....  gliding through the day.   But the gods who control Guyana apparently hate routines .....

My Mystery Woman

Trish just wrote that she had had a personal emergency arise and she will not be able to come next week. This might throw a normal human being into a spin, but in Guyana one gets used to disappointment and I  have only had one extra beer so far.   There is a Guyanese proverb, "The moon run all night till the sun a catch 'em'"  I like one of its interpretations as: "Relax; life unfolds, no matter how much we work at planning for the future."

I had written to another volunteer who also could not come: "(Your age) is not that old especially if one takes care of oneself.  I will be disappointed if you do not come AND I will cope.  You have my permission not to come ..... You can decide that at any time before you get on the plane and if all your problems get fixed, well -- I might get back here next year.   And if you come, I will definitely enjoy your company and wisdom.   I am amazed at how fortunate I have been over the years to be able to have all the stars (and my wife) align to allow me to do this...  If you do become unwell and infirm, I will try not to gloat and just have a quiet beer - or two - to acknowledge that there is still no justice in the world and louts like me are just lucky bastards."

I used this picture  for driver Waja, who would meet Trish at the airport,
to identify her, as she did not have a picture of herself.
He was looking forward to "picking her up".

On the Up Side

Professor Mary Lou Welch and two of her colleagues from St. Joseph College, Connecticut, are planning a visit in October; and the possibility of my graduate tutors getting a course credit for their work in our programme is still a possibility.     Thanks, Marylou, for your efforts, and even if it falls through, you have given us hope.  Hope doesn't get its power from achieving what one hopes for; its power rests in the almost having it.  Elsie, Azaila, Roberta and Tiffany are excited about the possibility ..... and, maybe, sometimes that is enough.   

The Best High

The students have been adapting to the Problem Based Learning approach with amazing maturity; They are becoming active learners both on the internet as well as in the hospital.  Bev has decided that it has been her experience and maturity that has made the most difference... and who am I to argue with that.  I certainly don't get accused of "maturity".   As we used to say in Bioenergetic Training,  "It doesn't matter how you make ice - ice is ice."  (I just can't seem to remember now why we said that .....)  They are doing well and they are excited about learning.

There are several changes to this year's PBL programme.  Instead of only giving a grade for the exam on each page, there are marks for every small group assignment.  As well, each student is sending a summary of their questions and research to the others in the group before they meet... and they get a grade for that too.  So every PBL day there are various marks.   I am finally catching on:  if they only study for exams, let's go with that ......  A little encouragement never hurts!

Bev has also taken over the Tuesday sessions and led a discussion on Suffering (she would have done a book-signing, too, but there were none of her books in Guyana!) and another  on Breathing and Relaxation.   The students liked that they didn't have to wear their uniforms.   Now if they only will practice, they won't get so anxious before exams.

All eyes on the screen

Bev explaining some drawings

Hands on..

These students look like they need
to know how to relax? 

When no one else will give you a hug.

I told them this is just how the morgue will look.

A Good News Thank You

(Still sucking up to donors) The tablets have worked well and the students are really grateful to have them.   I just discovered that a Guyanese acquaintance of mine had a granddaughter in my class who received a tablet and she told me that I was such a blessing for bringing them.   I responded that it is my friends who are to be thanked, as they donated the dollars to buy them.  The students are fast learners and are teaching me many good tricks about using tablets.

   

The Nursing Faculty show their appreciation for a new copier from an anonymous donor.
It was shipped for free from the US by Cross International.  Thanks.

A Luddite Lives

Speaking of learning... I have a cellphone now.  The Lutheran Church in Guyana has loaned me one of theirs; it was last used by Dr. Erv..... So I have to tell all the women who call looking for him that it is just me.  Are they ever disappointed!  I learned another law of nature: no matter when you leave your cell phone in another room, that is when you get a call...or rather a Missed Call.    I won't tell you about someone using my phone when it rang with a text message and that person was heard shouting into the phone, "I am sorry I can't hear you."  

Some of the Week That Was - Out and About

We were invited to Georgia and Bhiro's home for a wonderful Cuban meal... Georgia is from Cuba -- that's where they met years ago.  There were three doctors from the "Cuban Brigade" there too.

Dinner guests

Dr Bhiro Harry and his wife Georgia

St George's Catherdral

St Andrew's in Chateau Margot
[And their French is like mine.  They say Mar-GOTT.]

Pastor Joe Gobin was preaching there that Sunday.
He was my host during my convention visit in May.

Since it was Bev's birthday we tried some of
my personal relaxation methods
 at the Grand Coastal Hotel.

Have a good week and thanks for reading these Ups and Downs -- so much like all our lives.