Continuity and Change - Again

Do Blogs have Prefaces?  Mine Needs This

I need one because my colleague, Kampta, who just was ordained in May of this year, died several days after taking over Emanuel Parish in Skeldon, Berbice.    I considered him a friend and my personal cultural translator.   I will miss him.  Please say a prayer for him and his family.

Pastor Kampta Karran, wife Dolly holding grandson Kadesh at Installation.

And This Too...

My colleague and friend, Helen Browman, resigned as CEO for many reasons including being back in school; she is now an Associate Administrator and there is a new interim CEO and a new administrative structure.   However, Helen has continued to look after me and arranging for a "deluxe" flat.   I look forward to seeing her again.

Now Onward

The time has come when I seem to have one foot in Guyana and one foot still in Canada.   I am physically wrapping up stuff, like soccer season [tournament this weekend] and saying "goodbye" for awhile to family and friends; however, my mind seems to have arrived already at Mercy.   [I'l end up doing this in reverse in three months.]

Ayr Under 16 Boys
I know it's a little hard to tell where I am as we all look so fit; I am on the back left.\

This year will bring many differences from my last teaching visit in 2011.  Perhaps the biggest change will be the absence of my colleague, Tony Carr.    He will not be returning as he has family priorities in his life and.. he is really old. (Well, several years older than me!)  As much as we have distinctly different world views, we made a good teaching team... And sometimes, the "Dr. Tony - Rev. John Show" reached Oscar nomination levels;  it was a student favourite.   I miss him... and he isn't even dead.

PBL Course Changes

I'll miss him for only a short time as classes will start on the first Monday with a whole new cast of students and tutors.   First among the new tutors will be Nurse Elsie Asabere (left, below) a full time Mercy School of Nursing Faculty member.   Elsie was voted the "2012 Teacher of the Year" by the students.   She came from Ghana in Africa with her husband, when he arrived as a pastor of a Georgetown Church.

We are going to share the leadership and administration headaches of the course.  

AND..
There will be many people sharing the work this year as we hope to have four graduates from the University Guyana who will act as tutors with the Problem Based Learning small groups, exam markers and special topics presenters.    For their efforts, the tutors will participate in a graduate course to be credited by St. Joseph College in Connecticut.  This part of the experience will be led by a long term friend of Mercy Hospital, Professor Marylou Welch, and two new colleagues Sister Beth Fisher and Professor Janet Kneckt.   

AND...
I will be joined by three prominent volunteers who will be with the students for three weeks each.    First, Bev Clarke, a longtime friend from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.  She is a physiotherapist and neurology researcher and recent author of On Suffering: Pathways to Healing and Health.     Bev will be the first to join us, so she will work out all the bugs between how I envision stuff to go and how it will really work out.  She will be at Mercy from September 7th to 27th. 

Then there is the mystery woman, Trish Cohen.   I haven't met her and she has absolutely no pictures of herself; however, she is Canadian and from Winnipeg and a Nurse.  She has more overseas experience than I do, but this is her first visit to Guyana.  There is a rumor that she is related to Leonard Cohen, so we will have to see if she gets him to visit.    Trish will be at Mercy from September 28th to October 16th.

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The last colleague to join me will be one of my oldest friends from university days with Maryknoll, Dennis LeBlanc.  Dennis went on to become a Baptist Pastor and has been a Pastoral Counselor around Greenfield, Massachusetts for most of his ministry.    We have remained friends over the years and our careers have paralleled each other closely.  Dennis will be at Mercy from October 19th to November 9th.

Look for a blog post from each of them describing their experiences.    This will give them some rebuttal time for my introductions of them... and give me the week off.  

Also, in the works: there might be a few psychiatrists coming down for a week to explore a larger commitment for volunteering and increasing  mental health services in outlying areas.  They will link up with Guyana's most famous psychiatrist, Bhiro Harry.    I am looking forward to seeing and yakking with Bhiro who I have known since my first trip.    I'll keep you all posted if it happens.   Maybe I can get a free consult too?

So I am leaving on a Jet plane on Friday... Start work [?] on Monday... And the Adventure continues.  I hope you come with me this year....   John





     

An Unexpected Visit to Guyana - Sublime to Ridiculous

Michael Pryse, Bishop of Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, gave me the opportunity to be the Canadian representative to the convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Guyana.  So in a hurry I arranged a visit [with Nellie Follings of Golinger's Travel doing most of the work] to New Amsterdam and, of course, some time at "my"  Mercy Hospital in Georgetown.

With the New President, ELCG
Moses Prashad 

Looking Official 

It did take me some time to find my clergy robes and to practice looking ministerial.   As you may have guessed, finding the robe was easier.      I was excited about going to the convention, amazing as I have provided some unique excuses for not attending the Canadian one for many years.   However, from my ten years of volunteering at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and doing the occasional preaching at some of the Lutheran Churches, I knew most of the pastors and leaders by name, and now had the opportunity to get to know them better.  Also, my long-term Guyana friend was there, Erv Janssen, a child psychiatrist from Tulsa, Oklahoma  who has had an ongoing relationship with the people of Guyana for 18 years.   He has led medical and construction teams; recently, he has concentrated his efforts on resurrecting the National Music Festival and the opening of the Lutheran Music Academy in New Amsterdam.

The "New" Reverend Kampta Karran
who was one the four ordinands.

The "Old" Doctor Erv Janssen
with the sign proof that I was there.

One of the benefits of attending the convention is that I celebrate my 40th Anniversary of my ordination.  In the pictures above the cross that I am wearing was given to me at my ordination by another "old" best friend, Dennis LeBlanc.   However,  my form fitting robes of 1973 had to be replaced by a more forgiving one-size-fits-all.   And my stole is a custom made one by Rev. Gloria Sampson.  I was at Mt. Zion, Sand Hills, and was fascinated by her making a rag floor mat... I said, "Can you make me a stole like that?"  After a few minutes of bewilderment and laughter, she agreed to make me one.   I like the servant symbolism of the stole, plus I no longer have to check what the liturgical colour is for the day.

June 10,1973 St James Lutheran Church, Hespeler, Cambridge, Ontario.  l-r: Sister Margaret Kreller; My Dad, John; my Mother, Jane; Sister Florence Weicker; Me; my Daughter, Kristin Margaret; Sister Anna Ebert; my Wife, Joan Bauer.
John Aaron hadn't made the scene yet.  Joan was a Deaconess with the others before she had to leave to marry me.
[*Kristin pointed out that everyone in the picture is dead except the two of us. Guess it has been awhile, eh?]

Another bonus of my surprise visit is that I got to connect with many at Mercy Hospital.  Helen Browman, CEO, and her team, found a flat for me to stay for the days that I wasn't in New Amsterdam.   *** Advisory Note to all Prospective Volunteers ***  I stayed in Doctor Daniel's old flat and there was no fridge, no stove and I showered like an "almost" Indian; I stood up rather than sat while I pored a bucket on my head; it did have screens in the bedroom.    I was quite fine with the accommodation as it was only a few days.  Everyone was amazed that I didn't complain, but I did tell them that I was saving all my gripes up for my usual three month stay in September.    

I got to do some In-service Education with  the nurses about Palliative Care and End of Life Care, especially Do Not Resuscitate Orders.   I realized that I have been talking about DNR's for over 30 years.   I really don't think the conversation has changed in all those years.  Doctors and other health professionals don't like to have conversations with people/patients who are probably not going to do well.   So this ongoing  avoidance creates havoc when a resuscitation attempt might be called... And then - the DNR Order gets blamed... Give me a break!   Enough of that rant...

It was also International Nurses' Week and my last day, Friday, was the Nurses' Appreciation Event at Mercy.   Each of the groups of nurses and students got to put on a show:  some sang, some read poetry, a few danced and my group "tried to dance"...   the 2011 first year asked if I could do the Harlem Shake.  Well, I haven't done that since I used to play handball in Harlem and win some coin, so I had to flee to the subway!    That wasn't what they were talking about but it was too late.   I ended up as the lead dancer too.  Evidence below:  

Roberta can really dance

Alicia belting out a tune

My biggest surprise and joy was being able to present the "Most Outstanding Student" award to Lexann.   While I probably wouldn't have guessed her last... she is a tribute to the resiliency of the human spirit and hers in particular.   She was one of the few students who I have had as a student in my classes. A wonderful and unexpected daughter presented herself in 2007.  Even though she had passed my courses, the rules were that she had to take the "whole" year over again.   When she began again in 2010 our PBL programme, her world was very exhausting, so she sometimes slept through Tony presentations [Hey, it's my blog and that's my version.]  She will be an excellent nurse and I am honoured to have been a small part of her success. 

What an accomplishment.. Congratulations Lexann.

First Year Prison Shot

Before I go... I did get to St. Ann's to say hello to my girls,  I gave my camera to Olivia and she took pictures of Olivia!

Olivia with her [ and almost all the girls'] idol... who still hasn't sent them any "stuff".
They can't understand as he lives near Father John.

I do have to share a story:  When I left Guyana in November 2011, a young girl had been found with no relatives, spoke an Amerindian dialect no one understood, didn't know where she came from, and wouldn't say a word.    She was there to greet me this week and say hello, her name was Niom and would not stop talking and following me and playing games with me, including my "slap hands" which she says she remembers me teaching her.  She is such a success story for the hard working Sisters and Matrons at St. Ann's.   Amazing.

Niomi [in pink] with another girl [who will "kill me" for forgetting her name]

Way more than enough for now. Thanks for coming.  John