How Many Days in a Week?

This Week's Pictures

I still can't get that slide show working 

So click on  This Week's Pictures.

And No, I did not get to St Ann's

And Yes, I feel guilty!

Another Blog?

See, you aren't the only one who says that.   I really thought that I had just finished the last one and what the hell am I going to write about this time.   However, the first task is to remember what the hell happened this week.   Oh yeah, now I am starting to remember.    I do know that I really start to feel the pressure of time once I pass the halfway point... and instead of finding new requests exciting, I find then overwhelming as I know there will be so much already on my plate that I won't get done before I have to leave.   Well, I'll just resort to my favorite Latin expression, "Que Sera, sera."

The National Psychiatric Hospital Field Trip



The buses were loaded just a little late, but early by Guyanese time.   All the students [except for Bailey who is getting married today and she used the excuse she needed the time to get ready and Bamidele who hasn't been seen or heard from for a few days], a couple of tutors, two free-loading Mercy Volunteers [whom I actually invited] and me ..... Almost forgot Rodney, one of our usual minibus drivers.  He has been doing it for so long, he even remembers Dr. Tony and Rev 2, Dennis.

It was an uneventful trip except no one has told the government that if you double the number of cars and don't increase the number of roads ..... you get traffic jams.  Not on the scale of Toronto or New York, but there really is only one road to get to Berbice...

As we turned into the still used street name "Berbice Madhouse"... I realized after almost ten years of going, I have unfortunately gotten used to the conditions but the students were overwhelmed.   They were more adventurous than some years as they were all outside the bus when I returned with the Head Psychiatrist, Dr. Mayda Grajales.  She welcomed everyone and took time from her clinic to lead the group to our first cottage, the Women's Chronic.   As the students entered, somewhat glued together, I imagined a scene from one of those gladiator movies, where the Christian prisoners are all huddled together before being tossed to the lions.

I remind them of my first rule. "You are to spend 15 minutes visiting with just one patient." That is it.   And every year I realize how difficult that is. "The patient doesn't say anything", "she walks was from me", "she makes no sense", "she just stares at me"...  Yes, 15 minutes!

 It is really like herding cats... I need to drag some from the central mass and introduce them one at a time to their person.  " Good morning.   I was hoping you could spend some time teaching one of my best nursing students [with only two dozen students they are all one of the best].    I get then all matched up and then look around and the middle huddle had reconstituted itself and prepared the above excuses ..... and back I shove them.   And to prove my scriptural depth, I think Jesus said, "Can't you watch one hour with me?"    I think he was expecting too much; I had trouble with 15 minutes.

Time is such a strange thing... on one side 15 minutes was very long and stressful for the students and from the other side it is about 1.04166667% of that person's day.  And I doubt if even my sister, Maggie, could figure this one out - some of those women have been there for 30 years... And, yet to some, 15 minutes was an eternity.     Those women know what an eternity is.

                      






So much for philosophy.  "My Students" -- yes mine, now that they have started interacting with the people there as human being -- began to explore what it was like for them to be there more years than they are old!   My prayer is that they remember and the "taste remains on their tongue and mind for a very long time".  [Kind of stolen from My Name is Asher Lev].    Though given the amount of giggling and laughing and singing -- not real religious songs -- in the minibuses on the way back, I may be a little optimistic about their memories!

We did stop at the little Jumbie Tree [the larger one died] still in the middle of the road because no workers would cut it down.  It is a silk cottonwood tree.  The Dutch brought them and so they are not native to Guyana.   And there are so many stories about them now that have passed from story or truth to myth.  As I told the students, as the story goes, the slaves had to dig a big hole and then a slave was put in the bottom - some stories say already dead and some stories alive. Then fertilizer and then the tree... so the spirit lives on as the Guyanese equivalent of a zombie; however, these are real.   

I tried to find a picture of the students feeling
 for the heartbeat of the dead slave
where none of them would be identifiable.

They were enjoying my story so much, I had to keep going.  I said that if you placed your hand on the roots you might be able to feet the still beating heart of the dead slave...   Don't you just love legends... I wonder if I can copyright my version.  

Add caption

On the way to New Amsterdam, we were driving through Enmore, so I casually asked, "Does anyone know why Enmore is famous?" To which I received the typical student response of the blank stare indicating that I must have switched to some unknown language.   So I asked Rodney if we could pull over on the way back to stop at the Martyr's Monument.  Once there, I began my "you need to know some history of your own country."  It is a longer story, but in brief: five sugar workers were killed by police in order to protect property -- and break the strike.   This event sealed Cheddie Jagan's resolve to fight for the independence of Guyana.   

My impassioned speech was met with their return to taking selfies.    On leaving the grounds, one of the students asked if she could leave now as her home was just down this road ..... and she had never visited the monument, which had been there before her birth. So much for ancient history.  And what shocked me:  it happened after I was born - - yes, ancient history indeed.

Payback for the Free Phone

For many years now the Lutheran Church in Guyana has lent me one of their phones.  This has really been essential for me as my flats have not had land lines for many years -- "Just now" they are coming .....   However, I have not really done much with the Lutheran church in thanks for such a gift.  So when I returned the phone last year, I told Davy Ram that if they wanted,I could do some presentations.  [They already know that I really can't preach.]  He suggested doing something for the youth group; sure, that sounded good.  I said, How about sex and relationships?   It really did seem like a good idea at the time.   It is a big topic, eh?  I asked for the youth to write their questions for me and I would organize them into a coherent whole.   Well, the only questions that I got back I thought came from all the adult advisers.  Some of the question submitted were:

•         Sexual acts acceptable in God's sight?
•         Oral  and Anal sex,  should I adapt or refrain?
•         Does the church support and scripture basis for polygamy, polyandry relationships?
•         What Bible says about homosexuality?

And then I discovered I was going to do it twice:  once this past week in GT and tomorrow back in New Amsterdam.   It was good ..... and the most amazing thing that I learned was these youth - some in their twenties - had no sexual education at all.  They received none from parents,  school, church, clubs except from their equally literate friends on the street.  Actually, that is kind of how I learned and it was also as wrong as theirs.  This in the face of the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the Caribbean and South America.  

Earlier in 2013, the Government of Guyana had told the United Nations Rights 

of the Child Committee that some 3,000 girls get pregnant each year. 

[or about 97 out 1,000 girls between 15 and 19] of The UN report had said 

that the Government had considered the issue a matter “of concern.”

 

I tried to answer their questions in a direct and street-language way that many found helpful; a few were disturbed by the vocabulary ..... [And I thought that I was on my best behaviour.]   At the end, some of the adult advisers wanted to know how they could continue such discussions in the future.   Anyhow, it couldn't have been that scandalous as I am still scheduled to talk to the Berbice youth this Sunday. 

I'll share one example that shocked me, but probably shouldn't have.  A young guy in the midst of  discussion about homosexuality and the Bible shared his experience of doing a Halloween skit at a youth group meeting where some of the guys dressed as women for the play.   Later, the pastor called them all in and admonished them never to do that again and had they not realized the shame they had heaped upon the congregation by dressing like "antimen".  [A really not nice word.]  

Maybe I should listen myself to Paul's words in Romans somewhere around 14, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.  Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another."     

Just for you bible scholars who read this blog ..... there are 250 verses in the Bible about the proper use of wealth; 300 on our responsibility to care for the poor and work for justice; only 7 passages that refer directly to homosexual behaviour, none of which are associated with Jesus.   I am bewildered at what texts we hold as truths eternal and which ones we let slide into history.

The end for now... though I had a few more stories to share.  

Thanks for reading, John

A Few Goodbyes ... But Not Mine Yet.

Class Visit to the National Psychiatric Hospital

Sometimes (I was going to say "almost always", but I am a teacher and would feel too threatened)
the best teachers are not the ones called teachers.   This is true on the visit to the people who are patients at the hospital.

  Psychiatrist Sujay Patel and Family Doc/professional entertainer Upe Mehan met us at the hospital and provided a rich commentary and insight about who these people are and their behaviours.  Again your best teacher about the experience may not be the professional teacher - rather, a learner:

The Class and Nurse Trin.  she has worked at the NPH for 20 years
and still continues to learn something from her patients

Visit to the Psych Hospital (Berbice - 2014) by Natalie Persaud- Singh

 The tour was indeed interesting. I was shocked, for this is my first experience with mental patients. I see this facility as somewhere that gives patients a chance to better themselves with the help of the health team available there. However I think the hospital need renovation, proper facility to house these patients and more nurses onboard. As it’s said, for a patient to get better they must feel comfortable in their environment. This is just a suggestion from what I've seen. The surrounding needs cleaning. The odor of the hospital was obnoxious. 

Something needs to be done about this.

This is not the present  hospital; it is the old Berbice Asylum.
I just like my photograph .....
and it reminds me of Thoreau's 'vivacious lilacs'.

I've had the chance to speak with some of the patients and I must say I was heartbroken by some of their stories. Some of their family took them there and didn't even look back to them. They are human beings, no matter what sickness they have physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.  Everyone needs love. Someone to talk to, someone to be there just to listen, all of which can brighten their day.

I feel the need for there to be more educational programs readily available to them. One patient told me she wants a book to read (story book) or a book to write. Writing helps one to express their emotions. So if they don’t feel comfortable discussing their problems with a nurse they can at least write about how they feel.  If more emphasis can be place in bettering the facility I see this hospital as successful, not that they are not but they would be able to offer much more to these patients.

Rev, I hope this is good enough!!   Thanks for having us share this experience with you!!

Yup, more than good enough... She and other students had some brilliant reflections...  I was impressed and mad at the same time, because I have had to read some of their other research and exams! L Oh well, as Martin Luther said, "Simultaneous Smart and Stoopid"..... or something close.   The Canadian Mental Health Team had a major focus: "To reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.." and after the visit to the Berbice Mad House my students know ..... People are People, including doctors. [See karaoke pictures.]

Another Focus: ECT

If you read last week's blog [and who hasn't, eh?], you heard the horror story of the ECT Team... Well, I am happy to report that despite several more minor heebie-jeebies, like finding the machine packed up and ready to ship back to Canada with the Team .....  they were able to train more than enough Guyanese professionals, and under the leadership of Dr. Maida, Psychiatrist at the National Psychiatric, Guyana will have re-activated a forgotten service.   I am sure when Peter Kuhnert writes his guest blog [hint]  he will tell you all about it.  I want to just show you a picture of one man who had a ECT treatment earlier that same day.  When I asked him how he was feeling, he said he was "Never better...  I might even be happy."

All Work and no Play Makes...

If you can believe it, the Team said they were too tired to go out to dinner, just wanted to have a quiet beer and something to eat at the Sleep-Inn.  So Sylvia and I went over to join them.  Dennis had to prepare his class for the following day (talk about "no play"!).   However, once they got down to the bar and the karaoke started - a second wind, I guess.

The Highlight of the Night!  The guys were singing American Pie and I wasn't lip-synching.
It was supposed to be Macho Man, but got censored by the politically correct Guyanese.

We are the Champions...Yes, you are!

The "Women" trying their best
to imitate the guys.

And a Bollywood  melody
from the surprising Zahir.      



The "Originals" celebrate a successful Mission.

And then there was the Final Final dinner hosted by the Minister of Health.  It too was at the Sleep-Inn and earlier than  planned as the Team was out that night at 2AM... Lots of congratulatory words for all involved.

Minister Bheri Ramsaran expresses his gratitude
to the whole Canadian Mental Health Team 

Peter and Sujay express their thanks to
Chief Psychiatrist Bhiro Harry.

The Parting Shot

Dennis is Off and Home Safely

And speaking of 2 am, Dennis, my university friend, left on Friday night for his home in Greenfield, Massachusetts via Trinidad, Toronto and Boston!   Just a mere 21 hours door to door...  He too is going to write a guest blog (Subtle Reminder) so I won't steal his words, but he did say that he has never met a more knowledgeable, competent, humble, etc., person than me.  Thanks Dennis.   

It is strange and wonderful for me to have someone other than family who has known me for 50 years ..... and to find, as the saying goes, "You get together with a friend after years of absence and you continue chatting as if you saw each other yesterday.

Elsie presented Dennis with one of her famous
African shirts to wear when he gets chased
out of Greenfield for wearing it.

Dennis is here explaining Sex and Relationships
to the students. If you can't see the immediate
connection, read his blog, coming "Just now."

 Enough - More or Less

 I had my last Boys, Bodies, Beliefs and Boundaries Class at St. Ann's.  They were sad it was over and even sadder when I gave them an evaluation sheet -- which they told me they wanted to fill in during the week and not in class as I had planned ..... So much for the evaluation. However, the judging of the 2nd Annual Father John's Photography Contest is this Thursday AND if I don't get their evaluations before the contest, they cannot win a prize!  Oh, the benefits of a bribe!  I have learned some things in Guyana.  Not fair!! they screamed ..... and they were right ..... and it is my contest, eh?

I have arranged for the four Mercy Volunteers to come and judge the pictures in the five categories: Girls Playing, Girls Working or Studying, Action Shots, Happy Face and Unusual or Abstract.   I had way over 2,000 pictures that the girls had taken since September... I want to get it down to 10 finalists in each category, but had to settle for 15!   There will be five Ipod Shuffle MP3 Players, one for each of the category winners.   They were donated by the Sunday School kids at Church at Stony Hill, Medina, Ohio...

John being presented with the Shuffles

Pastor Shannon making an important homiletic intervention

There will be a surprise of two Grand Prizes ..... One of them will be a special one donated by Jerry Bacchus of Jerries' All Nite Restaurant.

Well, I have finished a whole pot of coffee and a big roll of cookies for breakfast as the cafeteria is closed on Sundays.  I can't wait to get home and have my healthier breakfasts of a whole frozen Pizza or a Hungry Man Dinner.... or my Sunday Morning Special Onion and Cheese Omelette at Bucky's of Ayr with the old guys.

So make sure if you are in Georgetown, Guyana, or Ayr, Ontario --- visit our sponsors ..... and maybe I'll get a free meal!

Thanks for reading... John

Canadians from Suddie to New Amsterdam

The Canadian Mental Health Team Returns 

Yes, and more of them!  This year there are 17 professionals who have joined Peter, Sujay and Ram [Brenna stayed home as she is in late pregnancy] who were here last year on an exploratory trip. If you wish to look back, see  Peter Puts Pen to Keyboard, November 1, 2013.

Actually, we got an early warning that they were coming when one of the team members called their hotel here on Saturday night to confirm her reservation, only to discover that only about half of the team was booked.   Many of the hotels have web sites here and have on line reservation forms; however, whether they are ever looked at is a different question.  A little experience of  "Welcome to Guyana" .....   They had visions of arriving  at 2:00 AM from the airport with no room to sleep in -- wandering the streets of Georgetown.  And my "ever-helpful roommate" Sylvia was walking around our flat deciding how many mattresses we could accommodate here!   She finally figured that she could get them all in here, but Dennis and I had to sleep on the boxes in Materials Management next door.    

Well, Peter was able to book another hotel before Leiota from the Ministry of Health got even more rooms. They were met at the airport and brought safely to their rooms ..... at the two hotels.   And that was not the only expectation that was not met ..... The lectures were postponed.  The meeting with the Minister of Health was cancelled in order for him to address the Ebola situation here, and make the usual political speech about how well prepared Guyana is.   The Minister of Culture had been called out of the country, so the press conference was much smaller than expected and all the cameras were involved with the Ebola announcement..  

I had made a solemn vow before any god I could remember that I was going to stay at a distance and just observe from the sidelines as I already thought I couldn't finish what I already had on my plate; and besides, Peter, Sujay and Ram were veterans!  It didn't last, and my neurotic-messianic disorder came to the front when I realized that they would be doing nothing for most of their first afternoon in Guyana.  So I volunteered to do a small tour of Georgetown -- St George's Cathedral, the tourist trap crafts lane, National Museum and the Seawall.  Well, by the time they had decided to go and we had a bus ..... The Cathedral and Museum were closed, and I don't think anyone bought anything at the craft shops.  So we walked over to the Market area near Stabroek and wandered through the crowded and dark stalls.  (I think they became aware that they were really a minority.)   Then, we took off for the ocean and the "beach" at the Seawall near the Bandstand.  And, thank God, the ocean was still open! 

The women excited to see  Guyana's Beautiful Beach...

The Team had planned an opening meal and Dennis, Sylvia and I got invited to join them.  It was a great meal and good fellowship and a way to put some of the start-up problems behind them -- perhaps.

What is more Guyanese than Indian Food?

  






The End of Day One

Tuesday morning saw Team 1 and Team 2 get on their way to New Amsterdam and begin their work at the National Psychiatric Hospital re-introducing an Electroconvulsive Therapy Clinic.  However --  and this is a screw-up even beyond the usual Guyanese screw-ups ..… No machine, no electricity in the room, no AC for the delicate equipment, no security (read: door lock), no anaesthetists, no patients with depression, no knowledge claimed by the CEO nor Dr. Maida, the psychiatrist, of their arrival, no recovery areas, a visiting surgical team scheduled at the same time which seconded all the NA anaesthetists, the hotel gave their rooms away -- ETC.  Yes, it's all true!    

This project had been in the works for months, and the machine and supplies had been shipped and arrived in the country.    I might call Sujay thorough!  He and his team had developed teaching materials, manuals and guidelines for ECT administration, proper use of anaesthetic, nursing care pre- and post-therapy, how to use talk therapy as a co-joint intervention, patient and family education materials .....  His team put in hours and hours of preparation.   The ECT programme is what the government and Dr. Harry had asked the team for last year. 

I am glad that I wasn't in New Amsterdam when they arrived ...  But to my amazement and to the huge credit of my colleagues, no one turned homicidal and they went about planning how to be effective with almost every expectation unmet.  Canada should be proud of the professionals who come to foreign lands and represent the best of the Canadian Spirit -- though I do not think they went as far as making a Canadian apology for the inconvenience they caused!

In the end -- or really just a few days later -- the ECT machine was found and a place was secured for it at the General Hospital in New Amsterdam and Sujay and his team began training health professionals.   The Ministry of Heath worked very hard to correct any earlier problems.   It did add weight to my adage:  you need to be here face-to-face to achieve what you want to get done.  It is just how it is  -- and why the country finds it difficult to move from a developing country to one which is more developed.

Next:  Peter's team got left behind.  Or no, not exactly.  On Tuesday, the members accompanied Dr. Harry to his outpatient clinic in Linden ..... They ended up being surprised by 40 or so nursing students and staff who were there for a half day workshop on Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention...  And before any of them could find a  suitable weapon, Dr. Harry had left.    And again the amazing resilience of these Canadian professionals, including Sylvia, meant that they took a few minutes, regrouped and presented a well-received workshop.   When Dr. Harry reappeared, he tried to "kiss and make up" with a large lunch!  

On their way back to Georgetown by bus, the team saw a pickup truck roll over -- and just like in the movies, Dr. Upe, who had all his medical supplies with him, and Nurse Naderia, jumped out of their bus and started to attend to the two people in the truck.  This had to be the world's record for the quickest accident response time in Guyanese [and maybe Canadian] history!  

Back at the School of Nursing, Dennis led both of Tuesday's classes by explaining the students' Myers-Briggs  Personality Profiles.  He gave the tests to them last week and had spent most of his time since then in scoring.   It was a great exercise in self-reflection and maybe the first time that they had looked at who they were in such depth.     


The girls were so advanced that
he upgraded his class from Relationships101 to 102




 



A Special Wuzzle for Dennis.
I had to save it for someone
to whom it applied.

He also had the class get in touch with their "Poet Within" in homage to
Robin Williams' Really Dead Poets Society.   

 Mercifully, The End of Only Day Two.

Day Three would see me return to my vow of just watching... However, I had only printed off Revision 37 of their suggested schedule and failed to notice Revision 49:  Team 3 presents to Mercy Nursing Students at 9:30 .....  Okay, I am Canadian:  if they can cope, so can I.  We cancelled Problem Based Learning for that day, had another teacher give me her class time, and arranged for the second year students to be there, for which another teacher gave up her time... And Upe, Naderia and Paige did an excellent job of presenting "De-stigmatizing Mental Illness".  The students had lots of great questions as just about everyone in Guyana has been touched by mental illness or a suicide.   At least, we would return to "normal" on Thursday .....

That evening the Ministry had rescheduled the CME talks for 6 pm at the auditorium of the National Public Library.   Would I go or not?  I was really tired ..... and the event was not publicized anywhere that I know of .... so Sylvia and I (Dennis was still at the Bosco Boys' Home) went, fearing that no one else would be in the audience ..... Upe talked about the "Elderly and Mental Illness" while Peter presented on "Psychotropic Drugs During Pregnancy".   Actually there were more than 30 doctors in attendance and all appreciated the presentations ..... and Sylvia and I managed to stay awake.

Mercifully, The End of Day Three

It's never "normal" in Guyana ..... The Wednesday's Team had such a great time at the Nursing School that the other half of Peter's Team was now coming on Thursday... And this was on no schedule .....  To shorten these tales:  Martina Power, Sinidu Shimells and Tammy Benwell met the same students and presented an overview of Mental Illness, highlighting Depression and also some Identification and Intervention with Suicidal Persons.    I hate to say this but the students may have enjoyed it more than PBL .....  The presentations were great and the students benefitted . 

There were two more lectures at the Library again on Thursday at 6:00... However, I was just finishing my St Ann's Girls "Bodies, Boys, Belief and Boundaries" course, scheduled to end at 5:30 but the girls kept me overtime till 5:45.  Martina had donated some t-shirts and since there were twenty of them I used them with the girls in my class.  [Some are in the pic.]  Thanks, Martina.  

I then faked an injury and went to my Everest Cricket Club, where there is no cricket ..... and took Dennis down the path of fun and self-destruction.   And then our "Dynamic Catholic" Course leader joined us incognito.   Even better than two more lectures!

Gratefully, The End of Day Four

Friday saw the local team head out to Suddie for an outpatient psychiatry clinic.   The best part is the speedboat ride across the Essequibo... especially in the afternoon when the winds are almost always stronger and the passengers always wet.   From what I hear it was a great clinic with lots of patients seen ...and no bad surprises. 


Today is a Day Off  
The Teams trade places and the NA team comes here and the GT team goes there till Monday.   One of the team members, Ram Kalap, is Guyanese and has a large family outside New Amsterdam who are hosting the whole team to a traditional family feast.   The unholy trinity here is not going as we are headed out on Monday to the National Psychiatric Hospital with the nursing students ..... and two+  hours one-way in a minibus is about all the fun I can manage.

The Team will be here till the early hour of 2 am Wednesday Morning when their adventure will be over ..... Dennis has another week, till Saturday.  And Sylvia is deserting me to go one a retreat to Barbados - white sand and blue water ..... for a week, while I am still here getting my points in the Kin-dom for dedication.   Just three more weeks till I and Sylvia finish for 2014.

This Week's Star at Mercy

?????????????

This is not because there are no more stars.  I just didn't get around to interviewing anyone...  Next week, maybe I'll have to have two?

Father John's 2nd Annual Photo Contest

This Week's Slide Show contains some of the thousands of pictures that the St Ann' Girls have taken for Father John's 2nd Annual Photo Contest.   I will put up only those that made the first cut for the category "Happy Face".  If you have a favourite, tell me and I'll make sure not to cut it when I reduce to just ten finalists.

Thanks for reading this far.
John [Rev]
The Team has a page on FB at: Transforming Guyana’s Mental Health System: A Canadian Initiative