Sightseeing in Guyana

We enjoyed a short visit of a couple of days from Elder Ralph and Sister Paulette Childs when he came to Georgetown to provide audit training for two new branch presidents. During our time together, we enjoyed catching up on mission news, had dinner out and hit the last of the “tourist” spots in our fair city, including St. George’s Catholic Church, a (fairly) nice arboretum and walked a few hundred yards along the famous Georgetown Seawall.

The Georgetown Seawall is part of a stretch of 280 miles of dyke built originally by the Dutch, in the 1700's, to protect Guyana (which is below sea level) from the frequent ferocity of the Atlantic Ocean. The seawall is solid concrete – or rock – about 5 feet wide and is a popular place for locals to walk, fly kites or people watch. Much of the original seawall has been damaged or washed away over 400 years, but there are still small sections built by the Dutch.

The Childs told us this is likely the last trip they will make to Guyana before they go home in December. We assured them, it’s just as well, because they have now seen everything there is to see (except Kaietuer Falls which requires a plane ride)!

Poor Trekker! He's pretty bummed he will not be doing much traveling for the rest of our mission, unless we get to go to Suriname.

Entertainment in Guyana

Trekker has had to change his thinking about what constitutes "fun" because in the entirety of Guyana, there are no movie theaters, no bowling alleys, no water parks, no public swimming pools, no television, no iPads or iPods . . . no anything! An evening out with friends involves people gathering to visit along the side of the road after dark, when it cools down, or for noisy fun, playing board games around a broken down table in their apartments with fans blowing at high speed.

New Convert night at the Georgetown Branch draws a hundred people who sit around for hours playing “Monopoly,” “Chutes and Ladders” or “Jenga”, but Guyanese – no matter their age - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dominoes and play with unbridled enthusiasm, slapping the tiles down so hard you almost think they will shatter in a million pieces.

For these impromptu get-togethers, food of any kind (except pineapple or coconut which most Guyanese have eaten all their lives and find disgusting) is always welcome – especially the chocolate cake with ooey-gooey thick chocolate frosting I made for Family Home Evening tonight at Jewel Baccus’ home down a dark alley in a scary part of downtown Georgetown (Our Traveling Tiger was a little nervous). She had prepared a lesson on “differences” which made us all laugh since the differences among her guests were pretty darned obvious! Jewel’s 4-year-old Sherwin fell in love with Trekker and with Grandma Linda and wanted both of us to stay. As we started for the door, he begged his mother to let us sleep “on the sponge” upstairs.

At home, we rarely get more imaginative than dinner and a movie on Friday night or seek fun in some other “canned entertainment” but these wonderful people - who have very little in life - find their most simple pleasure is in spending time together. Isn't there a lesson in this?

From St. George to Georgetown . . . Rotary!

With permission from our mission president before we even entered the MTC - and not long after we arrived in Guyana - we began searching for the right Rotary club to join, out of four in Georgetown.

We first found Georgetown Central which meets on Thursday at noon, but there was no warm, inviting welcome at this club! Perhaps their coolness was because of our skin color, our Black Name Tags . . . or both, but it was evident this was not our club so we continued to research our options. The Wednesday noon club was the exact opposite. We felt welcomed from the first minute we came through the door, with club members shaking our hands and inviting us to sit with them as several vied for the right to sponsor us as new members.

In December, I left the warmth and friendship of RI Club #1079 / District 5420 - the Rotary Club of St. George (the original Washington County club chartered January 1931 with a current membership of 66). In July, in the usual spirit of this international service club, I found the same warmth and friendship in Club #6810 / District 7030 - the Rotary Club of Georgetown (the original club in Guyana chartered May 1959 with a current membership of 68)!

It is good to be back . . . and just in time to witness the recent installation of the first female Rotary club president in Guyana - Anna Lisa Fraser-Phang!