October 9 More Impressions

We have been in Guyana for three full days. We are living in a third world country that is emerging. Some things are quite modern and civilized and some things are very primitive. There are five other couples here and over 30 young elders. There are from 5 to 10 baptisms every Saturday. Conference was well attended. The church building has a combination chapel and cultural hall and it was filled. The satellite didn’t work so a computer was hooked up to a projector and we were able to see and hear. The people are enthusiastic and faithful. Many of them have been members for almost 20 years. Racially, they blend well together. They are really beautiful people. We were not able to meet very many members because we were overwhelmed with the numbers. We think we are going to be assigned to the Georgetown 2nd branch. The District President introduced himself and we had an interview with him. He is concerned that the YM/YW program is not working the way he would like it to. He wants us to work with the YM/YW leaders to strengthen the “Duty to God” and “Personal Progress” programs. He also wants more activities.

On the Road: We have been practice driving, trying to get errands run without being killed. The streets are very narrow, only one lane, although two lanes of traffic use them. There are parked cars on both sides of the street heading whichever way the car was coming from. Some streets are one-way streets, but we are having trouble telling which is a one-way and which is a two-way. As we travel down the street, we must be alert not to hit parked cars, wandering cows, stray dogs, goats, pedestrians, horse-drawn carts, donkeys and other cars. The bus system is private. Somebody owns a Toyota 12-passenger van. He paints it in wild colors and then drives around picking people up. He has a “conductor” who rides on the jump-seat near the sliding door. The conductor looks for people who need a ride and stuffs people into the bus. The more in the bus, the more money. The faster the bus can reach its destination, the more money. The result: chaos! There are buses all over the place. They drive as fast as they can with their horns blasting. They pay no attention to stop signs and are disgruntled that the city has put in traffic lights downtown in the last year. Wayne is doing quite well, adapting to driving on the wrong side of the road, but it is harrowing to get through the traffic and the obstacles.

Food: We were warned not to eat anything that we hadn’t prepared, but the sister who told us that, took us out to lunch at Church’s Chicken. There are two grocery stores that cater to Americans and Europeans. I found Jif peanut butter and Smucker’s jam. We paid a high price for them. One store carried Kirkland brand, which is Costco’s brand. I think someone went shopping at Costco, shipped the stuff down here and then sold it at the store. We can get many foods that we get in California, Oreo cookies, DelMonte canned foods, pickles, all kinds of things. But they are very expensive. When we convert the cost into US dollars, it is at least double, if not more. I’m looking for a Guyanese store, to see if Guyanese food is palatable. It certainly must be cheaper. I bought some sugar and realized, it is Guyanese (one of their exports). It is more coarsely ground than our white sugar. I like it better. We found a produce stand by the road and were introduced to fig-bananas. These are miniature bananas about as long and fat as your thumb. The skin is very thin and I was hesitant to try them because they looked pretty nasty, spotted. I like my bananas almost green. When I peeled mine, the black spots went away. They are very delicious and I’m a convert. The pineapple here is a different variety than the pineapple imported to California. They are longer and skinnier. The taste is very sweet and not acidic. We’ve also been eating watermelon. They are small – about the size of the Dulcinea, and very sweet. I’m having trouble cooking. The apartment came with a huge kettle, and a stewing pan. I was able to buy a small saucepan but have been unable to locate measuring cups or measuring spoons. I must assume that no self-respecting Guyanese cook ever uses them. We haven’t found any milk that we can drink. We are working on boxed milk at the moment. It tastes like canned milk. We are very spoiled. We don’t dare try bottled milk because we don’t know whether it has been pasteurized or not.

The city: Georgetown is divided into neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a boundry and a name. We live in Lamaha Gardens. It is a fairly wealthy area in the suburbs. The house across the street is mammoth. We are told that an American diplomat lives there. When we walked by this morning, we noticed there was a parking lot inside the fence. We think there is more than one diplomat – maybe some offices. Each of the houses in Lamaha Gardens is walled and has a guardhouse in the front. Many of them have 24-hour guards who stay in the guardhouse. Some guardhouses are no bigger than 3’ x 3’. The guards do not stay 24 hours, they work in shifts. We have a padlock on the wrought iron fence to the driveway. There is a wrought iron door with two padlocks that goes over the wooden door. The wooden door has a key lock and a dead bolt. Inside is the screen door that has two padlocks on it. Getting in and out takes time. We’ve discovered everything takes time. We do not have a 24-hour guard because most of our neighbors do. Security is a big deal. The diplomat’s house has razor wire on top of the wall. Most people have dogs that bark. They are not pets – just barkers. Our guardhouse is a storage area for the Humanitarian Aid couple who live upstairs. It was filled with sewing machines when we first got here. A block away, the neighborhood deteriorates. There are areas of the city where “squatters” have built shanties. These shanties are neat and tidy with uniformed children coming out to go to school.

Jobs: There are many people who want jobs. The kid at the grocery store works 12 hours a day 6 days a week and every other Sunday. Nobody gets paid very much, but the grocery store has checkers, baggers, unloaders (takes your stuff out of the cart and puts it on the counter), security people for every aisle and people to take your stuff and put it in your car. There must be 30 workers in a little bitty grocery store about half the size of the Safeway on Oak Grove. One of the major forms of employment is security. Every store has security people all over the place. I don’t think they can have a problem with shop-lifting! We went to a government agency this morning and had to go through a security shack to get to the office we needed. When we got there, there were two more security people just standing around while we dealt with the agent we needed.

Weather: The weather is the same everyday. The sun comes up at 6 and sets at 6. The temperature is around 85 or 90. We are not uncomfortable. There are breezes which are cooling. Most buildings have big ceiling fans if not air conditioning. We do not run the air conditioning at night, preferring the ceiling fan. It is much quieter. The mosquitoes are not bothering me. I have a good mosquito repellant lotion but Wayne has had a couple of bites. We are on daily malaria meds, so we aren’t really worried about disease. Everyday there is smoke. Sugar cane fields are on one side of the city, the Demarara River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. They burn the cane fields in order to harvest the cane. We don’t know if this is seasonal or year round. The weather doesn’t change. People burn their trash whenever it gets mounded too high. We have to watch out for ash. I was in a church meeting last Sunday and a big ash got on my blouse. It was smeared in before I could blow it off.