Christmas in Guyana Part 2

We spent Christmas Eve with the Elders. They played a soccer game at the national field. It was soggy to the point that they raised splashes with every foot step. The Elders from the other side of the Demerara River led one team and had an investigator who does air brush art. They had their shirts painted. The other team got matching t-shirts from Popeye's. The game went from 9 to 10:30, then they went home and cleaned up and worked until we all met downtown at 6.

We arranged ourselves in front of Fogerty's Department Store and sang Christmas carols while some of the elders made street contacts and gave away Book of Mormons. It was fun and the rains came so people had to come down our sidewalk in order to stay out of the rain. We stayed until our voices wore out - about an hour and a half. The crowds were thinning and the rain was heavier. We went back to the White's apartment for soup and bread and brownies.

Tuesday we gathered at the White's at 10 for a movie, "Evan Almighty", dinner, and gift exchange. Everyone headed to their own apartments at 5:30 to receive phone calls from home.

Wednesday is Boxing Day. It is a national holiday celebrated in the UK, Canada, Australie, New Zealand and Guyana. I looked in Google and it originated, I think from the practice of giving to the poor and needy the day after Christmas. One native Guyanese said it was a holiday to recover from Christmas. They really knock themselves out preparing for Christmas. There is a big billboard downtown announcing the Big Lime. The newspaper says Main Street (a boulevard) will be closed to vehicles all day. The word "lime" means "hang out". We aren't going to go to find out what is happening. We tend to shy away from big crowds. We don't blend in because of our white skin and white hair which might make us a target. This is a curious way to spend Christmas.

What are the people like?

Good question from Grandson, Ryan. The pictures here are typical of the church members. Physically, they are very beautiful. Racially, they are African black, East Indian, Indian, and then Chinese, Indonesian, Lebanonese, Dutch. They are warm and friendly and hospitable. Some of the little ones come up to touch our skin because we are so white. Women greet other women with a kiss on the cheek and everyone shakes hands with everyone.

The church members have fervent testimonies of the gospel. They want a stake here so that eventually they can have a temple. The priesthood holders love the church but they work long hard hours for very low wages. Even the educated ones do not make much money. The only way to make money is to have a business of your own. The first counselor in the Demerara Branch presidency has a job as a security guard. He works 12 hours a night six days a week. That doesn’t leave much time for church work. He shows up on Sunday, his day off, with red eyes. Sister Veronica is a teacher and explained that the best teacher’s college in the Caribbean is here in Georgetown. But even these teachers are not paid a wage they can live on. The result is that if anyone gets ahead at all, they leave and go to the U.K., Canada or the U.S. There are a lot of vacant houses where people have gone elsewhere.
There is no “th” in their speech. This makes it a little hard to understand them. They speak English, but – it’s “dese, dem and dose”. They say “tink and tank” for “think and thank” and “father” is “fadder” and “mother” is “mudder”. When they give a scripture reference, I cringe when it is “turdy-five” or worse “turdy-tree”. We have trouble in the store understanding how much we owe because of the “th” issue.

Students finish high school when they are 17 and many drop out to get jobs before then. This creates a problem for seminary graduation. On the other hand, we have under-aged seminary students who have perfect attendance and are doing 100% homework. We are trying to get permission to enroll them properly so that they will have all the credit they need when they finish. We have to convince the powers that be that Guyana, in fact the whole third world, is different than the developed nations. If we can get seminary into them before they go off on their own, they will be better prepared and be stronger church members.

Christmas in Guyana

There are three pictures with this entry. The woman in the caftan is Veronica Edwards. She is the Seminary Supervisor for Georgetown and a wonderful story teller. This is the Georgetown Talent Show and she is reciting Caribbean poetry. The boys on stage are the Young Men from Georgetown. They are performing a skit that was pretty funny. The sleepy guy in the chair over to the right is actually the dead body. The body on the table keeps moving and scaring the assistant. The audience loved it. The last one is the Primary Nativity at the Demerara Talent Show. I love the three angels holding up their stars.

What is Christmas like in Georgetown? Well, there are some decorations on houses and stores. It looks like only rich people can do that. The stores sell garlands and plastic Christmas trees and lights. I have not seen a live fir tree but they don’t grow very well here. The kids get out of school for two weeks and have Christmas parties the last day. We noticed that none of the students wore uniforms last Friday so it must have been a special privilege to not have to wear them.
Rain is a big deal. It comes down in buckets and there is a lot of flooding. We have a water line in our apartment where it was flooded in 2005. Our city water was cut off for over a week. They were installing water meters. Our landlord installed a system to use the rainwater so that he doesn’t have to pay for city water. Unlike the U.S. where they warn you two weeks ahead of time before they turn off your water, here they just turn it off. We were kicking ourselves for having washed the car and hosed down the driveway on the day it was turned off. We ended up with no water! Now we have plenty because there is so much rainwater to use.

The church celebrates Christmas with a party featuring Santa Claus. Each child is given a gift (trucks for the boys – dolls for the girls). The District is putting on a Holiday Sing on the 23rd. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that Christmas preparations include major house cleaning. The sisters are complaining not about Christmas cards or gifts, but not getting their cleaning done properly. Each Branch has a talent show during December. The best of the acts, go to the District talent show, held next week. Everyone participates in the Branch talent show. We’ve gone to two and taken pictures.