16th January

So have had an interesting week, we had guests from a University in USA so had fun showing them around and then they came and helped in the school and library as 3 of them were education students. One of their professor donated on behalf of the department, friends and family 2 new digital cameras which I am very excited about as 1 thing I want to do is to take groups of children out and teach them how to use them and load them up onto computers.

Yesterday we had a big ceremony for the old headmaster, all week the school have been working on songs and poems and gifts for his retirement. I made the card which all the staff and some of the children signed and it was then presented to him at the ceremony. It was my first event witht he school and I enjoyed it very much, it has made me feel more a part of the community.

Today I went to my first village meeting where I was introduced to more people from the village and discussed with them what I was doing here, they seemed pleased to have me and were very welcoming. The meeting began with a prayer and then the pledge of Guyana-which I have learnt they take very seriously it is said at every event and every Monday and Friday at school. The meeting is held by the Toshau who is the village leader, Yupuakri's Toshau is the youngest in the country at 22 years of age. There were 3 main topics to the meeting, first issue was about applying to get a vehicle for the village to help people travel to get goods, to restock their shelves, to visit their children who are boarding at secondary school, to visit other villages... Second issue was concerning myself he explained a bit more about me and getting my paper work finalised, and thirdly they talked about getting another volunteer back here. A lady called Alice Layton who helped set up the library here is trying to come back. After these were discussed they moved on to other business concerning the village such as getting speed humps made so that the boys on motorbikes won't speed through the village. The matter of loud music was discussed with regards to 1 particular woman who played it loud late at night and Toshau had had many complaints, they also talked about cleaning up the village as rubbish is left on the floor a lot so they are trying to keep it cleaner and trying to encourage people in the village to keep it that way. It was nice to see people all having the chance to have a input into how the village is run and the chance to change the things they dont like, however I only understood half of the meeting as most of it was in Macushi which is the local language here. I am trying to pick up some of the words as it is also spoken sometimes in school and it would be good to know whats going on so I can follow.

I have just come in from a Wildlife Club meeting where I got to meet the member and hear about what they do there, later we are all going down to the river to play some games and hopefully see some birds which they can tell me what they are.