September Newsletter Part II

September 2006: Part II

So…I hope that everyone enjoyed the first part of September with me…Sorry I have no pictures, but the internet access here is really slow and I also do not really have a way to get them on. I will be working on getting this newsletter onto a blog instead of doing it this way so that we won’t have the problems that we have been having…

So, I will start with adjusting to a different life in a different, not to mention undeveloped, country. In a territory that is very foreign to me there are some days I feel like it is all normal and I am used to it, however, other days I want to cry, to go home, to quit it all because I feel out of my element, I miss home, especially my mama, and there is nothing I like about this place. Feelings like these come and go, and hopefully with time everyday will feel normal, with these bad days being few and far between…like it is my home for the time being, and I enjoy being here(In real-time, while I am actually writing about this, which I can assure you is not in September, time slips away so fast, I do feel very calm, content, and happy here most days…) Part of the problem was that Jessica and I were living in limbo without a place to call home, which was a source of mounting frustration after 3 weeks of orientation with 30 people, feeling dumped in the middle of nowhere, and to then not have a place to settle in to and call our safe haven, a place where the big bad wolf just outside our door could not blow down to further agitate our poor rattled nerves (this living situation in real-time is now corrected, whoo, praise the Lord).
In terms of adapting to living in a tribal community that is possibly on the verge of being exploited by the Western world, well, it’s hard to know what to think. I want to educate these children, but it seems like some people, possibly those that come from Georgetown, ridicule their way of life in a way that makes them seem very insecure about who they are and where they come from…I actually had a student tell me that she wished she was white and could come live in America with me…very disturbing. I want to show them the opportunities that are out there if they really want them, but at the same time, I don’t want them to feel like they shouldn’t be content on living the tribal life that they and their ancestors have been living since, well, the tribe started. The name of the tribe that is in this area is the Macushi Tribe…and to illustrate how rapidly they are losing their foothold on their culture, the parents of the students all know the Macushi language, however, their children do not and most of them seem to have no aspirations to learn it. In one generation it is possible that this language could be lost. And lost to what?

My Ishmael…
By Daniel Quinn

“For hundreds of thousands of years, people as smart as you had had a way of life that worked well for them. The descendants of these people can today still be found here and there, and wherever they’re found in an untouched state, they give every evidence of being perfectly content with their way of life. They’re not at war with each other, generation against generation, or class against class. They’re not plagued by anguish, anxiety, depression, self-hatred, crime, madness, alcoholism, and drug addiction. They don’t complain of oppression and injustice. They don’t describe their lives as meaningless and empty. They’re not seething with hatred and rage. They don’t look into the sky yearning for contact with gods and angels and prophets, and alien spacemen and spirits of the dead. And they don’t wish someone would come along and tell them how to live. This is because they already know how to live, and ten thousand years ago humans everywhere knew how to live. But knowing how to live was something the people of your culture had to destroy in order to make themselves rulers of the world.”


While I realize not all of this holds true, and I also realize that not everyone might think this way, there seems to be people that think that every community should be striving to become part of the developing world, the Western World, and in being here and seeing all the beautiful natural resources these people have, I have come to realize that one can only hope that they leave the land as their ancestors have left it, respect it the way their ancestors did, and that a few don’t get greedy and start hording all the resources to themselves. I must see that while some may be yearning to get out of here and go into a different world, one that they have been told is so much more glorious than the one they know, there are some here that are very content with their way of living and it is not place in coming here to uproot that feeling. I am sure that most of the Amerindians here do not wish someone from the outside to come in and tell them how to live; they do know how to live. It might not be to the excess the rest of the world lives in, but isn’t that good? At one time I want to say, wow, there is a whole big world out there, you have no idea, and at the other time, there is so much to explore here, so much it could possibly take you a whole lifetime if you let it.

In terms of teaching and the school…School started on September fourth, but we really didn’t start teaching until the third week into it…They cannot do their time table of classes until they are sure they know what teachers will be returning and what subjects the teachers have the ability to teach. The HM (Headmaster/headmistress) did not arrive until two weeks into the term…for unknown reasons. She is new at the school this year and comes from the coast. At first I was a little sceptical, but now I think that she is really trying to do good things for the school, like get enough gasoline at one time so we don’t keep running out…the generator will be on for a week and then off for three (when it does come on it is only from about 7-9:00). We ended up with 12 teachers total, I wanted to teach Geography, but I ended up with too much on my plate, so that was out…I want to start a Geography club next term because a lot of students are interested in it, and I am interested in learning about it as well. I ended up teaching Biology and Integrated Science (a combo of all sciences as far as I can tell, with a few odd topics to cover here and there). Without World Teach, Project Trust, and Peace Corps, there would only be 7 teachers here (one teacher left on maternity leave) to teach something like 200 students. The school doesn’t really have much in terms of resources. They don’t have textbooks, which make it hard to teach because there are not many visual aids, and therefore, everything they need to know needs to be written on the board, which leaves them taking lots of notes, and it seems as though most students never peek at them again. Most of the curriculum is way beyond them, and it seems they may have gotten lost at the very start of their schooling career, since the Ministry of Education is so dead set on teachers following a syllabus, which they move through too quickly even if the students don’t understand…those that don’t are left behind from that point on. I have been trying to just read my students by asking them questions to see if they really understand, and if the majority don’t, I don’t move any further. I have a hard time understanding what the point of moving on is if they don’t understand a concept that is essential in order to build a pyramid of information on top of it. I have been trying to make it fun while being stern at the same time…I have heard that if you are not stern in the beginning you might end up with a nightmare, so seeing as nightmares scare me, I am trying to evade such a situation as much as I possibly can.

I live at work basically, and let me tell you, although I am sure that most of you know, living at work is oh but a dream…What are you talking about sarcasm…I sense not an ounce of sarcasm in that statement whatsoever…okay, fine, it’s really not that bad, but after a long day with the students, sometimes we have a hard time finding some privacy due to the fact that we have a guava tree, a lime tree, and a jamoon tree just outside our backdoor. The girls get bored on the weekends, so they make rounds to our house, one group comes, they go, the next group comes, the next group goes, and so it continues on this way all day, some you have to tell their time has ended and they must leave while others just keep going on their merry little way after just a short amount of time. Most of the students are sweet, and most of them are really polite…Good Morning Miss, Good Afternoon Miss, Good Night Miss…these are the usual greetings which take some time getting used to. Instead of saying good night as a bid farewell, here it is a salutation. There are a few unruly students, but given the age group this is nothing to fret about, mostly the boys, occasionally the girls.

Well then folks, take care for now, and October’s newsletter is just around the corner. I managed to get a blog going and the web address is heatheringuyana.blogspot.com, and hopefully it will be full of pictures soon!!
Until then, keep on the sunny side and take care!!