June Newsletter

June 2007 Newsletter

Hello and a happy summer to you. It is hard to believe that it is the month of June, which means it’s my last full month here. It seems so unreal that almost one whole year has past when it feels like it has only been one long summer. The school term, which feels like it has just begun, is swiftly coming to a close. This month was a fun month having two weekends of field trips and a third weekend that held the graduation of the fifth form students upon the completion of their CXC exams.

Fourth Form’s Payback

In May I mentioned how my form four students have now become my new fifth form, meaning I am working them extra hard by trying to do as many SBA’s as we can so they will not end up in the same situation as fifth form was in when I got to the school. Well, we are done. Biology students turned their completed SBA’s in at the very end of May and everyone turned in their integrated science SBA’s on June 15th. As a way to pay them back for all the hard work they did in the last 2 months I took them on a field trip to see the cock-of-the-rock, which is a very beautiful and ornate bird that brings in eco-tourists and provides a means of livelihood for the village of Wowetta. I do not think that any of my students have seen this bird, sadly even the students that come from the village. The bird is found in more ancient and highly eroded mountain habitats that are rich in the presence of vines. The males are the more spectacular creatures to see with their colorful plumage of a deep orangeish-red and their crest that fans in front of its face. The female, who is maybe not so spectacular being a darker brown, is equally exiting to see. I was fortunate enough to hike this trail last November and was able to see many males who almost seem to glow against the gray rocks and greens and browns of the vegetation.
We hired a tractor to take us the 3 miles down the road to Wowetta and off maybe about 1 mile through the savannah and bush to the site of the trail where we would begin the 5-6 hour round-trip hike. We ended up having to split the trip into 2 weekends due to the amount of students in fourth form and the amount that would be allowed to hike the trail at a time. This meant that transportation, food, and snacks had to be paid for twice. I was able to cover the foodstuff, but the transportation was beyond my means. Luckily, Jess offered to put forth some of the money that her family’s restaurant had raised and sent to the school (Bruno’s Restaurant in Philadelphia), so I gratefully thank them. Early in the morning 4 of my students and I went into the kitchen to start preparing the breakfast of farine and eggs. Once finished, we called the rest of the fourth form students that were going on the trip. I made sure that they ate as much as they could, seeing as most mornings they only get served bakes and tea (bakes are deep fried dough-not very nutritious). Once everyone had a full belly we set off on the tractor. It was fun seeing the students having fun, relaxing, and enjoying the day so far, and it was only 8 a.m.
The hike in takes about 2-3 hours, depending on how much wildlife is available for viewing along the way. The first weekend we went we were able to see monkey’s playing in the rain. We also were constantly hearing macaws and these great sounding birds called screaming pijas. All this noise makes you stop and realize that you are really in the rainforest, you are in the jungle. Our guide, Huxley, pointed out tapir trails, many other small birds, and various fruits and plants used by the indigenous population. He showed us these plums that the tapirs eat that cannot be eaten raw by humans because there are these small worms that, if ingested, grow in your stomach until they burrow through the stomach lining and literally out through the skin of the abdomen. Yuck-despite my cravings for fruit I opted to stay away from those….
So, like I said, the trip was divided into 2 weekends, with half of the fourth form students going the first weekend and the other half going the next (although some lucky students got to go both weekends since we had extra room). The first weekend we only saw the female, but everyone was still pleased to see her. We also were able to climb under the rocks in a cave to see the nesting sight (and a lot of bats). The female builds a nest on the side of a massive boulder. In one of the nests there was a female brooding and in another there were 2 baby chicks, which sadly enough were dead by the next weekend. The second weekend, alas, we saw the male. The students were so excited, as they often are by birds (bird watching is a very big thing in the Rupununi).
Both weekends granted 2 long and enjoyable days. I think the students really appreciated being able to go, and for me to see them and interact with them in an environment outside of school, but in one where they were learning about something important to the area was just as rewarding for me, and I was happy to be able to do something like that for them.

Form 5 Graduation

Fifth form finished their CXC exams on June 13th and the graduation ceremony followed on Friday, June 15th. It was exciting to see them all dressed up in their fancy clothes, walking the stage to receive their confirmation that they are no longer secondary school students, but instead all grown up.
Unfortunately, most of this story is going to be about the Headmistress and how she acts under pressure, and basically her negative attitude in general. First of all, let me give you her background. She is from the coast, as you will constantly be reminded, and also an active member of the armed forces of Guyana. She is generally laid back and works hard to make things function as they should at the school, mostly in terms of admistrational duties. However, when under pressure or stress, she can turn into a monster, which she did on this very day.
The regional officials were in for the graduation from Lethem, and in Guyana, looks often surpass all measures of meaning. Despite that fact that there was a torrential downpour that delayed the onset of the ceremony, that some students hadn’t even arrived yet because of the rain, that the PA system was not yet set up, the headmistress (HM) still tried to get the ceremony started and was freaking out snapping at people because of how bad this looked to the regional officials, who I myself have never seen be very competent of much themselves. She tried to start the ceremony by getting the procession together and trying to talk in the huge benab over the rain. She created a disaster by not having patience and acclimating to the conditions the environment provided. What could we do? The rain was falling hard, and also, we had been kept in the dark about the details of the graduation but were expected to be psychic at this moment and figure out with no direction what needed to be done to get it going smoothly. Once everything got in order and the PA system was hooked up, which she wouldn’t stop for a second to let them fix it the right way, it seemed as though everything was moving along nicely, despite her awful speech that made me realize why she was not very welcomed by the locals. Oh, but she didn’t think it was nice at all. When we went to serve the food she said that this was unacceptable and we would all hear about it later. How I maintained my patience with her at this moment I don’t know, because all I wanted to do was kick her in the shin. If anything went wrong it was because of her lack of patience and overemphasis on how something looks on the outside. Added to this overemphasis is something I didn’t find out until after the ceremony when questioning why some students were not in attendance, but some students were not allowed to walk in the ceremony because they could not afford the $10,000 (US $50) outfits the HM and another teacher bought in Georgetown that were to be worn so everyone looked uniform in the ceremony, a uniformity that only lasted for those 2 short hours, but whose cost may have left their family members hungry for the rest of the month. This is absolutely unacceptable to me considering that this is a massive sum of money for so many families who have either no or very little income, and who may still work with their neighbors on a barter and trade system. To deny and embarrass a kid in a moment that was supposed to be so special not only to the student, but also to his/her family, friends, and teachers, is superficial and cruel. And at many times this is how I viewed the HM: superficial and cruel. Too many times in too many staff meetings she would put down the people of the Rupununi by saying, “this might be okay in terms of Region 9 standards, but on the coast this is unacceptable.” She was constantly reminding us that she was from the coast and that “these people,” the same people that were sitting in the staff room with us, were this and that, and she would not accept getting the reputation of being someone from Region 9 who has fallen to the level of Region 9’s standards. My respect for her was dwindling upon hearing all of her racist remarks, and on the day of the graduation I lost the rest of what I had. In one way she is good for the school because she does get things done, but in another way I feel it is people like her that make the Amerindian people of the area ashamed of who they are.
After the graduation we all went to Rock View (minus the HM!). It was some of the teachers and fifth form students combined. For many of the students, this would be one of the last times they see their teachers, as well as their classmates. It ended up being a big party, and it was fun to see them having fun liming (hanging out) and dancing.

Random Things I wanted to tell you…

· I was on a run and I got to see 5 pairs of macaws as they flew overhead. They always fly in pairs or as a threesome. They mate for life, (if they lose their mate they will not find a new one), and they screech like they are pissed off. I don’t know if these two things are related. I love them.

· Every morning and afternoon there is an assembly where the students say the morning/afternoon prayer, a thought of the week, a song of the week, and the national anthem/pledge. A different teacher led assembly each week, and when it was my week I taught them “Keep on the Sunny Side.” I loved hearing them sing it. One evening around sunset I was on a run, and I played it on my I-pod, succumbing to the feelings of sadness I was beginning to experience when the reality that I was leaving kicked in (even though I still never fully realized it). I stopped on the road and cried my eyes out. There are moments where I feel very excited about going home, but as more and more time passes, as it quickly is, I am starting to feel an enormous amount of grief and reluctancy about leaving this magical place, this simple place where life has time to be enjoyed, despite the lack of vegetables and flavors.

· The sky here is amazing.

· The generator was broken for the better part of June, so to save myself from going crazy by being locked in my bed to protect myself from the hungry mosquitoes unable to turn on my headlamp to read because it attracted the sand flies, those tiny little devils that are able to insidiously enter into my mosquito fortress due to their minute size, I started going up to Rock View at 6 p.m. to watch the news. All I heard was “ more civilian casualties, more civilian casualties….” And I wondered, can the world get itself out of the mess it has gotten itself into? More civilian casualties, more civilian casualties...

· I keep having dreams that I have been home for 2 months and I haven’t turned on my cell phone yet.

· The frogs, crickets, and God knows what else have been so loud during the nights lately that I have to pull my blanket up over my ears and cover them up because the pitch is so high it hurts.

· There have been some big, loud, heavy storms passing overhead.

· Things I have read

o “Appreciate what you have when you have it-those experiences you have on your way to wherever it is you want to go. Just enjoy those moments.”
-Jeff Corwin

o “I have always found people love you best if you can laugh at your own foolish misfortunes and keep mum about everyone else’s.”
-Barbara Kingsolver in Prodigal Summer

o “There are two ways of looking at the problem:
1.) Oh my gosh, what a burden, or
2.) What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to essentially completely change the world.”
-Paul Hawken

The following are quotes taken from articles found in the May 2007 Vanity Fair Green Issue

I read this magazine (despite obvious flaws considering it was supposed to be a “green” issue) and was enthralled with the information in it, and I only hope that others read it. One article that I found extremely interesting and shocking was “An Ecosystem of One’s Own.” I don’t think we intentionally do harm, I think it’s more that we just don’t know the harm we are inflicting not only on the environment and the organisms in it, but to ourselves as well (well, we are organisms in the environment, aren’t we?). I don’t want to sound preachy, once again, but I just want to inform. I think the only way that we can save ourselves is by educating ourselves and finding alternative methods and ways of going about our everyday lives, no matter how big or small, that will help move us in a more positive direction than we are headed for now.

o “Mercury is a by-product of plastic production that gets converted to methyl-mercury by microorganisms which accumulates in the tissues of organisms.”

o “If you are eating KFC in Liverpool, you’re eating the Amazon.” (the trees of the Amazon are cleared to make way for soybean farms, that of which 5% of the product is eaten by humans-the rest is sold to US an European markets to feed livestock).

o “Styrene molecules from polystyrene cups/plates migrate into food from containers and, once in your system, become estrogen mimics. These have bizarre effects on reproductive anatomy and fertility (precocious puberty, undescended testes) and may increase your chances of getting breast or testicular cancer.

o “One flush of an American toilet uses more water than most Africans use in a day.”

o “We did not inherit the land from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our children.”


Until next time…take care.