It was our second day off yesterday and
Ashley, one of the Guyanese Nikki met last year, took us to Princess Hotel
which is the most expensive one in Georgetown to go swimming! We were all very
excited about the prospect, particularly due to the brown water. We arrived and
a bit bizarrely had our bags searched, but found a nice table spot next to the
deep end and quite quickly got in. It was such a nice pool and so just what we
needed to be clean and cool! We were very excited about the prospect of a tan too
(except the non-tanning ones among us). It was 10ft deep at the end and we had
a ‘who can touch the bottom’ competition, definitely won by Ashley, with the
runner-up being Heather. After we’d had enough of sunning and swimming and the
clouds began to gather we went and sat in the shade and ordered some chips.
Sadly it was about two hours later before the chips actually arrived so we were
a little disappointed and very hungry! We got some free fried fish and plantain
chips for our wait though so that was appreciated. We then left and took a taxi
home. The taxi route took us through some of the poorer areas, and having just
been in such a luxurious hotel the difference was even more marked and reminded
us that even though we’d had a lovely day in a fab location, there is a reason
for our trip and hopefully we will make a difference.
When we reached home we chatted to Ashley
and planned for our first day of advocacy. After a late dinner we were all
pretty tired and so went to our new beds as we have all moved around so
everyone gets a fair deal.
Today was advocacy day #1 of 2, and we
certainly had a busy one! We only had a small number of girls which was a
little disappointing but we felt like they really got a lot out of the
activities we did. The difference we saw in them from the morning to the
afternoon was tangible and really made our day. The morning was mainly team and
confidence building and voice projection – i.e. lots of shouting games – and
resulted in us having a little less energy and voice in the afternoon! Because
they were in such a small group we were able to have some really good
discussions with them and get to know them more. It was also some of the
quieter girls so hearing them being able to voice their ideas was great. The
day culminated in them writing a letter to the Ministry of Forestry about
deforestation and reasons to stop it – they did it all by themselves and it
worked out really well when we wrote it up on big pieces of paper.
This evening we had a relax on the patio
where we saw some amazing birds and also got some tasty home baked bread from
our neighbour Mrs. P. which were so so tasty. She also gave us fruit from the
tree to have for breakfast – how kind is that! After planning for tomorrow, we
had tea and now are having some pineapple! Wish you were here?
Team Guyana 2012
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