So what does it feel like to live in Georgetown, Guyana?

The first thing you notice are the different sounds – the birds are interesting and everywhere and, of course, tropical in nature. They say Georgetown has more species of birds than any other capital city on the planet. Our first experience was just before a storm when we heard a terrible screeching in the trees behind the house. On closer examination we saw a green parrot and another and another until we counted nine all squawking away happily munching away at the star apples. Since then we see them everyday just before dusk. They fly from the south and move towards the north. The main bird sound is one that sounds a bit like a chirping daylight owl from a small yellow bird with a dark beak. He sings away for most of the day and the night competing with the frogs in the ditches outside the house.

The closeness of the neighbours conjures up a human intimacy that shows respect for each other’s space though so close. But maybe not for the ears! Music in Georgetown is everywhere and penetrating! Whether you like it or not it emanates from car radios, open windows, bars, shops and, of course, the minibuses, all played at an alarming volume. The Cricket World Cup regaled us with 14 nights of ear splitting music from a quarter of a mile away which was so loud we had to raise our voices to hear each other in our own front room. But generally you get used to it and it becomes part of life. You can even find yourself singing to the catchy tunes.

The street vendors come and go along the street in their turn. The paper lady, the brush lady (“Fine Broom Here” – it took 5 months to work that one out), the music man, the ice cream cart and, of course, “Nuts, Nuts”

Turn left or right along our street and you will firstly notice the open ditches in front of every house where the path is almost like a bridge. These soak up the torrential rain during the rainy season in May / June and again in November to January. It’s only when they overflow that the flooding starts. Global warming has changed these rains into the May, June, July and parts of August rains.

You can’t help but notice that, in the centre of the city, the rich and the poor live alongside each other. Perhaps areas further out are more designated along financial and social lines but, where we are, you have the 3 storey squat, the mansion which a duke or a Lord would be proud to live in, the children’s home, the government residence, the waste ground, the overcrowded building and the 3 storey house for one. Most are made of wood but latest building techniques are producing an array of new property built at neck breaking speed using brise blocks. There are clean ditches, manicured ditches, dirty ditches and dogs, dogs, dogs, (see earlier blog on the “dog bite.”). But generally people take a great pride in their property, sweeping the yard and cutting back the fast growing foliage on a regular basis.

You don’t have to go far to find a shop, usually behind grills for security but, in the more open spaces, there are small supermarkets, all with guards and their “bag bay”. Walk into the shop with a bag and you are marched out by the enthusiastic and bored guard to deposit your bag. Most variety shops sell liquor, essentials and huge 5 gallon bottles of clean water. You return your bottles on beer and liquor and that saves you the deposit next time.

Intermingled with the houses are every kind of business – the Vision Guyana charity, the TV studio in a basement, the internet café in someone’s home, juice bars in houses, the barbers where they shave you bald (good for the heat but not for the business), the nail couture shop, the vulcanizer (pumps up tyres) the fruit stall, the night club (the Blue Iguana), the taxi base et al et al. Making a few dollars is essential for life as it is everywhere but it all seems so much closer to home here.

Going back to noise, on our first day walking to the VSO office we had at least 5 cars hoot at us. Along with the children saying “good morning”, we thought “what a friendly place”. It is, on the whole, but we discovered that the use of the car horn in Guyana is a friendly and useful tool for saying “I’m coming and it would be better if you got out of the way.” Horns for cyclists can help to warn you to keep out of the way but, on the whole, it just makes you jump and is more unsafe than useful. Drivers are generally good here. There is a sort of unwritten rule about who will go first and people do give way and sort it out with the biggest usually getting right of way and the humble cyclist weaving in and out with no fear. It’s quite unusual to see just a cyclist alone on a bike. Men carry their wives and girlfriends on the crossbar, parents carry their infants (no one has prams or pushchairs and two or three children simply share. Goods are transported everywhere by bicycle – rolls of lino, boxes of fruit, gas bottles, water bottles, my weekly shopping which once used to fill up the boot of my Nissan Primera!!

You might get the impression that there aren’t many cars. Statistically, there aren’t but, in actuality, in Georgetown, they are everywhere. Mainly Japanese, Mazda or Toyota, they come in all shapes and sizes of large. There are very few small cars but usually family saloons and hundreds of 4 X 4s, large, shiny and petrol gobbling but highly suitable for the 600 km unmade road to Brazil (if they ever go on it) but far too big for Regent Street! Registration plates start with P for private, H for hire, C for cycle, G for goods and DPL for Diplomat (01 is Britain and 05 US etc.) They are followed by two letters (PEE, PHH, PKK etc) and a number. So PKK are the newest cars and HA are the oldest taxis. Most cars are in reasonable condition but there are those taxis which have broken doors, cracked windscreens and boots which jump up. On the whole, minibuses are well maintained and covered in slogans such as “God is Love” or “De Woman Chaser”, “Too Bless to be Stress” and so on. Bicycles are generally a little rusty due to the climate but never seem to fall apart completely. An old bicycle is better because no one will steel it. During the rainy season, I ride my bike with my black umbrella because that’s what the Guyanese do. It’s very practical.

And then there are the traffic lights! When we arrived there were 30 – 40 sets which were not working and ancient dotted around the city. Now we have nearly 50 state-of-the-art new ones operated with solar power and displays which count down the seconds until the next change. The first ones created great snarl-ups but adjustments and people avoiding the area have eased up the congestion. Most are taking notice of the lights (perhaps the first few days with police with rifles had something to do with it.), but bicycles tend to ignore them unless you are a VSO from England wearing a helmet (a fashion statement only made by that particular breed) - well the American, Dutch and Canadian VSOs have integrated better in that respect as most would not be seen dead wearing them.

Georgetown has a good system in its roads – east / west and north / south with very few deviations. It makes navigation easy. A bit like New York. Well, not really but the same principle. The east / west landmarks are Brickdam (named literally after it being a canal at one stage), Regent Street where all the shops are, Lamaha Street which follows the Lamaha Canal next to the long gone railway line (now inhabited by permanent squatters with bridges to their houses with gates in the middle of the bridge). The most northerly road is the coast road along the sea wall (not North Road which is in the south for some reason). These will all get you quickly from one side of the city to the other. The principle north / south streets are Main and High Street (one road). This is where the President and the Prime Minister’s Residences are, opposite the British High Commissioner, proudly flying the Union Flag. There is Camp Street in the middle of the city with its new traffic lights on every corner, Vlissengen and Irving Streets (one road really up and down) which is the main thoroughfare in and out of the city and Sherrif Street where the nightlife is (we’ve never been). These are often wide avenues, tree lined with wide pavements in

the middle and one way traffic on either side. In Georgetown there are lots of one way streets but rarely are you told they are one way; you just have to sense it and everyone seems to know anyway. It works! The whole city is between the East Coast of the River Demerara of sugar fame and over the other side the East Coast which gradually goes south to Berbice through region 4, over the Mahaica River to Region 5 and on to the Berbice River to region 6 and New Amsterdam.

If you go to the Museum you will see that there was a tremendous fire in the centre of town in 1945 which destroyed huge areas of wooden buildings. It must have been like the Fire of London from the size of it. The models they have there show a bygone age. It must have been beautiful. You can tell because many fine-looking buildings still exist around the city but most of them have seen much better times. Soon they will be gone and the Colonial Era will have passed – not a bad thing but much of the beauty will have been lost forever to be replaced by a 21st century way of living. Some needs to be saved for the sake of history.

Well, how about getting about? In fact, I am happier cycling here than I am in London as long as you do it the Guyanese way – brave, bold, eyes everywhere and standing up to the bigger vehicles. But the only ones you don’t argue with are the minibuses. A bit like Mr White Van Driver in England, Mr Minibus Driver in Guyana owns the road! There appears to be little consideration for any other road user. They drive along at great speed weaving in and out of traffic, hooting their horns constantly and stopping every few yards. There are no bus stops. When you get on to this 15-seater ‘Hackney Carriage’. there is the driver whose main job is to operate the CD player as he drives (the volume of the music is something else) and the conductor (usually a boy from 14 – 50 years of age) with a huge wad of notes and hanging out of the window shouting his route “Kitty Campbell, Kitty Campbell, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty” and urging the passers by to get on the bus. Hence, it stops constantly; several buses will overtake each other to get the fastest start when they stop. And, God forbid if the minibus oversteps its mark; it will suddenly reverse at speed with no warning to pick up the customer. Three children got off at a school gate and one (a 4 year old) stayed on the bus and made the driver go an extra 10 yards to get off next to the tuck shop lady. Hugely efficient but horrendously dangerous!

In town it’s not so bad…..but out in the country this can average 120km per hour dodging the cows, donkeys, pigs, horses and chickens in the road. We drive on the left here but as quick turn to the right is not unusual to avoid a pothole as chickens fly off in fright but none ever seem to get hit. Every time the bus stops and it is full and someone from the back wants to get off shouting “Corner” (I can’t do the accent), everyone has to get off from the left hand side of the bus because the fold up seats block the exit. They say the safest place is in the middle because you are cushioned by human flesh on either side if the bus overturns which they have done several times since we were here. If you have the nerve, you can stop the bus, get out and buy your fruit and get back on again. I’ve seen it done and the woman even got the driver to carry the huge watermelon back to the bus for her across a busy road.

A ride anywhere in Georgetown is $50 (13p) so that’s $100 for two. But if it’s a single ticket they are not happy to take coins and the cost will therefore be 3 x $20. There must be as many buses in Georgetown as there are dogs. Taxis are another thing: call them from home and the cost is $260 (70p) or $300 hailed in the street (81p). They’re quick, on time, efficient and all the same price so you are never taken around the houses for a higher fare. But if you drop off or pick someone up on the way, even for 10 seconds on the route, you will be charged a double fare. But, the best thing about taxis is they don’t have the music! There must be 20+ taxi firms competing for business with each other. They will tout for business in the main areas or toot and slow down for you on the road assuming you don’t want to walk anywhere.

Shopping is a whole new experience. There are basically four types – the street vendors already mentioned, the markets which are everywhere all over Georgetown – Bourda, Kitty, Stabroek etc, the variety store which usually sells everything or whatever they can get, and the large department stores― such as Guyana Stores and Fogarty’s (advertised as “your friendly store” – I’ll leave you to make up your own mind about that if you ever visit)). They are well staffed, keen to sell and everyone has their role – the bag bay person, the assistant, the cashier, the delivery desk and the guard. In one shop it took 8 people to sell me two batteries. In the centre of Georgetown a new shopping mall - The City Mall has been opened which proudly offers the only escalators in Guyana. It’s a real treat with its restaurants and chic shops. It seems to have been a great success. If you want to buy food, fresh vegetables and fruit are on sale everywhere in the market and from street vendors. There is a wide array of these when they are in season. Perhaps, the fruit you see the most are pines and melons, and bora beans and pak choi. You can buy fruit to eat and fruit for juice. The best is passion fruit and a few mangos. Passion fruit has a strong taste and the mango thickens it and gives it a better colour. 10 passion fruit and two mangos will make about 3 and a half litres of juice. I make it every week and it lasts the week.

For groceries, the market is the cheapest but the shops are more ordered but vary greatly in price dependant on their targeted customers. You can buy most things and basics are a reasonable price as are the fresh goods if they are locally produced but, try to buy any imported goods (which nearly everything is!) and it will cost you the proverbial “arm and a leg”. The meat market sells most meat and fish but it’s best to buy early as the heat of the day because there is little refrigeration. The fish has lots of ice and is regularly hosed down but the meat hangs (as it should) and is open to the elements and the flies. I haven’t got as far as buying meat in the market yet and I’m sure it’s fine to do so, but I prefer the pre-packaged and sanitary packets produced at Nigel’s or Bounty Farms. Tomatoes are fresh end irregular and very tasty, cucumbers are short and fat with lots of seed, potatoes are the best we have ever tasted and the flour makes the most wonderful bread I have made in 30 years. All in all, we are very lucky to have such an array of food to choose from. I suppose, though, the things I miss the most are white wine (you can buy it here but it is prohibitively expensive), a variety of cheese (although the cheddar is very good) and sausages (they only have hotdogs here) but the only place you can buy a British banger is in Britain or Ireland. Recently we discovered a small Brazilian supermarket hidden away which has great cured pork and dried sausage. You need to barter and will get a reduction of 30% if you are firm. That’s the 30% they added to the price when a foreigner walks through the door.

That brings me to the question of alcohol – local brews are cheap - $600 for a bottle of basic rum (150p) or $850 for the five year old. Vodka is about the $800 and locally produced whiskey or gin, which has a full alcohol content but lacks the flavour of the original, is just short of $1,000. Rum is usually drunk with coke or juice and vodka with juice or tonic. I just drink the whiskey with ice. The beer is great. The local bottled beer produced in Georgetown – Banks – is the standard issue and is very palatable and priced – from $160 in a shop to $350 in the hotel, with $220 being about average for a drink out (58p). Alcohol is served almost everywhere and there are bars which are frequented by people in the neighbourhood and others which are for special occasions such as the Karaoke Bar – The Palm Court or Windies (the Sports Bar, Celina’s overlooks the ocean and offers a wide range of drinks and food and good sunsets if you are lucky. It has lots of atmosphere but most of these places are out of the reach of a VSO unless you use your own resources. We have discovered Caipirinha – a Brazilian drink with No 51 spirit limes, sugar and ice – very potent but refreshing, addictive, delicious and hangover-giving! Our own version with vodka, lime, ice and Splenda (low calorie sugar) is very passable.

To finish, Georgetown is a lovely and interesting city. It’s called the Garden City and, although it doesn’t have many gardens, it has lots of open space with flowering trees and tropical plants, is the National Park which we cycle through every day where there are foals and beautiful water lilies in the dyke. There are the Botanical Gardens about 10 minutes walk from our house. They are right next to the zoo which has some interesting animals even if they are in small cages. Georgetown’s public buildings are well maintained on the whole and nearly all made of wood so they have interesting architecture from another age but still serve their purpose. The imposing St George’s Cathedral is in the centre of the city and was once the largest wooden church in the world. Nearby are the Law Courts with the statue of Victoria outside and the City Hall just around the corner is an imposing building on a corner at the end of Regent St and Avenue of the Republic. Stabroek Market in contrast on the east bank of the Demerara is a Dutch style market with traders everywhere inside and out. The dock area still has some large boats but also has lots of launches which take people to the west bank when they are working out of Georgetown. On the bank is the imposing red and white striped lighthouse which we can see from our work window and right across the road from us is the Umana Yana – an Amerindian structure where all manner of events take place, We are in a very quiet area by the sea wall and we are flanked by the only 4 star hotel – the Meridien Pegasus which is like entering another world. Just down the road are the American and Canadian Embassies which must be amongst the biggest structures in Georgetown.

We are very lucky to be here because it is a different but interesting city. The people are friendly and we feel safe. Thanks to Georgetown for hosting us for these two years. We hope we can help and repay the debt of allowing us to experience another part of our world which is so different from home. Georgetown is our home for the moment and we have no regrets!

If you like what you read, why not contact me through the blog.

Georgetown Guyana

Hi everyone,

So sorry that it's been so long since we have been in touch but we are still in the land of the living, doing well, working hard and enjoying ourselves.

It's been a really busy few weeks and it doesn't let up for about another fortnight.

About a month ago we went to Rockview which is in Annai, Region 9 in the south of the country near to Brazil. We flew rather than taking the 24 hour round trip on unmade roads by minibus. We had a wonderful time but unfortunately Mary was ill for about a week after - can only describe it as tropical tummy! But she's fine now and everyone gets it at some time.

We then went into Leavers' Parties Mode. Many of the VSO is Georgetown were or will be leaving soon and the parties followed one after another. It was great but really exhausting for those of an age a little way off from their prime.

Immediately after we went into workshop mode - Mary did a SEN workshop for 30 or so with another VSO who led it - Elske and then she went into two of her own lasting the whole of last week and involving in excess of 120 teachers. I assisted and we made a great double act.

Next week we will prepare for my one week workshop for over 50 Educational Management Master Trainers from all over Guyana and then we will deliver it together.

After that we will rest a little and have now booked our tickets home for 25th September until 16th October. Loking forward to it but it will be really strange.

If you'd like to see some pictures of Georgetown where we live, then just click on this link:-

Georgetown Photos

We hope all our family and friends are well and please keep in touch at:

stephen@stephenharding.co.uk

And if you are interested in seeing what I have been up to with the website I have been preparing for the Ministry of Education, then go to

http://www.ncerdleaders.com/

It's only an outline at the moment but you can watch it grow!!

Catch up on photos!

If you want to catch up on a few photos in the last few weeks,

just click on the link below

Click here for photos

Allende makes bread

Bread making has become a routine activity on a Sunday morning – preparation before church, rising during church (8am Mass) and baking after church. Allende (nuestra amiga VSO espanola) was very keen to have a go but 6am on a Sunday was a little early, so we made an arrangement for later and had bread making master class. It was the same day we were due to go to the British High Commissioner’s home and Marie (Canadian VSO from Region 9) and Tulsi (South Indian VSO from across the street) had turned up to talk to us at 7am that morning. They were present for the master class!

Allende threw herself into the task as with everything she does. Sticky fingers and whole body kneading were the order of the day. But the bread turned out fine as you can see from the photos.

She had another private lesson three days later but, at the point of writing, she has not yet ventured into doing it on her own. Perhaps a little more encouragement will be necessary.

El pan delicioso de Allende

The biting things!

"You might well be worried - we're after you!"

We have been plagued with these evil little ...... since we arrived. This morning I counted 100 new and old bites on the fleshy parts of my body. They are particularly bad at dawn and dusk and during the rainy season they are everywhere. They love to get human blood and then make their getaway. If they get the chance they will bite 5 or 6 times in one region. You rarely see them land but just floating around the air. Fortunately, although the number of bites has not reduced, our reaction to them is getting better.

There are two types of bites – the one which hurts and makes you scratch, lasts a few days and then disappears leaving its mark – and the mosquitoes that attack, leave a blister which can be quite big, drive you insane for one hour exactly and then the blister disappears leaving no mark at all. But the worst of all are those that get you when you are least expecting it, after one or two rums when you are sitting quietly, perhaps reading. These are the commandoes of the mosquito world. They attack the bare feet, bite half a dozen times and before you know it you are driven insane and they have left with a fair proportion of your blood to feast upon whilst you hop around trying not to scratch.

Good bless the little critters. They have to get their food from somewhere. And some people are veggies because of cruelty to animals. What about cruelty to humans by dogs and mozzies?

Death to all Mosquitoes!

A weekend of Food

This weekend, we decided that it was time to have some real food. On Friday evening we went to a Brazilian Restaurant called Peppers on Regent Street. It’s more of a café really but the food was very good. The main meat we have here, and let’s face it Mary and I are carnivores (apologies to all those veggies amongst you), is chicken, hotdogs and bacon. Peppers had a supply of excellent barbecued rare beef, chicken and pork. We were a little taken aback when we discovered we had to pay for it by weighing our plate and paying GY$2,000 per kilo. It was quite efficient but strange. We are not prepared to divulge how much we ate but next time we will get filleted chicken rather than on the bone because who wants to pay for bones?

We were going to have a light Saturday evening but Meg and Allende decided to go to JRs (an alcohol free burger bar). This is the place we go when we are seeing someone off. This time it was our friend Meg’s turn who is returning to England for three months due to what the Guyanese call UFA (unexpected family affairs). She’ll be back in September but we will really miss her and we wish her and Bill well during their unexpected time together. She should be in Barbados at this moment waiting for her Virgin flight to Manchester.

Today is 17th June, the day Daniel, our eldest was due (birthday 3 days later). We always celebrate that day so we will be going to the Palm Court for a meal and Karaoke with Jeffery the compere – a mixture of beautiful singing and awful dire caterwauling, but it’s great fun.

Meg's last evening at JR's spent with Stephen, Mary and Allende before she travels back to Manchester for three months. Bon Voyage!

We'll miss you, Meg!!!!

The Job

Well, this is the real reason why we are here. We have both been very busy with lots of varied work. Last week we moved office – just across the corridor. They needed our room for a Head of Department and the one we moved into was much bigger overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There are 6 of us in the office - Mary and I and Meg who came with us, Nicholas a young Guyanese man who is working on Physical Education and Jess and Ann from Texas and Chester respectively who are VSOs working on a Literacy Project. They will be leaving in July and the office will be very big for 4 of us. There are no plans yet for any other VSOs to come to NCERD.

I have been working in a number of schools with all of the challenges that that entails. I can’t go into detail here but it keeps me well occupied and allows me to experience what is going on at the chalk face – literally chalk here, not even dustproof and whiteboards and interactive whiteboards and unimaginable dream. Alongside this the Education management Programme is keeping me occupied. I have started NCERD’s first website – slow going because of the speed of the internet but you will be able to see it develop – http://www.ncerdleaders.com/.

Mary has been working on three projects. The first is the evaluation of another project with which she wasn’t involved which entails travelling to all the regions and asking questions about the success of a set of materials. The second is an Educare Project, a charity run by an ex VSO which has been setting up after school clubs linked to a feeding programme. Mary and Meg will be training the teachers in all of the regions – a lot of travelling. The third is a series of 3 day workshops about a whole school approach to teaching reading through phonics. That starts in the end of July so she has time to prepare.

I have been travelling the regions meeting groups of teacher trainees on the Education management programme and giving my take on leadership (a concept that has not really taken off here – they are more into administration). They will understand it though by the time I leave!!!

All in all it is very satisfying and varied work. It may take a while for it to filter through to the children (the only thing that is important) but, sure enough, it will do and those will be the outcomes VSO requires to justify our stay here.

Regional Director Visits Gerorgetown

We were just lamenting the fact that our social calendar seemed to be drying up when we invited to the VSO Director’s Home to meet up with some new VSOs and the Regional Director for the area – Matt. Guyana is the most westerly VSO country and there are others in scattered places which do not fit into a category such as Asia or Africa. These are all lumped together including the Pacific, China, and Guyana and so on. Matt is in charge and spends most of his time travelling. It was great to meet him and all the other VSOs again. Many of them will be leaving in July and August and we will be left with just a small number, from about 25 when we arrived to 7 or so. But there will be another batch in August.

Just for Will and Kate

The Shepherd’s Pie

We don’t just experiment but the old favourites come out as well.

Rain, Rain and More Rain

Yes, it’s the rainy season and sure enough, it knows how to rain in Guyana. There has been 2.4 times the normal rainfall for the May / June rains as they call them. This is the main rainy season. However, we have only had one day of floods and I think our Wellington Boots, or Long Boots as they call them here are warding it off. I thought it rained in Lancashire in the rainy season there from September to July but nothing like this. It will appear from nowhere, the only sign being a black cloud which suddenly appears and, oh yes, the sight of people running.

If you are not prepared, for example, on your bike and on the way to a school and your cape (ours donated by Peter and Angela) is in your basket, you have about 2 nana seconds to put it on. I’m quite good at it now but the first time was a scream. It was a good job that everyone else was so concerned about themselves that no-one saw me. Raindrops the size of water bombs shoot down straight ten thousand a time in a square foot. I pulled the cape out of its bag and struggled to pull it over my head – the helmet got in the way and it wouldn’t go up or down. The neck zip was closed and I only extricated myself by taking off the helmet. By that stage my head was as wet as if I had jumped in Darwen baths – all this whilst sitting on the bike trying to hold it upright between my then sodden legs and socks. I tried again and succeeded but where was the neck zip – oh, at the back!

Never mind, thinks I, but realize that I can’t put the hood up because I would be blinded. Took it off again and this time did it right. My boxers were beginning to feel decidedly soaked and I set off for the VSO office 200 yards away. I had to stop and walk the last fifty yards because the water mixed with the sun screen I had put on ten minutes earlier and cascaded over my eyebrows and into my eyes causing them to sting – sun screen, I ask you!!!! Arriving at the VSO office and undercover but not wanting to go in because I don’t think they would have enough mops to clear up after me; I waited until the rain eased. I set off for my school but, because it was still a little wet put the hood up having abandoned my helmet. It had about two pints of water in it and I showered myself again. C’est la vie! I arrived at my school soaking wet only to find that only 40 of the 260 children had turned up for the day – “BECAUSE OF DE RAIN”.

The weather here didn’t quite live up to the expectations of the Guyana Tourist Board Website. It was supposed to be wall to wall sunshie and blue skies all day long with intermittent very heavy rain,usually in the early evening, which clears up very rapidly. Well, the heat is certainly there all of the time. The skies are blue just about as much As in England and it is very frequently cloudy. The website that said there was no name for overcast is certainly wrong – it’s overcast for much of the time but still hot at the same time.

We are about to enter the hot season. It may go from 32C ish to 35 / 36C. We cope well with the latter and we’re sure a few more degrees will not make a lot of difference.

Vicious Dogs

Georgetown is not only home to 400,000 people but also to what seems like the same number of dogs (I exaggerate but it seems like that as you see as many on the road as people). NONE HAVE COLLARS, NONE ARE ON A LEAD, NONE SEEMED TO BE WALKED BUT THEY JUST WANDER AROUND THE STREETS GUARDING THEIR OWN TERRITORY. I’m sure that many of them are owned but certainly the majority seem to live a life independent of their owners.

Nighttime can be very noisy with the birds (yes, they sing all night), the croaking frogs and the dogs. We live in Queenstown and we have our own dogs here. Then there are the Kitty dogs, the Campbelville dogs, the Albertown dogs, the Bourda dogs and dogs from every district in the city. One lonely little creature may begin to howl followed, in sympathy by others from the same area. Within a few moments, there is sufficient howling and barking for dogs from another area to be woken up and take up the challenge to bark louder and howl more insanely. The theory of the full moon is definitely true because the howling lasts for most of the night. (Incidentally, the new moon lies on its back here rather than on its side). I digress. Before you know it dogs from three or four regions are in competition and the noise is horrendous. But fortunately, the leader of the pack lives next door to us – a guard dog from a high up government official. He’s big and mean and definitely in charge. A few distinctive barks from him, having been rudely awaken, frightens the rest (they know who’s in charge) and the whole process dies down in reverse until Government Dog out barks the last of the little wimps!

But that’s not I wanted to write about. Three weeks ago I was visiting someone in Kitty on my bike and, as I left, I mounted and swiftly pulled away. Within 2 seconds, four mangy dogs, three brown and one black were chasing me and yelping at my heals – two on either side. Not wanting to be bitten 4 times, I cycled faster and they ran with greater haste. The front runner on the left snapped at my bare ankle (wearing no socks and a pair of shorts) and the blood spurted out!!! They had achieved their goal, seen me off their territory and disappeared under an abandoned car.

It was shock. I didn’t even stop to examine the damage but cycled the mile or so home at great speed with the cries from passers by stating the obvious “you’ve got blood pouring down your leg”. There were five punctures on my left upper ankle, three small and two large. Mary ministered to me and we then had to go through the routine of getting the booster rabies jabs – one that night and another 3 days later. We don’t think the dogs here have rabies but it’s VSO procedure. Thanks to Marco, another VSO, for administering them.

What came after was worse because I was encouraged to go to the police, not a pleasant experience. It was a bit like a Victorian Gaol – rickety wooden gun cupboard marked “rifles”, violence aggression, shouting and generally not a place to be. They were quite pleasant and helpful to me but a suggestion of possibly “putting the dogs out” caused some worries about relationships with neighbours from others. So now, I walk in their territory and have my bicycle lock and chain handy to put them out myself if they come anywhere near me! So far so good.

Barbecue at the British High Commisioner's Residence

The next highlight on the social calendar was when the British High Commissioner and his wife invited all VSOs to his private residence for an afternoon barbecue and swimming party. They have a lovely home – befitting the position – with a tempting swimming pool, a large friendly dog and a beautiful patio. We were given an excellent meal with all the trimmings (and wine – only the second glass since we came here). Thanks to Mr and Mrs Wheeler for their hospitality.

VSO Forum

After about three months VSO arranged a Forum for all of the volunteers in a conference centre in region 3 – The Toucan Inn and Guyana Heritage Museum. We had the Friday off and went by a private hire bus (clean, comfortable, spacious and no music!). It was a really good weekend in that all the VSOs were able to meet up, it was well prepared (thanks to Ann and Hannah) and offered a varied programme. We were given a breakdown of everything that was going on, a question and answer session (which I led) and spent the afternoon discussing issues in our various groups – Education and Disability. At the end we had a wind down session when everyone was asked to write down something from their past – perhaps a secret, controversial or downright shocking. In teams we had to match the item with the person – quite a difficult task as VSOs on the whole are sensible and law-abiding. Secrets included being locked in the slammer for stealing Christmas trees, throwing a puppy over a wall, being jailed for being a political activist and meeting Nelson Mandela. It was great fun!

But, the social bit was the best. The food was delicious and varied including individual omelettes at breakfast. In the evening, much rum and coke was consumed and late at night we all went up to the parapet in the pitch black and observed the stars and the satellites as they passed above us. The VSO group is great, sociable and from varied backgrounds and countries. It makes the experience so much the richer.

The accommodation was excellent – unusual, quirky with masses of interesting bits of Guyanese history all over the place. It doubled as a museum and the owner, a Portuguese Guyanese was a bit of a historian. He was very proud of his achievements and wanted to show us around. The room had its own facilities – a luxury here!

We went home the next day after a hearty breakfast and a relaxing morning reading the paper. Mary and Meg were desperate to get the Cup Final on TV but were unsuccessful. They later discovered that they had the wrong week. Others swam in the pool – quite a luxury.