One week of work down. It has been pretty jam packed really, and a far cry from the ‘just take the first couple of months to settle in...’ that VSO suggested on the training courses.
My job title here is Special Educational Needs Specialist, which is pretty daunting if I think about it too much with my head. I am working in Region 7 of the country, which is quite a large chunk of the mid west (if my increasingly poor geography serves me). I am centred in Bartica, but I will be working with schools in the Upper, Middle and Lower Mazaruni areas.
As far as I have been told, and these things can change all the time - a bit like the weather, I have two main responsibilities with my position.
· To conduct a regional survey of all schools to establish the number of children who have Special Educational Needs. (From now on, I am going to just put SEN because to write Special Educational Needs all the time is going to melt my head – and it’s too hot today as it is...)
· To spearhead the drafting of a regional SEN programme after the results are in from the survey.
So, I have to spearhead something. That sounds a little alarming, as I can’t say I have ever had to spearhead anything in my life, ever. It sounds like something a mercenary does, and for the whole region too. So, to cut a long story short, my job here is one massive panic attack waiting to happen.
One of the main problems I will face is that the Upper Masaruni regions are so far away that to get there you would need to get on a small plane, which would be great if the funding was readily available. So it could be that I have to concentrate more on the Lower and Middle Mazaruni areas. These are more accessible by car and also, to get to the more remote schools, by speed boat.
I am starting to get used to this speedboat lark. It’s not a commute I have ever had to experience. I am usually stuck behind a tractor or a buffoon in a Land Rover Discovery who takes up most of the road while they chat on their phone. But to skip over the waves surrounded by dense forests, watching eagles soar above me beats it hands down.
These boats are smaller than the time-travelling, fume filled boats from Parika. They are not enclosed so you are open to the elements. The breeze is lovely, but it masks the fact that the sun is burning you to a crisp, so when you arrive anywhere you look like you have been microwaved. Classy.
My week has been split. I have spent a couple of days in the Education Office and the rest of the time working with other volunteers on a literacy project. The Education Office is a pretty hectic place, with about 7 people trying to work in a room which can only really cater for 5 – due to it being a temporary office while the other building gets refurbished. I have been starting my induction programme here, and so far I have signed a form and taken down the phone number of the office. In week 2 of my induction, I get a tour of the offices and find out where the toilets are. Not kidding, that’s week 2. Fingers crossed I can hold on till then. I think I had been in the office for about an hour before I had the “So tell me sir, are you married? Do you have kids? Where is your wife? Would you like a Guyanese wife?” conversation. Twice. Will keep you posted on that.
The rest of the week was spent working on a literacy project in Kartabo Primary School with other VSO volunteers and the Guyanese poet and storyteller Peter Jailall. Peter was born in Guyana, but now lives in Canada where he publishes books of poems and stories about his native country. He comes back a few times in the year to work with local children on literacy and writing projects with volunteer groups.
Peter shared poems and stories (click on them, they are links to videos...) with the children, encouraging them to create written accounts of their lives and the animals they see in the jungle areas around their homes and school. The children were split into different groups where a number of activities were undertaken. Story boarding and sequencing, narrative writing and number problems which all centred on the stories main theme. This allowed the teachers of Kartabo to see how to include cross curricular themes into their own classroom teaching, and how to differentiate for those children with a higher or lower ability. The children were great and created some brilliant work.
On the last day of the week, the children travelled up to Bartica to come to the Learning Resource Centre which was been set up in the town. It is recognised as being one of the best centres of its kind in the whole country, allowing local children and adults to take out books and use the internet to complete school assignments and become more computer literate. It has been built up over time by past VSO volunteers and is currently looked after by a Peace Corp guy called Chris. The children and teachers were able to browse the books and facilities in the hope that they would come to use it in the future. It was a good culmination to a busy and productive week.
Saturday was market day and wash day, which for some reason always makes me think of that scene in The Terminator.
Redneck - “Wash day right? Nothing clean...?”
Arnie - NU-THING-CLEAN...
Still not seen that spider again, which can only be a good thing. (Unless he is taking time out to bulk up, in which case it would then be a bad thing...) That pathetic whimpering sound I make is just degrading. I did oust a cockroach from my room the other day, so that’s something to be proud of me for, right? What do you want, blood?
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