The second last month of my stay in
Paramakatoi has been a busy one. Towards the end of the month I had
quite a few people beginning to say goodbye to me, in my opinion a
little prematurely but, if I'm honest, I might not see some of them
before I leave.
On the 5th of June we had a
potluck dinner for Fiza's birthday. This is where the guests bring
different dishes and share it with everyone else, so there is always
plenty to eat. I think Fiza had intended for us to bring something
from our country, so Emily a Scottish dish, Candacie something
Guyanese, but because of the lack of ingredients it was difficult to
do this. In the end we had shrimp cook up, salted fish, deer tuma,
cassava bread, garlic bread, a chicken dish from the Philippines,
some Malaysian chicken and German chocolate cake for dessert. Apart
from myself and Fiza, the guests were Emily, Lisa, Candacie, Leon (a
teacher) and some friends from the village: Vashti, China Doll and Mr
Dublin (not the Education Officer, another Mr Dublin). At the weekend
we also had a party in the village so that more people could come. It
was really enjoyable, there was a lot of dancing, and plenty people
because Fiza had made some cake.
The Grade Eleven CXC exams finished on
Monday 11th June. That evening the matron of the
dormitories had organised a graduation ceremony for the students who
had been staying there. Candacie, Fiza, Lisa, Emily and I were
invited to attend and we decided it would be a nice opportunity to
dress up a bit.
Lisa, Fiza, Antje, Emily,
Candacie
When we arrived the
generator wasn't working and the dining hall was lit with candles,
but after ten minutes the generator was fixed and we were all ushered
inside. The fifty-something graduating students were the last to
enter. The boys were all dressed in smart black trousers, white
shirts, smart black shoes and bow ties. The girls were wearing black
skirts, white blouses, and black high heeled shoes. They all looked
very smart. I won't recite the whole ceremony but there were a few
main parts which stick out in my memory. There was one item which
involved a group of younger students holding up the names of each of
the graduating students on a sign, and reading out short descriptions
of them beginning with their initials. It was very nice, though
Guyanese tend to be very honest and blunt so some of the students
were a little offended by what was said about them. Another item
involved only the students who are an active part of the Seventh Day
Adventist Church, who were about half of the group. They were each
given a new candle and the pastor, Father Balkarran, held a lit
candle. The students sang a song as one by one the Grade Eleven
students walked up to the pastor and lit their own candles, then
lined up along the edge of the stage area. It was very pretty,
although I fear the other students did feel excluded. At the end of
the ceremony we were given some cook up, cake and drinks, while the
teachers with cameras took photos of the Grade Elevens. It was a
fairly well organised evening, for Guyana, but it still lacked the
structure and fluidity that we would normally expect in an event like
this.
Emily and I had been told
that on the 17th of June (father's day) there would be a
wedding, but instead there was a feast for the fathers, so the
wedding was the next day. After school finished we went straight home
to get changed and then to the church. The couple getting married
looked very unhappy to be there, but when it came to the kiss, they
got a bit carried away and started kissing each other all over the
neck so they definitely wanted to get married. At the same time as
the wedding there was also a games day for father's day at the
playing field, so we went there for twenty minutes before going to
the reception. At least half of the village was there watching the
eating competition, the needle and thread race and other contests. As
we left they were asking around for a bow and arrow for the shooting
competition – we learnt afterwards that Leon had won it and
received a large chicken as a prize. Anyway, we then walked the ten
minutes to the groom's house and met the new Mrs Sandwell, who was
from another village.
Antje, Emily, Hyacinth
Sandwell, Fiza
They were serving cook up
and chow mein out of big round pots and there was some tuma at the
side, too.
I ate some cook up, not
realising that there were pieces of pepper in it, and put a big piece
into my mouth. I ended up feeling very sick from it, and trying to
drink cassiri to cool my mouth – it wasn't until a few days later
that somebody told me cassiri only makes it worse! It was very tasty
though.
On Sunday 25th of
June the National Grade Nine exam papers were supposed to arrive. On
Friday 29th of June they finally arrived. The students in
the dormitories had to stay there for a week more than they expected,
despite the serious food shortages which the dormitories were facing.
Both of these things were supposed to come on a plane from Mahdia. At
one point the Community Teachers Association had to make donations to
buy a bag of rice to feed the students. I will not begin to explain
how frustrating this whole affair was.
Apart from the above we
spent a lot of time visiting people. The village was muddy and wet a
lot of the time but whenever the weather allowed it we went to see a
lot of the friends we had made throughout the year. I have enjoyed
the month a lot more than many of the others – even more! I feel
like I am finally getting close to a lot of the villagers and I am
beginning to feel sad about leaving so soon. Anyway, I'll leave it
for this month.
All the best and thanks for
reading once again,
Antje
