First term has come to an end here in Guyana, which means a three week break and time to focus on Christmas and the new year! This also marks my 6-month Anniversary in Guyana! Time has flown by! I have learned a lot being at Leonora Secondary School this first term. I have established myself as a teacher, made some friends in my community, and have adjusted to life here in Guyana. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would ever see myself as a teacher I would have responded with “absolutely not” but now that I am here teaching HFLE, I guess you could say that I have found my “teaching voice” and am enjoying my job. I really enjoy working with the kids and teaching them as much as I can. Along with Health education and weekly trips to the local clinic to volunteer, I was also able to help assist with Sports term activities. Guyana is truly the place to be for track and field fans, I’m finding out, and I am in the prime location for all track events.
As I mentioned before in a previous blog post, this school term is taken over by track and field, swimming, and cycling activities. Since my school is next door to the national stadium, we get prime access to the best facility to compete in track and field. Week three of the term, the students at the school are divided into houses. Students sign up for various events and determine who wants to be the house cheerleaders. It brings the entire school together for some fun competition. Even if you aren’t competing or cheerleading, you still are placed in a house. It’s like the Guyanese version of Harry Potter houses! I was placed in B house and helped my team get hyped and ready for the upcoming races.Week four, students competed in various running, jumping, and throwing events and the top three students move on to interschools competition. Unfortunately pole vault is not an event yet because of equipment and safety reasons, but I did get to assist with the high jump. During week five, other schools in the area join in for interschools competition and the top three students from there move on to interbranch competition. This is when school becomes hectic because half of the teachers help work the events and students who don’t come to watch the competition, sit in empty classrooms….It put us all a little behind and affected classroom management, but that’s okay, hopefully we can make u for it next term.
I had the pleasure of helping work the field events, specifically the high jump, long jump, and the javelin. I was probably one of the few people who enjoyed sitting in the hot sun all day and showing kids how to properly do the events. Because our school is one of the few schools that has the proper track and field equipment most kids come to the stadium without knowing how to use a javelin or how to properly jump over the high jump bar so I tried my best to give crash courses on the events. It was especially hard also because students are only given one warm up jump and mostly jumped barefoot. It was a great opportunity however, to interact with the students and brainstorm for my track camp I hope to have next summer. During Interschools, there was also a teachers race! Of course it turned out to be my favorite event. Although the 100m was never my best event, I still was able to come away with the win and qualify to compete at Interbranch, while wearing flats and work pants. Racing in the teachers races has become a nice way to integrate because the students and local community members are learning my last name!
Interbranch is similar to regionals in the states. All students from our region 3 came to compete at the track in hopes of qualifying for nationals. Once again I was able to skip school and help with the field events and participate in the teachers race. This meet proved who the real athletes were in our region; there were some really fast kids and some who have potential in the jumps, they just need some technical training. I came prepared for the teachers race this time and toed the line with a lot of other fast teachers. My favorite moment was when as I was standing on the line, a teacher next to me was complaining to the official that she has to race against a certain teacher in lane 7, but he turned to her and said, “you should be more concerned with the teacher next to you”, indicating at me. Sure enough I ran a good race and crushed some stereotypes, proving that white girls can run.If you listen closely to the video, you can hear the fans yelling “run white girl!” It was a really fun experience, helping with the events and running. I was looking forward to helping with Nationals, but it turned out they didn’t need my help and I wasn’t allowed to compete in the 100m because I am not a member of the Teachers Union. Maybe next year I’ll find a way to beat the system and run at nationals. I had a lot of students and community members asking why I wasn’t racing. Lol
Nationals was a huge event! Our entire school was closed downfor the week because athletes from around the country were being housed there. Sunday was the opening ceremony and there was a whole torch lighting and dance performances. Mondaythey had cycling and swimming competitions in the capitol and the start of some running events. The rest of the week was all track and field events and I had the privilege of relaxing and watching the athletes compete. Guyana has some really goodathletes, especially in the high jump and distance races. Even though most the kids scissor kick over the bar, there were some kids who still managed to jump about 6ft. A lot of kids ran race barefoot too, which was impressive on the hot track. There were a few rain delays throughout the week but overall the stands were packed with fans and it was an exciting week of events. It is awesome that track and field is such a big sport around here, behind cricket and futbol of course, but I am excited to see what I can do with the sport while I am here.
It was a crazy term, full of exciting events and not a single week without a holiday or event going on, so we have a lot of catching up to do next term, but I am excited for what is ahead. I am learning a lot and taking each day at a time. You never know what’s going on in these schools but there’s always something fun and it is keeping me on my toes! I have three weeks for break now, but that means I get to work extra at the clinic and prepare for New Years in Suriname!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying the cold winter weather. My plan for Christmas is cooking duck curry with the family and drinking a bottle of local Soursop wine!
Love and Miss you all,
Liz
Into the Jungle 