A bunch of photos from St. Ann's Girls home

A Cool Surprise on Day 3

       I feel compelled to begin my post back on day two. After a long day visiting Mahaica and the boys at Bosco most of the group stayed up late into the night playing Mafia. If you're not familiar with the game I highly recommend playing it at your next group party. In both games I was unjustly killed off while two of our hosts, who obviously had more practice, won. In the end, regardless of who the group accused or let die the night ended with some of the loudest laughter, and snorts from Danika, that I've ever heard.

        This morning, after a delicious breakfast of my personal favorite--homemade donuts--we shifted gears from the fun to the focused and had a class session to hear about some of our Guyanese history books. Although only a few of us shared today the topics ranged from US intervention in the area to finding one's own individual identity. The class even included a political lesson, and debate, from two of our Guyanese friends! Surprising as it may be, the class session wasn't the exciting part 

of our morning. As a special treat we were told to put on bathing suits and follow Rashleigh through Georgetown to what ended up being the pool the boys of Bosco were swimming at today. We all jumped in right away, ecstatic with the opportunity to cool off and to spend more time with the friends we made yesterday. We competed in swimming races, Marco Polo, and splashing fights. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with a boy named Alex who can hold his breathe underwater long enough to make you think he is either drowning or a fish. After two hot and humid days the pool was the perfect surprise to start off the day. 

       We're all just hanging out in our living room now casually eating lunch, which is delicious as usual, playing cards, and resting up for the afternoon. Next it's off to a St. Ann's girls orphanage and hopefully more Mafia tonight! but first, check out some of our pictures from the morning!

Over and out (and love you Mom and Dad!),

Kaly 

2nd Day Down

We jumped right in. We woke up at 7:30am. We had a delicious breakfast; it was called a pinwheel. It looked like a Cinnabon but it was fresh bread with ground beef and cheese baked into it. Yum! We then had a interesting morning at Mahaica. On the road back from Mahaica we stopped at a food truck on the way back home (yes, I am already calling Barrack St. home already). We had some delicious pototato pie, poluri (egg ball with spicy sauce), and fresh sugar cane juice. Back on Barrack St. our lunch consisted of some rice with vegetables with the best barbecue chicken! After a short rest, we packed up the van again with soccer balls (football to the Guyanese) and we were on our way to St. John Bosco's Orphanage. As soon as we got there the kids' faces lit up. Shortly after arriving, they took the soccer balls and ran off to the field. I personally am not a fan of soccer, so I started to throw the frisbee around with my new friend Ryan. But he soon left me to play soccer too. I walked over to the seesaws, where I found myself with the  dynamic duo: Orion and Leonard. They were playing with Kaly's camera. We were all friends instantly. As they took photos of everything in sight. It then occurred to me that the only thing these boys wanted was friends they can play and share some laughs with. I was really happy that I was there to be their friends.

Anthony '16  

Mahaica

Today, we traveled to Mahaica Hospital. All we really knew before arriving was that it was a leprosy settlement about 45 minutes outsider of our hostel in Grorgetown. We packed into the bus (which seats 19- whether this is comfortably or uncomfortably is still up for debate for some of our group), and left at 8:30 this morning

While the bus may be a tight squeeze, it is also one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. We're not only in close quarters with the rest of the group, but with our Guyanese chauffeurs as well (I learned also that our driver's name is Chubby). We talk, sing, and quite simply enjoy each other's company. The scenery is quite colorful; with the brightly painted houses and the greenery, which is both similar yet extremely foreign compared to that of Vermont, our eyes were never bored. Cows graze on the side of the road, horses trot along side of road, and stray dogs watch calmly despite the honking horns. Speaking of horns, the driving here is quite the experience. The driver sits on the right, the cars drive on the left, and traffic rules seems to be more of a polite suggestion. However, the horns are never menacing or angry like at home- it's simply like saying "Hey, I'm here, heads up". it's quite refreshing. 

We met four residents when we arrived at Mahaica, a building that, despite being newly painted, would make health officials back home cringe. Chris taught me and some others to play a card game called "Spades", and after some confusion due to his, shall we say, thick accent, we played and listened to his stories of fishing for sharks in his younger days. There is also John. He quietly destroyed us in the cards games- he has quite the poker face. Elvis was also in the building (pun intended). Lastly, we met Sheila, who seemed to be the most aged of all the members. We talked quietly with her, and she finally laughed outright when we told her that she obviously was in charge of the boys at the Hospital, but she did not refute this. 

I don't think any of us knew what to expect at the Hospital. In fact, much like the rest of the population, both in Guyana and in the States, there seems to be a bit of a mystery surrounding the infamous biblical disease. Most think it's highly contagious- it's not. If the person is on medication, it's not infectious at all. Now, it's curable, which is why the residents at Mahaica are older. They contracted the disease before a cure was available, and are forced to live with the existing damage. What they would actually look like was also a mystery to us. One student said he expected cloaked figures hiding their bodies. For the most part, however, the disease was not extremely obvious. One did have just one leg, and while some fingers and toes were slightly deformed, that was it. It makes the universal stigma attached to leprosy seem pretty ridiculous actually. They were just people who seemed to enjoy our company and who like a good game of cards. People that I'm excited to see again. 

Until next time, 

Danika

Visit to Mahaica Hospital.