A Successful First Day

Hello from the Georgetown Crew!

Since Monday was the Arrival holiday in Guyana, there were no classes taking place in the schools. We waved goodbye to our Berbice Team as they headed off, wishing them luck in Letter Kenny.

Waving bye to Kate, Ali and Eric as they head for Berbice!

On Tuesday we met with the head teachers of Adult Education Association (AEA) and Chase Academy teaching schools. We received our schedules and began to plan our lessons right away. We called multiple other schools and set up times to meet with them to continue building our schedule-- needless to say we have been busy!

Today we taught our first lessons at Chase Academy to the secondary students. We started with introductions about ourselves and QHO as well as name games to start getting to know the students better. After getting the ball rolling we dived right into teaching a lesson on values and goal setting. The kids were very well behaved and enthusiastic when answering our questions. They loved getting to know this years Peer Educators and seemed very excited for the weeks to come. Colleen loved dancing with the girls and singing "Happy" by Pharrell. Casey loved the energy in the classrooms and the kids eagerness to participate. Steve loved joking around and making fun of himself in order to get the kids engaged. Marni loved sharing stories with the kids and talking to them about their favourite activities. Overall it was a great success and Janet was so proud to watch her PEs in action even though she was struggling to stay seated instead of teaching.

Steve, Colleen, Marni and Casey at Chase Academy getting ready to teach!

Right after teaching our second lesson we went to Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre where Janet introduced us to Ms. Patsy and Ms. December. They were so happy to welcome us and we established that we will be going back every Tuesday and Friday after teaching to hopefully facilitate some lessons and play with the kids. The Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre is a place for kids of all ages to go hang out after school and have dinner. Janet was so excited to see all of the familiar faces from last year. The kids have so much energy and loved running around outside. We are so excited to go back in a few days!

Janet and the kids at Ruimveldt!

Rima's Guesthouse has become our home away from home. The ladies have welcomed us into their home. Though the bug nets were hard to get used to, we now enjoy feeling as though we are sleeping in princess beds. Georgetown has become familiar and the PEs can now somewhat navigate through the streets without Janet's help. We are looking forward to learning more about Georgetown and the weeks to come!

Until next time,
Georgetown team (Steve, Marni, Colleen and Casey)