Week Four in Berbice

Hi everyone! Today marks the first day of our fifth week in Guyana. Having an established teaching schedule has made the weeks pass with seemingly increasing speed. We already have only three weeks remaining!

Monday marked the end of our lessons at Vryman's Erven Training Centre. Throughout our lessons here, we did extensive work on mental health covering topics such as peer pressure, healthy relationships, abuse, self esteem, depression, and suicide. It was sad to say our first goodbye, however the students left the clear impression that they enjoyed having us in their classroom and now feel more comfortable both speaking about their own mental health and acting as resources in their communities. QHO looks forward to continuing to collaborate with the training center for lessons next year!

Ben and Jamie in Blackbush meeting with faculty members at Joanna Primary school to discuss implementing QHO programs at that school for the first time.

On Thursday, Jamie and Ben visited Blackbush, Berbice to meet a new contact and introduce QHO to schools in the area. Through collaboration with some wonderful local contacts we were able to get in touch with four primary schools, a secondary school, and a youth space in the Blackbush region. Our teaching at the schools will be limited this year, but we look forward to building upon these relationships for future QHO initiatives. We look forward to teaching sporadic lessons at the schools over the next few weeks and a weekend seminar at the youth spaces. We are all ecstatic over the new opportunities arising in Berbice, which is increasing the number of youth we are able to reach!

After a week of teaching, we ended the week by accepting an invitation to the Guyana Independence Day celebration at Lower Corentyne Secondary. In the morning, we taught lessons on self-esteem and leadership and then ended the day by attending an assembly full of singing, dancing, and Guyanese pride and then participating in games with the students. Chatting over cola, cricket, and a cook-up cookout made for quite the Carribean experience and an enjoyable end to the week!

A big pot of cookup being made at Lower Corentyne for their Independence Day celebrations.

Erin teaching self esteem and leadership in front of an attentive Lower Corentyne Form 3 class.

Stay tuned for a future post regarding a day in the life of a member of the Berbice team! Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for taking the time to read our blog.