Week 4 in Georgetown - Hard core!
Can you believe we’ve passed the halfway point of initiative? Less than three weeks left :(
Although a difficult topic, the G-Town Gals had an extremely productive week teaching depression and suicide to our classes. The students had many questions (as always), and we took our time answering them. Especially with lessons like this, we take extra caution in exploring and discussing the cultural relevance with our students and learning from them as we move through each lesson. Since we’ve been with them for a few weeks now, we are developing meaningful and exciting relationships with many of our students and with the teachers who support us at each of our schools. We held our first drop-in lunchtime program at Central Secondary School for students who are interested in learning more about health and being health advocates in their communities. We had a great turn out and are excited to continue developing this pilot model moving forward to promote sustainability for health education!
This week, we have taken to expanding our culinary skills and palettes, much to Gillian’s chagrin. On Thursday, our friend Reyaz brought us White Pudding – a traditional Guyanese dish. White pudding is extremely far from what it sounds like to a Canadian. White pudding is neither white, nor pudding, and is actually cook-up (spiced rice) cooked inside cow intestines and dipped in a sour sauce. Additionally, we have begun trying new recipes this week and successfully made yellow curry (yay Georgia!) and lentil pasta (yay Avery!). We are currently accepting all vegetarian recipe suggestions and are eager to perfect our skills before we get home in a few weeks!
Since this weekend was the 53rd celebration of Guyanese Independence, St. John College hosted us to a fun and yummy day on Friday. Each of the classes cooked or had a potluck with traditional Guyanese foods, such as curried chicken (or chicken curry (we’ve learned their interchangeable titles but always get asked by our students what we call it)), cook-up, roti, bora, fried rice and more! We were able to hang out with our students in a non-formal setting, learn how to dance with them, and share a meal to celebrate an incredible weekend ahead.
After a long week of teaching, we unwound this weekend by exploring the Botanical Gardens with a new friend staying at the guest house and took a day trip up to Marudi Creek with friends from the community! We are certainly looking forward to the week ahead and are excited to continue updating you on our experiences and learnings!
Love and miss you all!
The G-Town Gals
Avery, Alexa, Georgia & Sarah
Sunset outside Rima's Guest House
A beautiful welcome from Central High!
Freezies after class at North Georgetown - our Thursday afternoon treat!