This week certainly posed its challenges. We taught our Introduction to Mental Health lesson to most of our classes and were met with very interesting questions in our question box. Through our preliminary needs assessments in each of our classrooms, we had identified that mental health was of interest to most students, and this aligned well to the requests of the teachers, Headmistresses and national needs. We are eager to continue the discussion around mental health with lessons on Depression and Suicide this week, and address each and every one of our students’ questions at the beginning of our lessons.

On top of that, Georgia, Sarah and Avery had their first fun bout of upset tummies this week, which Alexa’s iron stomach strongly persevered through. With a little Imodium, saltine crackers and a few phone calls home, we were all able to recover in a jiffy and get back to our classes and cricket! On Friday, at one of our favourite schools, we were greeted with a wonderful surprise. Under the deck, beside the stairs on the way up to meet our Grade 6 class, we found 5 puppies! With mum nearby, all the puppies were curled up under the porch sleeping and smiles were immediately on all of our faces.

In addition to the puppies brightening our day on Friday, we had an incredible weekend! We were joined by the Berbice Team to explore the interior of Guyana! Exploring the interior of the country had come highly recommended to us by all of our community partners, so we booked an excursion to Kaieteur Falls for Saturday May 18th. All our friends in Guyana spoke about the interior as if it were an enchanted forest full of magic, and we can now confirm, it is an enchanted forest full of magic. On Saturday, we boarded a 13-person plane to Kaieteur, with Logan in the cockpit. Although solely an observational seat, Logan is now confident he knows how to fly an airplane. As we flew over the majestic falls, all 8 of us were in awe at its sheer size and power. Through the tour, we were able to get various views of the falls and the valley and river below, take many photos (see below) and spend a lot of quality time with our dear friends in Berbice.

Reuniting with the team was so special to each of us, as we got to swap stories, share laughs and feed the manatees (yet again!). As we loaded their taxi with much needed groceries and their bags, we said yet another “see you later” for the next two weeks before we get an opportunity to see Berbice for ourselves. We look forward to another empowering and insightful week ahead, will post updates on how our cricket team is doing!

Chat soon!

The G-Town Gals

Avery, Alexa, Georgia and Sarah