So- was it all worthwhile? 6

I have been to places so beautiful they are breath taking.

The creek at Pandama Retreat-
I took the picture before slipping into the black water creek for an early morning bathe.

My flat- the back steps- view from the balcony.

Orchids growing in the garden.

The kiskadee- a regular in the garden.

Hummingbird- also spotted in my garden.

So- was it all worthwhile?

Karen and I seem to think so.

So- was it all worthwhile? 5

So- was it all worthwhile? 4

Every school has a snackette- staffed by women who stay the whole day.

Although both the head and the heart knows that the country's mission- One people, one nation, one destiny- is the way forward for peace and prosperity, sometimes the heart takes over and as an outsider I was sometimes made aware of differences in race, religion, culture and political affiliations.

When you leave one place, leaving everything behind, in fact you take yourself with you.

And so, the 11 months have included learning about myself.

There have been times of aching loneliness and a sense of sorrow, akin to the sheer grief of bereavement. I have missed my children, my sister and brother, my family and close friends.

My diary records "tired" days- when the effort of combating heat and humidity, or when the pressures of travel, mosquito bites, applying diplomacy, learning to negotiate procedures have all become too much- and retiring to a hammock is the only option.

VSO volunteer Monika- enjoying hammock time.

The bus park- weave through the crowds, find your bus number:- there will be several going to your destination and each driver will try and woo you onto his bus!

Aside from the tired days, and the occasional necessary unpicking of errors, the experience has been one of sharing problems, of being creative, of taking initiative, of learning to say less and listen more.

Across my work colleagues and the VSO and other volunteers I have encountered an impressive array of skills and experiences.

Three volunteers- from the USA, Kenya and the UK work with the Guyana National SEN coordinator.

There has been a lot of fun.

So- was it all worthwhile? 3

The Persons with Disability Act 2010 gave the framework of legal rights for persons registered disabled, for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and of campaigners.In Guyana's capital, Georgetown, I perceived the growing awareness of SEN and rights for persons with disability. This public understanding diminished and so, correspondingly, did the numbers of children with SEN in schools, moving away from Georgetown, further along the coastal fringe and into the interior. In the far southern Region 9, the Rupununi, there were no children with hearing or visual impairments or mobility problems recorded attending schools. Only the "invisible" disabilities, such as learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders were present.

National Commission on Disability campaigner, Miss Tiffany- here with VSO volunteer Drew.

The energy and enthusiasm of campaigners for rights would make anyone feel optimistic for the future of SEN and persons with disabilities.

From all this I developed a respect for teachers and their fellow workers I met with in Guyana. Over riding the almost universal issue of low pay, and minimal resourcing, their dedication to their pupils is inspiring.

Beyond education, what makes Guyana tick? As with any country, there are contradictions, features to love and some to question.
The main economic earners continue to be sugar and rice cultivation, the mining and quarrying of gold, diamonds, bauxite and other minerals. The country's huge timber resources are harvested, but with government and international environmental controls.
Information sources suggest that with its porous, largely uninhabited borders, Guyana is a conduit for trafficking drugs and humans.
The service sector is the biggest employer, but as with may other economies, unemployment and under-employment plague lives.
Some 11% of children and young people live in orphanages, homeless shelters and the like.
Religious observation- Christianity, Hindu, Muslim and Baha'i are the majority faiths-is regularly practiced most people. Churches and temples are well attended and looked after. There are 15 public holidays per year, relating to religious festivals or independence celebrations.
Paradoxically, violent and abusive behaviours, roundly condemned by campaigners such as the Help and Shelter charity, abound, implicitly supported by a continued legal use of corporal punishment in schools and the home.

If ► 3:27► 3:27

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgmo-muxXq4 Follow the above link to hear the most popular song on radio stations when I arrived in Guyana. Many people have to take two jobs- this includes teachers with a family to support. CDs and DVDs are sold from street carts. There are no copyright laws in Guyana. While there, I never saw an original CD or DVD for sale.

So- was it all worthwhile? 2

For a number of understandable reasons Guyana continues to lose its citizens each year as people emigrate chiefly to the USA, Canada and the UK. An estimated 90% of graduates from the University of Guyana leave the country within 5 years of graduating.

However, within teaching, many stay, and as in the UK, become loyal to their school and the community they serve.

Miss Debra- has served at Sophia Special School for the last 17 years, as teacher and now head teacher

Miss Renate- acting head teacher at Diamond Special School- not applying for permanent post as wants to stay in the classroom. Seen here sharing a game of dominoes with 12 young pupils.

Miss Shellon runs the Low Vision unit at Wismar, Linden, and spends 2 days a week at Wismar Hill High supporting older pupils.

Specialist staff for hearing and visual impairment remain in short supply. The SEN unit does its best to encourage and develop training resources, working alongside charitable organisations such as Deaf in Guyana, the Guyana Deaf Mission and the Guyana Association for the Blind.

Support for Sign Language training- Parveen and Monty.

Roy supports the Braille teaching programme-  the Jaws software enables computer use.

The National Special Needs Coordinator, herself a registered disabled person, has an untiring commitment to the advancement of SEN provision in Guyana.

Miss Karen- taking time out in a fruit garden, while on  an educational tour of the Rupununi.

So- was it all worthwhile?

After spending 11 months away from home, as a volunteer Special Education teacher trainer and SEN adviser, taking part in a country's development programme, receiving a subsistence stipend, the question has to be asked: was it all worthwhile?

I can count 20 teachers, working in Guyana's special schools and units, now trained up as a team of classroom SEN teachers who can train other teachers in good SEN practices.

Bread making- always a winner. Trainee teacher Jamilla with students from  St Barnabas.

Sir Thakur, retired mainstream teacher, learns SEN active learning strategies- using soda bottle lids

Miss Saskia- introducing a visual timetable- with class participation through singing and actions

Having credibility was important for me. In my career, I have spent hours and days in training sessions of varying use, ranging from excellent,eminently useful, thought provoking and challenging to down right in-credible,  internally wondering when the trainer or the inspiration behind the training (be it government or education expert) was last in an ordinary classroom in front of ordinary children.
Therefore once training needs were identified, my principle training method was to turn up in the classroom, with locally prepared resources, "Do it", and afterwards analyse the planning, preparation and execution.
The secondary option was to conduct a mock lesson, with the teachers acting as pupils, with feedback and discussions.

Model lesson- at Wismar Hill Low Vision unit. A learning curve for me too.

Training teachers and rehabilitation staff to use Motor Skills for  Occupational Therapy  practice and to develop essential pre-literacy and pre- numeracy skills.

Work 2

Students on teaching practice from the Cyril Potter College of Education- observing  a lesson
Since the Persons with Disability Act 2010 was passed, all teacher training students undergo an element of training in SEN.

Team teaching- pupils with complex needs- pupils with complex needs and severe physical disability in a round Georgetown have access to education at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre. This is also a residential facility.

Meeting with parents- at a unit for visual impairment, Wismar Hill, Linden.

Training counsellors  from ChildLink.Inc, working with pupils who have experienced violence- on identifying hidden disabilities.

Training workshop for headteachers of SEN schools- at the National  Centre for Education Resource Development 

After the working day- with some teachers at Sophia Special Schools- coordination of colours a  happy coincidence!

Work

HIV and AIDS awareness training-demonstrating teaching and learning skills.

Demonstration lesson with lots of active learning

I came to Guyana in August 2011, for one year, on a placement to develop the skills and practices of teachers working in Special Educational Needs (SEN).

As one third of Guyana's population live in the capital, and 90% live along the coastal strip of reclaimed plantation lands, I have focused my attention here.
The 10 Ministry backed SEN schools are in and around Georgetown. From these schools I have worked with about 20 teachers, developing their skills and building on their commitment and enthusiasm to create a team of classroom practitioners who can train up and pass on their skills and ideas to other teachers in SEN.

Supporting a class teacher as she gives a demonstration lesson to a colleague.

Sponge fruits 2

Once all the various "fruits" and "vegetables" were completed, they were gift wrapped, with each bag containing a colourful, tempting selection.

The completed bags of sponge fruits and vegetables- thank you  for all donations.

There were enough bags to allow for some to be taken with us last week when the Special Education unit travelled to the remote southern part of Guyana, the Rupununi. (The Rupununi is famed for its biodiversity, and its scattered eco-lodges have hosted visits from David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell and the like.)
Travelling by air, in small planes with strict baggage allowances, and wanting to present some active teaching and learning methods using simple aids, the feather -weight sponge fruits, plus an adaptable story in my head, and plenty of ideas shared with my Peace Corps teacher buddy Susan, supplied the materials I needed for our teacher training sessions.

Telling a story-with actions and role play- to teachers at Moco Moco Primary and Nursery school.

The Rupununi covers an area of about 5,000 square miles of mostly untouched and largely unexplored savannah, dense jungle and mountain chains. The Bradt guide book describes the area thus: "biodiverse wetlands, rainforest covered mountains, endless fresh water river systems marked by strands of palms in the middle of grasslands, Dr Seuss-like termite mounds, sprawling Amerindian villages and cattle  ranches steeped in history." The Rupununi is home to an estimated 15,000 inhabitants living in 60 scattered villages, and another 3,000 in the main regional town of Lethem.

Visiting five nursery and primary schools and meeting with teachers from another two, plus therapists from Lethem hospital Physiotherapy department (staff of 2) meant we only reached 1/7th of the schools in the region. Nevertheless, the teachers we met were enthusiastic, eager  to  discuss and learn and clearly committed to the education of the children in  their schools. With the Kanuku mountains in the background and the breeze blowing through the benab (an Amerindian style structure with a roof and open sides),  the training session at the appealingly named Moco Moco Nursery and Primary school must rank as one of my favourite locations of all time.

Children from Arapaima Nursery waiting to be collected at the end of the morning .

Children at Moco Moco Primary line up for lunch. Older pupils, (who stay on at the primary school in the top class  rather than leave the village to board in Lethem and attend secondary school) act as supervisers.

Sponge fruits 1

During the past eleven months a number of blog readers have generously contributed to provide books and materials for children in the special education schools in Guyana.
Books have been bought at the Guyana Book Foundation, a charitable trust dedicated to the memory of a Guyanese teacher and campaigner, Olga Bone. The inscription on the wall next to the entrance reads:
"If children cannot learn the way they are taught, then we must teach them the way they can learn."
This message summarises not just good Special Educational Needs teaching but all teaching.(Mr Gove take note!)

In addition to supplying each school with much welcome pencils, crayons, practical literacy and numeracy materials I arranged for a quantity of "sponge fruits" to be made and shared out. These could then be used creatively by teachers.

The "fruits" are made by young people in a craft work shop at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre education section. Here, a dozen young people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one spend one day per week making decorative items for the various festive occasions in the year, supported by two teachers and parent volunteers. The workshop funds itself through selling all items made.

The template for star fruit or carambola-known here as five-finger- is drawn onto the sponge.

Sheets of foam sponge are sprayed bright colours-and happily, this can be done outside the open walled classroom in the yard.
When they are dried, stencils are used to cut out the basic fruit shapes.
The young people take part in each stage, according to their abilities, while the local radio station maintains a cheery background noise.

The five- finger fruit is pulled into shape before glue is applied. 

The cut out sponge is then shaped, and held into position using a combination of glue, (using a small glue gun) and stitching.
Final details are added with indelible marker pens.

A slice of water melon awaits the felt pen marks to denote the seeds.

Having travelled away from Georgetown and into the interior of Guyana, I know that such craft activities can only happen here in the capital where (expensive) imported materials- foam sponge, cans of spray paint, craft glue guns, heavy duty scissors, marker pens- are available.

The guided tour of Georgetown, Guyana's capital- 4

Two major political figures summarise both Guyana's move from colonial dependence to independence and the political divide, based on race, which arose and persists to this day.

Cheddi Jagan, with his wife Janet (US born) teamed with Linden Forbes Burnham to form the Peoples' Progressive Party in 1950. The  pre and post war period saw similar movements towards independence and embracing versions of socialism and communism as alternatives to a colonial and capitalist dominated rule across the Caribbean, Africa and India as the former British Empire finally gave way.
The PPP the underwent splits, with Forbes Burnham setting up what would eventually become the Afro-Guyanese based Peoples National Congress (PNC) , in opposition to the PPP, now identified as Indo-Guyanese.

With evidence of international interference, (based on accusations of communist plottings) Jagan's earlier electoral success in the fledgeling democracy of the fifties finally faltered after the world's longest General Strike- lasting 80 days in 1963-broke his authority. A year later Burnham made an alliance with a minority party and became Premier of British Guiana, later becoming the first President of the Cooperative Republic.

For 21 years, until Forbes Burnham's death in 1985, his controversial PNC rule lead Guyana through optimistic times through to economic disaster. Since, the PPP has held political power, with Jagan elected as President in 1992, holding the post until he died, when his wife Janet was eventually appointed, then Bharrat Jagdeo taking office in 1999.

Today, Jagan is publicly celebrated. The country's main airport is named after him. His Book "The West on Trial" exposes how the strivings for democratic self rule were undermined.

The Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (The Red House)- Georgetown

Forbes Burnham's death (1985) saw an ending of a period of increasingly autocratic rule and diminishing of democratic rights. Only in 1992 were verified free and fair elections held once again. Probably as a consequence, although there is a public memorial to Burnham in the Botanical Gardens, evidence of the tremendous optimism which independence under his rule brought, is harder to find.  A lasting legacy is the Caricom trade movement.

(Above) The International Secretariat of the Caricom movement- an economic partnership of the Caribbean countries- founded by Forbes Burnham, boasts one of the biggest most sophisticated buildings in the whole of Guyana.

(More frivolously, last week the dance class I go to had invitations to a social evening, at the Apex Ballroom Club, Festival City, South Ruimveldt. The venue was a Lions club in an urban district of Georgetown. "Festival City" was built through "self help" to house the contingents from the 30 participating countries who came to the first Carifest- to celebrate Caricom through the Arts- in 1972. After the Carifest, local volunteers were able to purchase the houses through easy-to- repay schemes.)

And finally, a third political figure:- well known to students of African studies and left politics:- Dr Walter Rodney, whose PhD thesis, "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" became essential reading. As the title says, Rodney garnered evidence to demonstrate how the colonial powers, rather than offering a two way give and take, in fact deliberately exploited areas of the continent. With the later demise of so- called Marxist regimes in Africa, eg Zimbabwe, Rodney's work is now viewed more critically, but remains an important work, given the continued poverty of many African states and the shift in world super-powers.
After studying at the London School of Economics, Walter Rodney returned to his country to devote himself to local politics, co- founding the left wing Working People's Alliance (WPA) and openly criticising the increasingly powerful Forbes Burnham. He was killed by a bomb in 1980, the third  leading member of the WPA to die in mysterious circumstances. Poets Martin Carter and Linton Kwesi Johnson wrote commemorative verses after his death.

The Walter Rodney Memorial, Hadfield Street.

The flag and national coat of arms of this "young" country are seen everywhere- in taxis, on buses, in all public buildings. They embody the aspirations of the optimistic and proud side of Guyanese life.