Travel Diary - Day Twenty Eight

Day Twenty Eight – Changeover
Saturday 26 Sep 09

Up bright and early, ready to seize the day with both hands and squeeze the living daylights out of it. Finished my packing and had a shower, organised the last of my bits and pieces and went out for breakfast. I had worked my way through a couple of thin novels over the last three weeks so I left them for the family to either read or pass on. Given the dearth of bookshops here I figure there should be a ready market for them in one way or another. Once everyone was sorted out and the taxi was on its way I gave Aunt Patsy a hug and thanked her for all the food she had prepared and for doing my washing. I have felt incredibly well looked after here. I expected to have to do my own washing but it kept disappearing and reappearing clean without me doing anything at all. She even made my bed when I didn’t get to it quickly enough. I soon found out that if the sheets were supposed to be washed and I didn’t make the bed before lunch then I would come back from wherever I had been to find the job done. She has been wonderful.
Felissa and Keith walked me down to the taxi. I gave Felissa a hug once I had put my bags in the taxi. She has been amazing company over the two weeks and I will miss her backchat and willingness to challenge ideas if she doesn’t agree with something. Keith was coming with me to make sure I was properly signed for when I arrived at Quaminah House, my transit destination. I have to confess that I left this placement with a real sense of sadness. Sadness for the relationships I have left behind, and for the incredible sense of God at work amongst his people that the Sophia Church exudes from every pore. I know that my next placement will be great too, but it doesn’t make it any easier to move on.

We got to Quaminah House without complication and I gave Keith a hug and thanked him for all his time and insights and also for being so open to me sharing with his church what was on my heart. He is an amazing man and I think his ministry is a shining light to the rest of Guyana and an example that the church would be wise to follow.

It was great to sit down and talk with the rest of the New FACE participants. We had formed a bond over our first week in Guyana and it was readily apparent that two weeks of separation had done nothing to weaken that bond. We bounced from one conversation to another, finding out what each other had been up to and sharing little stories that were funny or sad or anything else in between. Then after a while, one by one, everyone began to filter out as our hosts for the next part of the programme turned up to take us away. In the end David Walton (Scotland) and I were the only ones left, sitting forlornly in one corner of the hall. Actually it wasn’t that bad, we have connected well and so we had a good conversation as we waited.

Eventually an older guy arrived and proceeded to have a great argument with one of the ladies who had been there for a while over who would get to take me to my next placement. It was quite funny, but in the end I got up and left because they were really going at it for a while there. In the end Harry Hutson, my next host won the battle and we were off out the door to the taxi. We made a couple of stops along the way to Zoar, Plaisance the village in which my next placement is to be held. The first stop had nothing to do with me, and the second was to pick up about 30 bottles of water and juice to keep me going for the first few days.

The home we arrived at is about the same size as the Hayne’s home, in slightly better condition and with a lovely garden. Harry and Patsy (go figure that there would be a Patsy in both homes) are a lovely couple with children around my age. They have a great sense of humour and I had only been in the house a few minutes before we were all winding each other up and having a great laugh. Now that’s always a relief. I got some of my stuff sorted out and then lunch was served. I have really enjoyed everything I have been fed in Guyana, with the exception of the salted fish at the Regency Suites, and this was no exception. The one thing I have found is that my appetite has steadily decreased as I have become acclimatised to the weather. Not sure about that, but it’s certainly not doing me any harm .

After lunch we sat and talked for a while before I went into my room and finished sorting out what was going where. I then lay down for a while – a good thing to do in the real heat of the day – and quickly dropped off for 30min. On waking I changed, came out and after half a dozen false starts we headed off to the church to attend a wedding. It was interesting enough. There were 20 people in the wedding party, not counting Dad dressed in a white suit. The six bridesmaids were in a pale green with different styles to suit the different girls, same went for the maid of honour. The men were all in black suits (it was easily equal with the hottest day since I’ve been here), the flower girls were all in mini wedding dresses as best as I could tell, and the blushing bride (she should be, she was at least 7 months pregnant) was in white as well. The service wasn’t too long, the vows were pretty standard, about the only thing that was really different was the great wad of legal requirements that the minister had to work everyone through. They still do ‘bans’ here in Guyana, where for 3 weeks prior to the wedding the minister asks if anyone knows why the couple shouldn’t be married. Given the prevalence of ‘Visa weddings’ and the like it’s probably one practice that should be given the hoof. A ‘Visa wedding’ is one where a couple get married for the purpose of one of the couple gaining a visa to another country, in Guyana that usually means the US.

After the wedding I was invited to the youth group that was meeting in the hall next door. They had a pretty relaxed meeting and followed it up with a small meal at which my plate was piled high with food and I seemed to be expected to eat a significant amount of what was on the table all by myself. At the same time the leader, Dwayne, plied me with questions about NZ and about my ministry, all the time trying, with little success to get the young people to ask questions as well. It was going really well until the last question which was, ‘By the way, we’re having a youth service tomorrow morning and we wondered if you would preach.’ Nothing like a bit of warning. ‘No problem,’ I replied, ‘Can I give you the Scripture readings tomorrow?’

It’s all good. After that we headed off home – about 400m straight down the road from the church. Pleasant enough but for the heat which, when dressed up with a tie had become rather tiresome. Alright, I admit it, the tie came off as soon as I headed off to the youth event, but the dress clothes are still not recommended on a day as hot as this one. Truth is you get used to being wet most of the time, but it’s not the best look in the world . Didn’t really stop when we got back – into the bathroom for a quick wash before hitting the sack as fast as I could go. Unfortunately the music right outside my window was quite ridiculously loud and it went for a large portion of the night. Not conducive to sleeping well even if you aren’t bathed in sweat the whole time. I’m really liking the idea of sleeping in a hammock at the moment!!!