Project Map

UPDATE:

Below is a map made by another volunteer, Mark, showing the location of all the projects in Guyana and which volunteers are working there.
You can also find this on the Guyana page.

Thanks, Mark!

Training

On the 2nd July I arrived on Coll to complete a week of training. At the time I didn't really know what to expect, having only my experiences of Selection in October 2011 to go by, but I can safely say it fulfilled my one expectation - that I would leave Coll trained.

Although the course only lasts 5 days, I felt as though I had been away from home much longer than that - partly because I had, and partly because each day was packed with so much it felt more like 3 days.

One of our stops in scenic Scotland.
Mark, Gemma and myself

I started my journey on Saturday, when I travelled up to Coventry to stay overnight with another Guyana volunteer, Mark, who was driving up to Oban the next day. For any future volunteers: driving up is much cheaper than flying or taking the train as long as you have people to split the cost with. We picked up Gemma who lives near Birmingham after 2 hours of driving, and after a rest-stop and chat with her parents we set off for another 6 hours of driving! Although, we stopped at service stations every 2 hours (organised-Mark had planned these in in advance), and with the good company and many breaks the 8 hour journey really didn't seem too long at all.

Before we knew it we had arrived in Oban where we checked into the Backpackers hostel, had dinner, showered and got socialising with the other volunteers. We all decided to have a drink at the suitably dingy Irish pub across the street which soon filled up due to some important sporting event showing on the TV there - Spain v Italy Euro Final I think. We ignored it as you can probably tell, instead being very excited to finally meet the like minded people who would accompany us to Guyana, especially our partners! I met my partner, Rosie, at the pub when she arrived from the train which had taken her all the way from Bristol. I think we got on really well - in some ways we are very similar but in others very different which I think is a winning combination, so I think we are going to have a great year together. We got chatting about what we wanted to teach; she really likes Maths and doesn't do Science at A level. I on the other hand would absolutely hate to have to teach Maths and love Science, so we pretty much divided up our curriculum within the first 20 mins of meeting each other! A good match it seems, Project Trust. After a while we left the pub which had become very noisy, and they had started to ask for ID (at the time Roise was still 17) so we wandered back to Backpackers to continue our chat and met two other volunteers, Hayley and Tara (also partners) who, unbeknownst to us at the time, we would be sharing a room with all week and would make good friends with.

The driving crew at the dingy Irish pub
 (+ Scooby, Mark's mascot )

L - R: Gemma, Natalie, Tara, Charlotte and me.
All Guyana volunteers at the pub.

The next day we were up early in order to catch the ferry to Coll at 8 am. We arrived at around 11am and begun the course. I won't go through every session because it would take far too long, but we were basically given sessions on both general and specific aspects of teaching, staying safe, and culture. There were a combination of lectures, discussions and activities which made for a very interesting and busy week. A highlight of the course for me was the teaching practice we had to carry out. After being given sessions on class control, lesson planning etc. we had to give a 10 minute lesson and a 20 minute lesson to a small group and an assessor. This was similar to Selection where we had to give a 10 minute lesson, however the stark difference was that on Selection I was worried I would run out of things to say, and on Training I wished that I had an hour because 10 minutes just wasn't enough to get in all the activities I had planned! The 20 minute lesson was a little easier, but I still would have been more comfortable with more time. I found that although I was a little nervous before my turn, I quickly began to enjoy my lesson as my "students" were having lots of fun with the activities I had planned.

A group of us enjoying the wonderful but rare Scottish weather

Although we didn't get a lot of free time, due to having so many sessions, when we did have free time we sometimes went to the beach which was absolutely beautiful. We could stay to watch the seals play and the sun set. Although the water was freezing I rolled up my jeans and waded in. It was quite a strange experience; the sun was very hot on my skin, and yet my submerged legs were going numb with the cold water, and the air smelt heavily of sulphur due to the rocks.

On the last night Project Trust held a special dinner and a Ceilidh which was the highlight of the week. There was a bit of waiting prior to dinner whilst we drank rum punch and a few of the staff members read inspirational poems and said a few inspirational and well wishing words. We really should have soaked up the punch with a delicious meal then, but we waited a little longer whilst we all stood in front of a camera live to the House of Commons. Project Trust were having a fundraising event there and wanted to connect to Project Trust volunteers all over the world in their projects, and connect with the new volunteers at the Coll headquarters. We all showed our excitement and appreciation, after which one volunteer played the bagpipes beautifully. Finally, it was time for dinner which, in the style that we had become used to all week, was enormous and wonderfully tasty.

Our whole country group including our desk officer,
Chris, who is in the middle in the blue shirt and black trousers.

After words of thanks and grace from the elected volunteers we headed to the bar and the Ceilidh commenced shortly after. The Ceilidh is always lots of fun, especially when people are a bit tipsy (more than a bit in some cases!) so it was a very enjoyable but hot, tiring and sweaty night. Dancing a Ceilidh is very good exercise. Once the traditional band had packed up Chris (our desk officer) cracked out his Guyanese music and lots of the Guyanese volunteers including myself danced the night away in - kind of- the traditional Guyanese style.

L -R: Rachel, Lauren, Gemma and me.
Ceilidh night.

The theme of the evening (and indeed the next week - it's really catchy!) was the song 'I am a Guyanese' by the popular artist Adrian Dutchin. If you would like to have it stuck in your head too, please see the video!

It's not long now before I leave for Guyana, I have my plane ticket! I'm leaving on the 25th August 2012 at 11.20am from Gatwick and making a short stop in Bridgetown, Barbados before getting the connecting flight to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. I'll stay in the Project Trust flat for about a week with the other 22 volunteers whilst my internal flights are organised and more paperwork is sorted out, and then I begin my teaching term on Monday 3rd September.

Thanks for reading!
Charlie

Paramakatoi

Just a short post to say I have received my placement letter! This is a letter telling me about where exactly I will be staying in Guyana, what my accommodation will be like and what life is like there. It's very real now, and very exciting!

If you want to read about it, click the tab saying 'My Project: Paramakatoi' or follow the link.

Check out the page on Guyana, too!

I've just got to keep studying for exams and chugging on with my fundraising. I have coming up for £3000 now which is great, but I have over £2000 more to raise before the end of July. To add to the funds i'm having a raffle, tickets £1 each, top prize £100 plus other great prizes, let me know if you want to buy any - it would really help!

I'm also planning a gig on the back-burner, so if you know any artists who would like to perform please let me know.

Charlie

Fundraising endeavours

I realise it's been quite a while since I last posted, and I thought that I would tell you about some of my fundraising endeavours, so here I go.

The reason I haven't posted, excluding all other aspects of my life, is a Karate Marathon. It's taken a little longer to organise than I had hoped, but finally it's coming to a fruitful end. Essentially, the idea was to use the SKA (Shotokan Karate Association) and the affiliated clubs to run an association wide Karate Marathon. The students would all try to raise a target of £20 which they would hand in a week before the event. The marathon would take place in their normal karate lesson, and would consist of 1000 techniques in 1 hour (so it's really more of a karate sprint).

Around Christmas time I visited many clubs (most of which are in London) and gave a talk to the students and instructors about Project Trust and the work I was going to be doing, and of course the marathon. I gave out hundreds of sponsorship forms and set the ball rolling, so to speak.

One student from Grundy Park who raised £80!
She definitely deserved a medal...

Most of the clubs have completed their marathon now, so i'm just waiting for  money to trickle in. I've been going on a tour of karate clubs, giving out prizes to the students that have raised the most, and those that have put in a lot of effort. To be honest, the prizes are pretty cool. For first prize, we have a choice of punching bags, breaking boards and mitts or a new karate suit to choose from, along with a medal saying "SKA Karate Marathon 2012" and the other prizes are medals and chocolate (I wish I could win one!)

We've had great fun with the Karate Marathon - I hope I have as much at my next event! (Possibly bingo...)

Students from Grundy Park after the prize giving

Members of Cambridge Karate Club completing their marathon

If you'd like more information on the Shotokan Karate Association the affiliated club in Cambridge, please see:

http://karate-masters.co.uk/ (please try not to go via google search on this one -  it charges us when you click on it)

http://www.cambridgekarateclub.org/

Thanks for reading!

Stepping Stones

End of selection on the beautiful Isle of Coll with good friends

I was surprisingly calm when I opened the letter. It didn't pretend to be anything it wasn't - brown envelope, standard weight paper, no gold glitter or embellished corners (not that I was really expecting that). It's just that when I think about it, that letter has probably changed my life in ways I cant even imagine yet, and yet it was so normal.

Still, the unassuming letter remains unassuming - it's not an achievement. Getting into university will be an achievement. Raising £5,100 will be an achievement. Living in Guyana and making a difference to the lives of the people there will be an achievement. Today was just the first of many stepping stones that I will be hopping along in the next two years. Having said that, I think it was a pretty good start :D

So as you may have guessed, i'm moving to Guyana. After attending a selection course in October 2011 Project Trust accepted me on a gap year (hence the dramatic letter paragraph), leaving me with the task of raising quite a bit of money. I'll be spending a year in Guyana teaching Science (and hopefully not Maths!) to secondary school children up to around GCSE level. I'll be employed by the government and get paid a small monthly salary to cover my living costs whilst working in a rural school. The schools are mostly attended by the children of Amerindian subsistence farmers, and so I've heard, with class sizes of up to 60. I expect the work will be pretty tough, but hopefully very rewarding too.

In the school holidays I hope to get involved in the local village community or go off exploring Guyana and its surrounding countries with my project partner, and hopefully pick up a new language whilst i'm at it!

I'm really looking forward to going away, and also fundraising. I've got some exciting things planned so keep your eye on the Saffron Walden papers, and watch this space!

Windy hill walk on Coll!

Charlie