GOLD Guyana 2013: The rain came down and the floods came up

After having to deal with a lot of cockroaches before bed yesterday we were all feeling very tired (too much energy was put into removing the cockroaches). It was a disturbed night's sleep because it rained a lot last night in Georgetown. Bec and Clare slept downstairs and their bed this morning was a little bit like a ship on the ocean. However the situation was much improved by vast quantities of eggy bread for breakfast.

We had a damp walk to headquarters because we were not always able to dodge the puddles. On arrival we discovered that the the gates to CHQ were locked so we waited outside. Thankfully Ochelle (one of the Girlguiding Office Staff) arrived after 10 minutes and we were able to get in!

This morning the young leaders we had trained earlier in the week were responsible for the session with the Guides. They had planned yesterday with a little bit of help from us. Their theme was friendship, so we played lots of Guyanese games, some of which we will definitely all use in our meetings back in the UK. We could not believe how competitive all of the girls were with some of the games, but we cannot fault their enthusiasm! The Guides also made photo frames with some lovely ribbon and photos they had bought in from home.

After a quick picnic lunch we got cracking on this afternoon's climate change themed session. More girls turned up than yesterday, which is extremely positive, and they all started to talk to each other and ourselves more.

They love singing action songs and so this is how we began. "Bananas" and "Get Loose, Get Funky" are now firm favourites :D We did a variety of activities including craft, interactive information sharing and all inclusive games. The key messages that the girls took home with them today are how to reduce carbon emissions, how climate change may affect their everyday lives and the importance of caring for each other and the environment. The dramatic highlight of the afternoon session was watching the girls perform, in groups, a weather forecast using props and the Georgetown map that we have had on the wall all week.