Uniformed and united

There was much hysteria last night when Deborah and Bec both thought that there was a snake in the downstairs bedroom. After a little bit of laughter and a lot of screaming we decided that the best course of action was to get the guy from the next door apartment to come and help remove the snake- we thought he would have the appropriate skills. Equipped with several torches, a walking stick, bug spray and a lot of courage, Bec and the very kind man ventured down the stairs to deal with the situation. The rest of us sat upstairs with our legs tucked up on our chairs because we were feeling a little bit apprehensive. After a short while we heard hysterical laughter coming from below. We were not sure whether this was a good or a bad sign. All was finally made clear when Bec cam back up and explained that the "snake" was actually a bit of rope that was just casually chilling on the floor. This made for one very relived GOLD team! After all of that drama we made some popcorn and settled down to watch our film. It was really good and very "feel good"- just what we needed :D.

Last night it rained a lot (story of the trip, I know) and so we were flooded again. Amelia and Bec dealt with the rising water levels very well and removed all of the important food items from the fridge so we would not have to wade to get them any time today. Because of the rain, we decided to get taxis to CHQ this morning. it was a good call because there was an awful lot of water on the roads. Once at CHQ we quickly changed into our smart linen trousers as today we were evaluating our trainings so far with the Guides. 

We started the session with some of the favourite games we have played over the last week and half. These included "cat and mouse" (both versions), "under and over", "don't sit next to Fred" and "Ninja". The girls had a lot of fun, although we were all feeling the heat after a good half an hour of physical activity. 

Next we split the group in half and were expertly instructed how to make origami boats and cranes by Clare and Jess. The Guides did really well and their focus was incredible. They wrote their favourite memories from the past week and a half on the origami pieces and decorated them with lots of colourful felt tip pens. It was a really nice reflective activity, both for us and for them. 

After a few more games and songs we rounded up the evaluation by splitting the girls into small focus groups with a leader in each. Each leader had a title- "songs and games", "advocacy training", "environment training" and "programme training"- and we asked the girls very specific questions about what they had enjoyed and what could have been improved about each set of trainings. The responses were very positive and we are going to sit and write them all up this evening so all the comments are fresh in our minds.

We finished by taking lots of photographs and singing taps. The girls had drawn some pictures for us all, which had really lovely messages of thanks on them. They made us all feel very happy and it feels like we have really made a difference in our time here :D.

We walked home so that we could change out of our formal uniform before Erin coming to pick us up and take us to where Berle, the Chief Commissioner, works. Here we discussed and planned camp with some of the members of the Guyanese GOLD team. We have come up with a theme and allocated responsibilities to all of the leaders attending the camp. It is going to be great and we are looking forward to it. 

Now we are sitting in the garden playing Monopoly Deal. Deborah, Bec, Amelia and Clare are shortly going to go and pay for their onwards travel and Miriam and Jess will probably get started on tea (stir fry I think). 

It is Emancipation Day tomorrow so we have a day off from training. However, we have lots of washing to do, and a little bit of planning to do in the morning before we can go off to the National Park to join in with the celebrations.

LOGL

Team Guyana

xxxxxx