I return unscathed...

Hi to all...

Well, that was tiring but fun. I left on Tuesday and returned yesterday (Tuesday), giving me a whole week in Essequibo.

I don't know if anyone remembers the 2005 yearbook, but it was focused on Guyana and a lot of the experiences were from the charity and Essequibo regions. It was like walking through the yearbook! We met people and visited some of the places that are discussed. It was great to be in such a different place and surrounded by faithful older ones.

Essequibo is beautiful - more lush, more green and more clean than here in Skeldon. They are purely agricultural, with rice farms everywhere, but it is less clustered than here and everyone takes more care of their homes. Being right on the doorstep of the rivers into the interior was cool, tho we didn't get to travel down them sadly, as our week was packed out.

We accompanied the two local sisters, one local brother and two new need greaters around the sign language territory. It was very interesting to see how the deaf differ from ours, or in actuality, how similar they were. It adds much credence to the claim that they deaf in Guyana have their own local language and do not need to be taught asl.

We had the privilege of coordinating and interpreting for the deaf at the assembly. It was certainly a challenge, with the deaf there being even less familiar with asl than ours. I think people thought we were mad with all The faces and animations we were doing!

I won't go on - I have pictures but I need to get them from my camera to my iPad. I will post another with visual aids for the more multi sensory among you.

Miss you all

Adventure awaits...

Hi all

I hope all is well and the wet weather isn't dampening (lol) your summer spirits. We are in the middle of our rainy season, so I am feeling your pain. Thankfully, I have finished my hours for the year (!!!) so I am just venturing out when I have to.

Speaking of venturing out, I am off on an adventure next week! I am going to a place called Charity - cue visual aids:






According to our friends at Wikipedia: "Charity is located on the Pomeroon River which provides a gateway to this part of Guyana's interior and Venezuela. Many Guyanese use this waterway to travel back and forth between Guyana and Venezuela where they work. It is a central focus for the farmers who live in this area. They bring their products to this location and from here it is transshipped to other townships such as Anna Regina and Parika, and to the capital city of Georgetown."

Blah blah...

We had our circuit visit the other week and received the visit from a missionary brother, and his wife, based in charity, as our CO was in the interior. It seems that despite Charity being a remote area, they have a blossoming sign language field - tres bizarre. Apparently, someone visited and started some deaf interest and then left (!), but the deaf keep coming. Their Sunday meeting sees about six regular deaf coming and they have no one that can interpret properly. Well, that's not true - two asl sisters have just arrived the, so they have support now.

The brother was telling me all about it and then asked if I would be willing to come up and interpret at their special assembly next weekend. He also asked if I would be willing to spend some time with their sisters and give some advice/training on catering to the very specific needs of the deaf out here (no education, no formal sign language).

So, I am off! Thankfully, I have managed to convince another sign language brother from a nearby cong and a sister to come too, as the trip is ten hours or something silly and on the river. It is quite an expensive trip too, but i am sure it will be worth it. We are going to be gone for a whole week, and are hopefully going to be able to get some river witnessing in too! (this is a dry-run for Jo coming to see if it is worth the effort, but don't tell her!)

We will be taking lots of pictures and you will be receiving them upon my return post-25th June.

Ta ta for now, smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

I want to see the Avengers!

I miss the cinema! I miss days off with Tiffany in Streatham, going to the charity shops and sitting with our mini bottles of wine and sushi watching our third or fourth film of the day. I miss Jup for Marvel and Chumpy for everything else, Humps too.

I want to watch the Avengers and so many of the blockbusters coming out. Woe is me. If anyone finds a torrent that is good, or has a good movie, dropbox it for me will ya?