I am now into my third week of work as an M&E disability advisor for NGO’s in Guyana. So what am I actually doing each day in my lovely air conditioned office….oh did I mention it’s air conditioned??? Ahhhh…it’s so nice at my desk…in fact it’s almost chilly. I have never appreciated the fabulous technology that is air conditioning before. Here in Guyana it is an opulent luxury and something to look forward to on my commute to work. The said commute is either a half hour walk (I no longer ride my bike in traffic after a near death encounter with a horse) or a ten minute bus ride. Most days I walk unless it is already 40 degrees out at 8am in which case I’ll decrease the amount of time I sweat in my clothes by 20 minutes and take the bus. The mini busses (which are all 15 seater Toyota vans) are jammed with people of all kinds off to work and school children in their prim uniforms and elaborate zigzagged, corn rowed, be-ribboned hairstyles that both delight me and make me wonder what bloody time they get up in the morning to get their hair done! I now have a firm grasp of bus riding protocol from flagging one down, to where you sit, how you have to repeatedly get out to let out other passengers from the back and then move back yourself, when you flip down the extra seats, when its ok to allow them to squish in another passenger on your lap, and most important, how to get them to stop for you when you want to get off. Bus fare is $60 GD (or about .30 cents Canadian), and there are no transfers, so if you take the wrong bus, you need to pay again, if you need another bus, you need to pay again, you get the idea. The buses all blare music, honk wildly, have 20 – 30 air fresheners and other unsightly accoutrement hanging inside, drive very fast, like to remain as full of passengers as they possibly can and are highly competitive with each other for your business. Each operates with one driver and then an accomplice conductor/salesmen/doorman who yells to potential passengers on the street and gestures wildly with one cash laden arm to see if you will take his bus. Sometimes more than one bus will stop for you at a time (awkward!) and there are no actual bus stops per se, this is both great and highly inefficient. Walking in to work is much more peaceful and pleasant. I will often see the herd of 200 or so goats that graze by the canal, multiple parrots, horses and herons, and fish jumping in the murky waters amongst the rest of the Georgetown street chaos. I pass many regular locals who all wave, smile, talk and yell at me. Each day I can count on the homeless man who lives under the bridge to wave, the elderly security guard to ask me if the sun is hot enough for me today, (uh…yes, same answer as yesterday) the Rastafarian who invites me to eat at his restaurant for lunch (sometimes I even do to his great delight), and the juice lady who says without fail in Mary Knight style “Gad marning, you look lovely today miss”) Almost everyone else who passes you on the street will offer you a frank “gad marning”, never an informal hello or god forbid a Canadian style “hi”, I have learned to reciprocate this greeting. Then of course there is the incessant cat calls by it seems almost every man I pass…”hey barbie, blondie, baby, whitey, american gayl, white meat…etc.etc…I don’t even hear this anymore and just keep walking. I also will usually get 20 or so offers of a taxi ride and 10 buses or so will stop for me as they can’t really believe you are choosing to walk. I can buy egg balls, (a deep fried chickpea coated boiled egg – kind of good actually) juice in a plastic bag, freshly machete coconuts, flouries (deep fried balls with mysterious spicy filling – also actually good), bananas, pineapples or coconut jam sweet rolls if I’m hungry…but sadly no coffee…sigh.
So once at work what do I actually do? Well there is first the security to pass (natch) as we are behind a double locked gate and then another locked door that has not one but a two buzzer entry system. Hours of work are officially 8:00am – 4:30pm. I made the mistake of getting to work promptly at 8:00am the first few days only to discover that the first half hour involves sitting around in the blazing sun waiting for the one and only staff person with the key to arrive. The staff here all joke around in the morning very loudly and with great humour and when the talk gets that fast and loud I can’t understand a word they say and can truly see how Creole is indeed another language. My co-workers are beginning to open up to the strange white women in their midst who is doing some mysterious work for them they don’t seem to understand and I appreciate their efforts greatly. They now tentatively ask me about my weekend, my life here, my family and tell me of theirs, I was even invited to a cricket match and to “lime” on the seawall last week…this marks social progress folks! The agency I am working for has a policy to hire people with disabilities, so four of my colleagues have a disability and I appreciate their walk the walk policy and the efforts they make for the cause they believe in. Work wise the pace is muuuuch slower than I’m used to and this has been a huge adjustment. I have managed to complete a comprehensive work plan, done surveys, drafted reports, plans and forms, attended meetings, visited three of the national centre’s throughout the country (can you say road trip!) and am now heading up a project with the University of Guyana to work with five computer science students to create a data base (yikes). Overall it has been very interesting and a lot of changed work culture to adapt to. As mentioned the pace is slower so it takes time here to make decisions, to get back to you, to reply to emails, to think about things. I’m also unsure exactly of what if any authority I actually have as a VSO advisor, and if my work will make the impact I hope it can, but I will persevere. There is also the strict hierarchy and the dress code to contend with. The boss’s door stays closed, you always knock and he is always called Mr. The dress code is as follows; shoes should be flat and toes covered, (but you can wear sandals as long as they are leather), skirts and dresses must be below the knee, shoulders are always covered and hair is tied back or up. And like most other employees in the city I must also wear or carry my identification badge. Needless to say there are no mini skirts, fabulous tights, dangling jewelry, long hair and sexy boots allowed at work……or Starbucks. But I’m delighted to be conservative in dress, a racial minority, an apparent social enigma and to try and converse and work with these wonderful people I find myself spending my days with....in my air conditioned office…ahhhh.
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