Rain, rain, rain

This is one of our containers that we tried to unload. It rained 8" that day. That's over half of what we get in Idaho all year. The rain water is warm enough to take a shower in.

People waiting

Sister Whitehead is waiting with several people for some of the items unloaded for them. These are very poor people and were very happy to get something. I was hugged and kissed by several of these people because they needed the items so much.

Handing over ceremony

This is a picture of us talking to the TV camera and handing over part of a container to the poor people.

Me on TV!!!

Whenever we do a project or have a container come into Guyana, we have an official ceremony with the big wigs. This is a picture of me and the former 1st lady of Guyana. I signed over the container to her and she then distributed the items to the poor. We were on TV twice and in the newspaper once because of this lady. She still has a lot of influence here. The media coverage is good because the church gets a lot of recognition from these ceremonies.

Sugar anyone?

This is a large field of sugar cane. Guyana has thousands of acres of this stuff. The sugar is very coarse compared to US sugar and is hard to get used to when baking. Kids like to eat the younger sugar cane. It doesn't have much taste.

Hard work

99% of all construction sites mix their own concrete by mixing it on the ground in little piles of sand, gravel and cement powder. These men are mixing concrete and pouring it in footings. They do have concrete trucks and pumper trucks but are sooo expensive to use so they do everything the hard way.

Will it tip over?

Every new big house is made of concrete. They pour 12" square columns then build concrete floors on the columns. This house looks like it is going to tip over before they finish it. It has been sitting there like this for years. People sometimes start a house then wait for years to finish it when the money comes

Beautiful homes in Guyana

Not every home in Guyana is like the last picture. We have a lot of very rich people here also but we never see them. Homes like this one always have guards posted every night. We have a guard just 10' from our stairs. He guards the neighbors house. They stay in a little 4'x4' security shed from 6 to 6.

Absolute poverty

This is a picture of a trash heap and a dozen or so houses made of scrap pieces of wood and whatever they can find. This is just a few hundred yards from downtown.

One horse power delivery truck

This is another picture of a delivery cart. There are thousands of these hourse carts in Guyana. They really work hard for their masters. Most don't look very healthy.

Stock Building Supply

This is a very typical lumber yard. They have fresh green cut lumber delivered on a big truck and dump it on the ground in front. These men are stacking it in the bins for future use. They have beautiful wood here that has very little knots in it. It is very dense and heavy. They even use it for telephone poles and furniture.

Busy nurses

This is inside the nursing school. Look at all the young women wanting to be nurses. They all white uniforms and look very official. They go there all day long and have no library, computers, A/C or bathroom facilities. They willl probably make about $15 a day when they graduate.

Guyana nursing school

This is a nursing school way back in the country. We are trying to help these people because they don't have computers, good sources of information and good teachers. Notice that they have a patient waiting in the driveway.

Ymm! shrimp

This is Sister Benny cleaning shrimp for Sister Larsen. Sister Benny's husband fishes when he isn't cutting sugar cane. She is the Primary president in a far away little town. Her daughter is married and lives in Banida, Idaho-just a few minutes from Clifton.

Back roads

This is a picture of a neighborhood where the very poor live. No running water, paved roads, inside plumbing or driveways. When it rains, it is very, very muddy for the folks.

Lumber delivery

This is how they deliver 90% of building materials in Guyana. They run the poor horses all day long and usually run them on hard asphalt roads which makes them very lame.

Guyana is also very beautiful

We were driving through the countryside to visit a project and found this beautiful scene along he highway. The big palm trees are very beautiful aren't they.

School days

This is a typical school throughout Guyana. It's two stories, no A/C, toilets are outside, no drinking water or cafeteria. There are usually no dividers between the classrooms and it is very noisy. The kids usually only go for 5 hours.

Home made broom

Almost everyone in Guyana makes their own brooms from coconut branches. They peel off these stiff pieces and bind them together to make a broom. They work very well.

Our home in Guyana

This is us standing next to our trusty Toyota and house. We live upstairs. we have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, hot water (no other missionaries have hot water) and A.C. We are spoiled with our apartment. We took over the apartment that several other couples used over the years. It's quite comfortable except for the security. We have to lock the gate in front, lock our cars up, lock two different locks on the front door and then de-activate the alarm system when we use it.

Outdoor market

This is an outdoor market a few miles from our home. It has hundreds of vendors and has lots of different things to buy. These poor people sell anything to make a living. We buy fruit and vegetables there.

Koker dam

Guyana is about 8 ft. below sea level-like Holland. They have a 265 mile long sea wall made of concrete that holds the ocean from flooding the country. When there is low tide, they open this koker dam and let the water from inside the country to escape to the ocean. They have several hundred of these koker dams. Sometimes they pump water over the edge of the seawall into the ocean. The water here is very, very dirty! Yuck!!!

Happy kids

This is a picture of us outside of the school with lots of happy kids. They don't have a thing but smile all the time. Maybe we could learn something from them.

A school in Guyana

This is a school with over 500 students. It is an old church and inside they don't have dividers for the different classes. It is very hard for the kids to hear because of the rain on the roof and no accoustics. This school is for the very, very poor people. They don't have a thing.

Butcher shop

This is a picture of a roadside butcher shop. Notice the knives and what they are selling. At least we didn't see any flies. They would cut the meat up with an axe.