Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

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.