Another week................

Oh dear, how time flies and here it is the weekend again. The photo of the Coastal Hotel situated along the seawall about half an hour out of town near Mahica. Several of us and many of the Rehabilitation Assistants Physiotherapists and Managers attended the day long Review of the Disability Programme Area Plan (PAP). It was a great day as VSO and the Disability Dept of the Ministry reviewed their agreement about how things have gone in the past year, what has been accomplished and what still has to be done. The Guyanese members participated more thatn VSO thought that they would and were pretty honest in their assessment of the progress. The hotel was very comfortable and air conditioned so we were spoilt for the day.

The other two photos are of the National Library which is downtown Georgetown - we thought we should do the local sites! It is very old in terms of technology - everything is still done with cards which because of the climate and dust are not crisp and clean but dog eared and grubby. in many ways it reminds me of the libraries I frequented as a child with my mother. How much has changed in our lifetimes! the books are also old but there were many classics and many interesting books about the history of Guyana, of Guyanese poetry and Guyanese stories. Most books were bound with cloth binding and hand written titles - just like the old days. However the good thing was that it was very well used. i saw some of the rehabilitation assistants upstairs studying inthe research section preparing their university projects and there were loads of students (school aged) in the research section getting help and doing their school projects. the line up for the computers was long even though they have to pay G$200 per hour. it was good to see them all so enthusiastic and working so hard wanting to 'get on'. Note the dress code. Mick had been turned away earlier in the week because he was wearing shorts so we were properly dressed up on Saturday.
We could not get a library card though because we did not have our passports with us. We have to show them in order to get the application form which we then fill out and give to my line manager who will sign it and we return it to the library. She will then be phoned by the librarian and asked to stand guarantor for me. She will also have to do so for Mick too otherwise he will not be able to get a card as he is unemployed! Bit of a procedure.