More orientation

Hallowe'en was celebrated here, which surprised me, not in the same way as in Canada with children collecting candies but in all the cafes, stores and restaurants there were such ghosts and witches in evidence. Here is one of the many decorations including pumpkins in our favourite internet cafe.

Our orientation continued with visits to a variety of hospitals, special schools and vocational training workshops.
I was particularly impressed by the National Commission on Disability above whose offices I shall have my office. They have been working diligently with a volunteer board to draft legislation which will be presented soon to the attorney general. It covers a lot of ground as our own does and the small staff (3) two of whom are persons with disability are a hive on industry and their knowledge and expertise and paticularly their focus is admirable. I sure hope it gets through the legislature soon as it may make a positive difference in the plight of PWD here in Guyana.
Above is a picture of the Speech Dept at the Georgetown General Hospital. They were taking down the displays in preparation for Christams which they celebrate in earnest here. Already there are Christmas Carols on the radio. There will be a Santa Claus parade on Dec 1st and there are Christmas trees in the shops. Difficult to believe but there it is. We have already been invited to several Christmas parties!!

The week ended with a promise of a house on Friday but nothing came of it so I went to the local grapevine on Friday evening. The owner of the guesthouse whose daughter in law had been showing Ministry people around looking at apats for us told me that they had found a house for us. She phoned her daughter in law and she gaveher the address and we got all the particulars.
Off we went to find it and while trying to determine which was 'our one' the landlord came out and asked if we were VSOs. We said we were and he asked if we would like to see the place. Can you believe it. So we had the guided tour..... unbeknownst to the Ministry or my boss neither of whom had said a thing about it on Friday. Grapevines are great!