For this school in Guyana, I had brought a little more than when I was in Namibia, but not much more. I had onlyfilled what was left in my suitcase with school supplies. I did get to the school during school hours this time. When we arrived, we were greeted by the man running the school. I gave him my supplies and we headed to a class that was in session. A one room building with kids from all ages up to about 14.
The entrance was across from the teacher and the black board. The students were all in uniforms, sitting at desks with their backs to us. When we entered the room the teacher saw us and was in the middle of a lesson. We were standing in the back, some of the kids noticed us and were staring in disbelief, wonder and what the heck. After a minute or so the teacher stopped and the whole class was now looking at us. Almost all in the same way the others had. The main school official talked to the teacher and the class about us and what we were there for. Some of the kids were softly talking and pointing at us. Sometimes laughing while they were pointing, so I would make a silly face. Then the laughing was everywhere. The teacher made us all stop and pay attention to her.
The next thing I knew all the kids were singing to us from there desks. The song was beautiful and took me by surprise. After the song was done the teacher made the kids say thank you in English and started her lesson again. As the supervisor led us out of building, he mentioned the song was a thank you song for visiting and giving school supplies. He also mentioned this was the first time for most of the kids to see someone that looked like us. They never received many visitors from any other countries as this area was quite remote and well away from the tourist pathways.
He led us on a short walk to a nearby building. In order to supplement some money for the school and community, the parents and staff made peanut butter in this building. He said they did not make much, but it helped. We got to try it and it was pretty tasty. We wanted to buy what we could and bring it home. However, the packaging was not made for international travel. We would have to eat it right away. So unfortunately, we were only able to buy a little.
We started to walk around the remaining school yard and talking about the needs of the school. They needed money in order to keep the school going. The country did not give much and, sometimes, nothing at all. We decided to give the school most of the cash on us, checks and cards were not going to work. He was beyond thankful. We told him since they really needed a lot of help we could send some money from the states when we got back. But we emphasized that he must send some type of proof that the money was going to the school. We exchanged information and once back in the states we gave what money we could over a couple months.
This trip is where I really decided that no matter where the next trip was, I was going to make sure that I would bring an extra bag with me. And that bag would havenot only had school supplies, but also soccer balls. Here are the pictures from that day.