Tree's & Me

Since we first arrived in Guyana I have been amazed, confused, intrigued and delighted with the various trees that live amongst us.  It would be a monumental task to learn all the names, family groups, native or imported species, which fruit trees are edible which are medicinal, the effort to do so would certainly steal away precious time from our primary reason for being here but to better know them and gain greater appreciation for their history is something I hope to do more of in the future.  Shown below are just a "few" of the trees you would see while out and about.  The first is call an Almond tree, it produces a large red fruit with an almond nut inside. 

When we first arrived in Guyana we stayed in Georgetown, while there we visited the Zoo & Botanical Gardens.  As we entered in the gardens I saw this palm tree and was awe-struck with the shape of the frons, take not also of  the cars parked below, it give you sense of the size.

Next, this palm has a unique feature about it, the picture doesn't truly capture the transition, but you'll notice that the body and majority of the trunk is rough and what you would expect from a palm but as you get closer to the top, about 15 feet from the crest it becomes very smooth and a dark green color.  The palm's themselves also seem to be darker in color, this is one of my favorite trees in our area because they are not as abundant and alway grow taller then those trees around them.  

 

I love this next tree.  When I see it I think of fall, but this is it's year round color.  The locals love and hate this tree, they love it for it's shade but hate it because it sheds it's leaves and they not big on doing yard work here.  Actually the preferred yard is one consisting of either dirt or concrete, grass is viewed as a nuissance.

The tree shown below is one that "confuse's" me.  It looks like some kind of pine tree but I have not researched it to say for certain.  The needles are soft and as you can see it grows with spacious gaps in between it's limps and most are usually in this shape.  I really like it because it is so different from most of the tropical trees and stands out as distinct in any grouping.  For some reason when I see this tree it makes my smile, it's just a cool tree.

This one is truly a feast for the eyes when in bloom.  Again the picture does not do it justice, I wish they were more common but most who have this tree growing on their property trim them back (like a Crape Mrytle) but they typically cut it back so much it takes a long time for it to grow to this size.  This is a wild tree and throws off shots, which again makes it a tree many would rather cut then carefore. 

And here is the most popluar tree in our area, it is the coconut palm tree.  This tree provides food and drink for both income and sustanance.  They are normally very tall but some types are short and have larger trunks.  I've recently planted one in our yard and hope to be here long enough to see it's first yield.

And last of all, here is a picture to give you a sense of what the dense jungle, what the Guyanese call the "bush", looks like.  We hope to get a closer look at the interior soon and I look forward to being further impressed with these beautiful products of creation around us, my friends the trees.

Hope you enjoyed this stroll through our neighborhood.  Crystal and I send our love and greetings to all and hope that you can find the time to enjoy the trees in your neck of the woods.  Until our next blog, take care.

A very Hopeful country...

As Scott notified you all in our last posting, the national elections for a new president were held last week. It was a tense time, as there has been violence in the past during election time. Elections were held on Monday, but the announcement of the final results was delayed until Friday. All week people were warning us to be careful and to stay indoors as much as possible, but we didn't notice anything major. When it was finally announced that the same political party that has been in office for the last ten years had won, there were some peaceful protests, mostly in the capitol, but everything now is pretty much back to normal.

As the title of this posting suggests, many people here are very hopeful that a new president will bring about positive changes for the country. We find that a lot of people here tend to have a very hopeful attitude in general, as is reflected in some of the town names in the nearby area. First of all there is Hope, Hopetown, Hopewell, Good Hope, Mary's Hope, Present Hope, Pleasing Hope and, not to be outdone by the others...Better Hope. Some of the other settlement names that don't include the word hope, but still reflect a very positive view are  Land of Plenty, New Found Out, Overwinning, Good Intent, Free and Easy, Now or Never,  Success, Good Success, Better Success, and again outdoing the others this town settled for the name The Best. Personally, I think the most fitting name for this country is a nearby village named Heatburn, but that's just my personal opinion.

Some of you may be aware that Guyana was under British rule until the 1960's when the local people gained independence. You can still see evidence of the British presence here, since many of the homes are British style architecture that was left behind. Here are a few examples...

Most aspire to live in the new concrete homes that are being built. Some of them are quite beautiful as you can see..

Others (like us) live in simple small flat concrete houses...

Or modest wooden structures like these....

  







Some still live a in the simplest of wooden houses....

Some who live in these simple wooden houses live with no electricity and/or no running water. Many cook outside or underneath the house (for those on stilts) on a stove like this...





This stove is made from a mixture of clay and cow dung. That's right-cow poo to cook your food on! Actually I've tried some of the food cooked this way and some of it is pretty good.




The funny thing is, you would think the nice new houses would be together in the same neighborhoods, but usually you see a nice new concrete house in amongst the smallest of shacks or vice versa, since most people here got their tracts of land divided out to them or their families when Independence was gained. Most people don't sell their property, they just build new or add on to existing buildings and stay put, no matter what their neighbors do.

 I hope this posting has given you some idea of what we see in the area on a day to day basis as we go out into these hopeful villages to share what we think is....well...a "Better Hope" for the Deaf!

Change is'a coming..

They same some things will never change. In Guyana I think change is what some never want, but it is coming.  At the end of this month a new president will be put in office and some fear things will not go well. For us it could either be helpful with regard to our visa's or it could bring a premature end to our stay, time will tell.  We're not overly concerned about how things will change, truthfully I imagine things here will pretty much stay the same, so our intent is to keep doing all we can till we can't do no more.  

At the beginning of this month our 90 visa was up and we needed to leave country in order to have it renewed so we decided to visit Trinidad for a few days and that was a very nice change.  Trinidad is modern and mostly clean country with many of the same stores and "goodies" found in the US.  While there we had the opportunity to visit the Branch office and go to a Sign Language meeting, (they have 3 congregations on the island) all of which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Here are some pic's...

While visiting the island we stayed with a sister and her family, they rolled out the red carpet for us and made us feel very much at home.  I personally loved their backyard and spending time walking through it with "granny" and listening as she told about each of the trees and the fruit it bore, I could have spend hours in that place and in her company, her name is Sheila.

As you can see Crystal only arrived after the fruit had been gathered, some things never change.  The weather did not cooperate with us when we were there and so we did not get a chance to visit the mountain areas but we did manage a drive by and these pictures give you an idea of the landscape.  We are hoping to return sometime next year and have more time to explore.

Since we're discussing the idea of change, one thing that remains the same here in Guyana is the constant existance of large animals in all corners of society.  No matter where you go you will probably find yourself sharing that space with some large domestic creature.  Recently one such animal has decided to bless us with his presence on a daily basis, if we leave our front gate open for just a brief moment he will make a straight path to our yard.  I have had to sternly talk with him "eye-to-eye" and escort him from my green pastures on many occassions.  Well, since he is such a regular visitor, we decided upon a name for him, "Rambo", see if you can figure out why?

In New Amsterdam the city does not offer much in the way of recreational opportunities.  But, one thing that is does have is a local swimming pool.  It's not much just a large rectangle with "kinda" clean water in it.  There isn't any lounge chairs or nice amenties to facilitate your every whim, but it's cheap, refreshing and simply a nice change.  We had a large group meet at the pool after Saturday service and a good time was had by all.  In the pictures you'll notice some other white folk, they were visiting for a month and will hopefully come back again soon, they live in Sarasota, FL, so some of you may see them at the assembly. 

If you look closely at the first picture in the center at the top, hanging on the edge of the pool is me, (that's my camio appearance in this blog).  As most of us know the bible states clearly that the scene of this world is changing, (1 Cor. 7:31) whether we want it or not it's coming.  Crystal and I are happy to say that the changes we have experienced in our lives because of moving here has helped us to see that the world is in need of a serious make-over, may all of us stay poised for future events that will lead to most significant change ever to face mankind, the ushering in of Jehovah's new world. (Dan. 2:44). 

We look forward to seeing everyone when we come home in February, till our next blog.  Be safe and keep on the watch for Rambo, he may be coming to your yard next. 

Scott & Crystal

House Pics!

Let me start off by apologizing for the brevity of this blog. It's been a crazy week and just no time to write a proper blog full of news and poetry. That being said, I do want to at least get some pictures up. We have been promising pictures of the new house for some time now, so I at least wanted to get these posted before we leave for Trinidad. Yes, our 90 day visa is up and we must leave the country for a couple of days before we can return for another 90. Sadly we must visit a beautiful tropical island in order to fulfill Guyana's visa requirements (sniff). You can tell I'm greatly saddened at this prospect :)

You have probably noticed up to this point that Scott has been writing all of the blog postings. He told me after the last post that it was my turn. I so wanted to write more, but for now this is all the time I have to get this posted before we leave. I do promise pictures of our trip to Trinidad in the next blog. Until then these will have to do.....

They call this a "flat house", since most houses here are built on stilts. The yellow rope you see hanging is where I hang my hammock in the afternoons.

The Living Room (You can pretty much see the basic layout of the house dining/kitchen in the back, 2 bedrooms and bath off the living room to the right)

This desk and chair was made by one of Scott's Deaf students.

Ditto for this table and chairs

The Kitchen (The tennis racket you see hanging on the wall is actually a very effective bug zapper-a must have here in
Guyana.)

The Guest Bedroom (Here you can see the window screens that Scott had to make himself)

Our Bedroom

The Bathroom has a large standup shower.

I'm so proud of our real American closet! It has built in drawers and shelves. Most people here don't have a closet, they just fold all thier clothes on a shelf or buy a small wardrobe.

I just had to include these last two pics of Scott doing yard work. For those of you that know Scott, you know this is his "passion" and yes, he does still sweep the yard!

As promised before, we will have a more detailed blog up by next week sometime. Until then, just think of us in Trinidad and know we are having a good time!