Teachin' in Guyana

Headed Home For The Summer

2007-07-19T13:30:00.000-04:00

Here's the latest collection of photos from Orealla! :)
We can't wait to show more pics to everyone in person.
Thanks for all your support this year!

Our slideshow/openhouse dates are as follows:

Sunday, 15th of July, 7 pm at Calvary CRC in Holland, Michigan
Sunday, 29th of July, (time yet to be determined) Rosewood CRC in Bellfower, California
Mid-August (via Raven Correspondence) Delta Junction, Alaska

A typical afternoon in the rainy season!

Another snake killed in our house! :)

Crammin' for National Exams

Stone Soup Cast

Gettin' Prepped for the Play

Our Knights in Shining Armor

Finished Library (facing south)

Finished Library (facing north)

Achievement Award Winner (thanks to Wasilla, AK homeschoolers for the prizes!)

Thomas gets his hair done! :)

Moving Sale

Parent Open Day

Village Farewell

The Rainy Season Has Hit

2007-05-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Thought we'd post a few pictures from the rainy season in Orealla to give you a feel for what life during the monsoons is like. Enjoy! More pics are also available at flickr!

Doing laundry at the laundry mat (on a rare sunny day).

Our underhouse swamp....

Because it's wet and cloudy nearly all the time, it's impossible to keep mold from growing--even on clean, dry clothes that you put in the closet. It's not just us newbies, either, we notice many kids with mildew on their shirts, as well!

Hosting Ingrid's 25th b-day party at our house. The best part? Esther (on left) wanted to ensure that her daughter had good Guyanese cooking, so we didn't have to prepare any food!

Opening day of the new Orealla Library

Becky & Laurimel on a Saturday story hour

Unpacking the shipment of books from Valley Elementary (California) and Raven Correspondence (Alaska)

Our very able library assistants at work! (from left to right: Kristy, Valerie & Gail)

Grade 3 students enjoying the library

Our congregation at Church of the Nararene

Headed back to Orealla on Neal's boat. To get on, you have to literally carry your luggage on the plank shown in the middle of the picture. It's rather sketchy, especially when you consider that your groceries for the next 3 months are in your luggage!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T12:29:00.000-04:00

We're finally near some relatively speedy internet so we thought we'd try to get some more pictures of Orealla up on the net. Sorry they're a little dark... they seem to be posting better on flicker, so here's the link to our more detailed album on that webpage: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54808715@N00

We just found out the school year has been extended (for various unexplainable reasons) two weeks. So our last day of school will likely be July 13. It looks like we'll probably be back in the states to visit in late July. We'll keep you posted on additional changes! Thanks for your continued support!

The first pictures show you some of the stages of our library-building project. We hope to open the school library in mid-April. Thanks to all of you who've donated books, bookmarks, library cards, and more!

Movie Night (at our house powered by a borrowed generator) for 8th graders who completed their regional projects on time

Popcorn provided courteousy of Grandma DeVries. It was a little tricky making it on a camping stove but the kids seemd to like the result.

S'mores & Movie Night w/Library Aides & IT Leaders (thanks for the chocolate, Ahlia!)

Valentine's Dinner.Flowers picked fresh from the savannah! Other decorations courteousy of Brand/VZ families (napkins, candy, candle holders, etc).

Thomas and our good friend, Mitchell (who also built the bookshelves for the library) during a trumpet lesson

Grade 8 students working on their Regional Project. The projects remind us of science fair type of work but occur in all four core subjects at the same time and samples have to be sent to the Region for evaluation.

Above and below our pics from our Mashramani Picnic Day (kinda like the 4th of July but the homeroom teacher is supposed to plan the activities). Carrie's class decided to go on a hike to a local creek. No surprise, huh?

No Iditarod Down Here and no internet to check on the status of mushers... but least red lanterns are abundant and well-used as one of the only sources of light at night in the village. (This will probably only make sense to last year's seventh graders... ask them to translate for you!)

Midway Through Term 2

2007-02-10T13:24:00.000-04:00

What was supposed to have been a quick overnight trip to Georgetown to hit up a used book sale and repair the school laptop is turning into a 5 day+ venture. The tech team that was going to work on the computer never showed up and now the village boat (our transportation back to Orealla)has steering problems and is awaiting parts to get fixed. They should be here "just now" (it could be a day--it could be a month!) Alas, life in Guyana continues to be unpredictable and good for growing patience...

To look on the bright side, at least we weren't on the boat when the steering went out! Plus, we now have a little extra time to post the latest Orealla pictures on the web (both here and a more in-depth collection on our flicker account).

We miss you all! Thanks for your continued support. We've really been enjoying the Christmas cards that slowly trickling into the village! Take care until Easter!

Thomas and Carrie

Carrie With Her 8th Grade Form Class
(This picture reveals the personality of some students quite well!)

Caricatures of Orealla Staff (created by students during Carrie's political cartoon unit)

Friday Afternoon Tae-Bo

Small plants to experiment with are quite easy to find in the savannah.
What's harder to find is shade from the sun! :)

Frog err.. Giant Toad Dissection (students captured and dissected their amphibian of choice from the rainforest!)

Praise Team Practice at Church

Laundry Mat (Log on Right)

Hiking Chalk Hill

Stove-top Pizza

Limin' with Students On Beach

Library: a work in progress

Solar Batteries (that don't work!)

Happy New Year!

2006-12-30T13:20:00.000-04:00

We've survived our South American Christmas travels--traveling by trail, river, road, and air in Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. We even managed to find quite a few pizzarias and some snow over near Machu Picchu. We head back to Orealla this weekend. The second term starts on Tuesday morning and we have our World Teach Field Director coming to check out our site the following week. We'll probably be back to Corriverton to check email during our spring break in April (maybe sooner depending on the boat schedule). Hope you enjoy the pictures and have an excellent New Year's!
Carrie and Thomas

PS As always, a more detailed picture album is available on our flickr webpage. Feel free to check it out (you don't have to be a member to view the pics.)

Our First Leg of the Journey Was 15+ hrs On This Bus Across Muddy Roads (it's the rainy season right now)

Boats Docked In Manaus, Brazil (ready to head into the rainforest)

Our Cabin On Our Amazon Boat Trip (5 days on the boat!)

If We Hadn't Ordered a Cabin, We Would Have Spent 5 Days Swinging on the Second Deck in Hammocks! (Not so good for a girl who gets seasick!)

Copocabana, Brazil (a beautiful town on Lake Titicaca--the largest, highest lake in the world)

The Upper Deck of The Boat (w/one of main rainstorms in the background)

Motorcycle Taxi at the Bolivia Border

Train Ride in Peru

La Paz, Elevation 12,000+ feet (delightfully chilly!)

Incan Ruins of Machu Piccu, Peru

It's Christmas Break!

2006-12-08T12:31:00.000-04:00

Merry Christmas from Guyana. Christmas break has started here already (kinda sweet, our vacation is over three weeks long!) so we're doing some traveling around South America. Since we're back within internet range, we thought we'd post some of our latest pictures from Orealla; for a more complete set, check out our flicker album.

God's blesssings during the holiday season and for the new year!

Thomas & Carrie

End of Term 8th Grade Form Class Christmas Party (chicken chosen & weighed live by Miss Carrie herself!)

Cutlassing our Christmas Tree :)

Agriculture Science Students Preparing The Ground For Our Garden

Thomas and His Girls

A Girl's Best Friend (our favorite dog in Orealla)

Our Newly Constructed Flower Bed

Saturday Morning Ritual: Laundry By Hand On the Back Porch

The Only Way To Get To Orealla; Hammocks Are Essential For Comfort on the 2-8 hour (50 mile) Boat Ride

Carrie In The Middle of Our 14-mile hike/run To Siparuta (a neighboring Amerindian community)

Mid-term Update

2006-10-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Well, we're officially halfway through the first school term (there are three). A computer conference on the coast has brought us within internet range again, so we thought we'd post a few pics to go along with the emailed stories. Our complete picture album as well as more detailed explanations can be found on our flicker account.

Overall life is good. We're finding new things to adjust to daily, but also little pleasures (like the student who delivers fresh bread at 5:30 in the morning). We're starting to settle into the school system and are really enjoying the students and many of the staff. Thomas is teaching IT and math. Carrie is teaching English and science. We're a bit more remote than we thought, so it looks like our next update might be Christmas.

Thanks for your support! Enjoy the pics!

A view from the cliffs (after climbing the 100 ft hill on the way to school)

The village chief (on right) and a minister from Amerindian affairs

Orealla School

Carrie with some of her students

Our New House (from the outside)

Our New House (from the inside)

Gregory's Stelling Shop; if he doesn't have it, then you can't find it in Orealla!

The labaria we killed with a machete in our closet! It was 3-4 feet long and is one of the deadliest snakes in the Amazon. (An Amerindian died about a month ago from a bite from this snake).

Downtown Orealla

Life is pretty relaxed around here! Here's what the stelling looks like on a typical afternoon.

Getting to know Orealla

2006-08-31T11:43:00.000-04:00

Hi all... we're having troubles getting all the pics we wanted to load online, but this will at least give you a flavor of what our town and the tarantulas inside our house look like. :)

We're heading into the rainforest!

2006-08-17T18:18:00.000-04:00

Hi all! Our orientation is complete and now we're headed to our site. We're still not sure what house we're living in, so our address remains: Orealla Village, Guyana, South America. :) We'll update the blog/newsletters whenever we get internet access again (maybe a month?) If you're curious, head over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/54808715@N00/ to check out a photo collection! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

We have an address!

2006-08-07T19:59:00.000-04:00

Hi All!
We've arrived in Guyana! The pics above give you a snapshot of the past few days... our moving truck across country, the types of boats around here, and a few of the students we've met. (We start practice teaching this week!)

We still have some unknowns about where exactly we will be living but if you mail stuff to our village, it will get to us. Our address is as follows:

Thomas Brand/Carrie Vander Zwaag
Orealla Village
Corentyne River, Region 6
Guyana, South America

We are currently writing this from a small town called Bartica, and we arrived here as a group a few days ago via a crazy ferry ride. It was completely packed and we had to haul luggage up over the side and then scramble up the side of the boat as it was starting to move away. There was essentially no room to stand or sit, and some of us had to sit on top of luggage with feet hanging over the side of the ferry. Did I mention it was 5 and a half hours long?? :) We made it anyway and now we are relaxing a bit. We spent the last week at a college dorm in Georgetown (the capital of Guyana) where even there the electricity was sporadic and the water even more so. Bucket "showers" were quite common. The humidity is quite extreme and we are all constantly sweating. That being said, it is more mild than most midwest or east coast summers (just no airconditioning).

It has been quite an experience so far. The food has tasted great (although portions are small), and our accomodations have actually been much better than we thought they would be. However, our ultimate location of Orealla will be quite different. These first three weeks are primarily training for our teaching positions that will start on Sept. 4. We have heard many speeches from various officials from the Ministry of Education as well as from security officials, the U.S. Embassy, as well as others. Bartica will start to give us a glimpse of what it will be like in the interior. Bartica is known as "the gateway to the interior" though it still has somewhat of a "city" or town feel. Hey, they have internet!! (sort of--doesn't work so well, but hopefully you all get this).

We are staying healthy aside from numerous bug bites and a bit of heat rash. Don't worry, we are taking our malaria medication and sleeping under mosquito nets!

We should have access to e-mail for the next two weeks, but when we get to Orealla, we have been informed that we have no internet, no phone, and can only communicate with the Field Director in Georgetown via radio. We will be 4 to 8 hours (by boat) to the nearest town with better communication facilities. There may be a speed boat that can do it in 2 hours, but we will need to look into that. We will try to send another update (at least one) before we head out to our site in the interior. For map buffs, Orealla is on the eastern border of Guyana with Suriname and about 50 miles south of the coast, but it doesn't show up on most maps. Google search is probably best.

Take care, and we will keep in touch as best we can!

The Decision Has Been Made! :)

2006-07-07T19:04:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, we’ve felt God nudging us to do something different next year. Thank you for the prayer support that so many of you provided as we explored many different missions and humanitarian relief organizations. After much prayer and discussion, we feel led to begin work in Guyana (South America) in August.

What We’ll Be Doing
We'll be working with an organization called WorldTeach, which for the past 20 years has placed teachers in struggling public schools of developing countries around the world. We feel called to Guyana for several reasons, some of which include: the official language is English, there are openings in math and science (areas that we have experience in), we’ll be able to interact with native students in a rural setting, and WorldTeach provides training to teach in a manner consistent with the culture of the country. Guyana desperately needs teachers; locals who get trained as teachers rarely return to their native towns, leaving for the Caribbean or the US (where pay is higher). The average Gayanese high school freshman is performing at a level equivalent to 6th grade in the States.

What is World Teach?
World Teach is not missions-based; it is a non-profit, non-governmental organization affiliated with the Center for International Development at Harvard University. However, World Teach has made it clear that getting involved in a community spiritually is an excellent way to become better connected with the community’s students and families. We plan to bring our instruments and contribute musically to the church as well as provide support in other areas. If we are able to raise more than the $10,000 needed to cover living and classroom necessities, we hope to contribute to local church programs and community development projects such as water treatment, etc.

Ways to Stay in Touch
Internet & telephone accessibility varies greatly throughout Guyana. That being said, email is still the fastest way to communicate with us (although it may take us up to a month to be get to a spot with internet access. We do not have an established mailing address yet, so the safest bet is to send “snail” mail through Thomas’ parents: 11409 Quincy St.
Holland, MI 49424.

Prayer Support
For those of you who have asked about prayer support, thanks so much! Here are our current prayer requests:
-That we'll be placed in a community where we can witness to others and expand the reach of an existing church
-For good health and wise decisions on which vaccines and meds to take (malaria is present throughout Guyana)
-For safety as we move our "stuff" across the country and proceed to New York for an August 1 departure
-For staff relations at the school that we’ll be teaching; from what we’ve read, it sounds like tensions can run high

Also, if you would like to make a tax-deductible financial contribution to this project, you can make a check out to Rosewood Church (with Guyana: Thomas & Carrie in the memo line). The Church's address is: Rosewood Church, 10115 Rose Street
Bellflower, CA 90706.

Future Plans
Our current tentative plan is to switch from WorldTeach to Interserve next summer. This missions organization places engineers on community development projects in some of the larger cities of Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Carrie would likely be teaching missionary kids or ex-pats at an international school. From there, we'll take it a step at a time.

Thank you all in advance for your support and prayers and we look forward to what God has in store. Though we do not yet know the reliability or availability of e-mail or telephones, we will try to keep you updated as much as possible throughout the year.

Yours in Christ,

Thomas Brand & Carrie VanderZwaag