LA CULTURA

This year we are studying culture which is a World Language Standard for the State of Colorado.

 There are 3 LEVELS of Culture:


Estudio Cultural:  Culture Study:  Guyana

This school year, we are in contact with a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana, South America.   He is educating us about the surface, shallow, and deep culture in this country.  

Cultural Information from Guyana:

What’s it like in Guyana? Hot and humid, cause it’s a jungle!! Flora and fauna are abundant everywhere and of course tropical! It’s been something else adapting to no a/c, mosquito nets, bucket baths and crowded buses (small up!), but the fresh fruits & vegetables and friendly Guyanans more than make up for any inconveniences. Just the other day I was invited to a Mandir for a Hindu prayer service and afterward served a delicious seven curry dish often eaten by hand on special occasions. Extraordinary and yet commonplace. 


School starts Monday, Sept. 4, and I believe the first few weeks are taken up with mandated annual assessments. After that, my role for the next few months is observing grades 1-4, and developing lesson plans for Literacy pullouts to work with underperforming learners. 

As you can imagine in a developing country where English is an official language but native speakers grow up using Guyanese (Caribbean style creole which is based on English!), the learner challenges may be as fundamental as print awareness, phonetical awareness, phonics and reading / comprehension. I’m told I’ll be co-teaching beginning in January. 


My apologies for the delay, this week is Sports Week where schools compete both within and against other schools. Potaro Primary School sent a small team to Georgetown last Saturday to play football (soccer) against another school in the capital, an hour fast boat ride plus another hour bus ride, and won! They’ll return this Saturday for final game. Yesterday and today’s intraclass competitions are track & field with the students divided into three “Houses” - the Giants, Titans and Vikings (sporting red, yellow and blue team colors). The track races are held at the community center field, and the teachers prepared an ad hoc 200 meter track for a variety of runs from 80 meters to 1,000 meters. Some students even ran barefoot on the dirt field. 


Catered box lunch of fried rice with chicken and two pieces of fruit (pineapple called ‘pine’ and watermelon) and a bag of juice. There was even an impromptu tug of war during lunch with a rope found by the children.

 

The whole month of September is Amerindian Heritage recognition with indigenous villages spread throughout the country (mostly interior) hold daylong festivals.  We went to one where you reach the village by boat (ubiquitous where there’s very few roads in the jungle and we are in the land of many waters!). This village has the distinction of the Guyana President attending, giving a speech and watching Amerindian dance and eating ethnic native food with all the village children. In addition to using whatever meat they can harvest in the wild (wild cow, hog, fish, iguana) for a variety of stews and the renowned pepperpot, cassava is a base ingredient and requires careful preparation using historic techniques as it is poisonous in its original unprocessed form. Cassava bread is common, as is cassareep (reduced sauce used for flavoring dishes). In our classroom, students are encouraged to bring in Amerindian artifacts and dress in cultural style. 


Transportation is fun observations, with many modes employed over limited infrastructure. Fast Boats (land of many waters!) and ferries (called steamers), often crowded cars & small buses, bicycles and motorbikes, and even donkey pulled carts. And if course lots of walking!


Food you quickly learn is a love language in Guyana, both in a cultural pride and survival perspective. Culturally the Amerindians get top billing for their contributions with native cassava recipes, and pepperpot which counts as a National dish in most literature. Second is the African influence (Afro-Guyanese) with a diet similar to soul food in America, lots of greens and vegetables, potatoes and eddo root plants, chickpea (Chana) and split pea (and other legumes) and rice base all cooked in onion, garlic, carrot and shallot reduced in vegetable oil. Bread called bake made on the stove compliments. Meats are fish, beef and chicken. Outside cooking on open stove called fireside happens when preparing large quantities. Fruits are numerous, with bananas, plantains, mango, guava, avocado (called pears), pineapple, cherries, soursop, gunip, coconuts - the list is lengthy - all sourced nearby in season. 

The next big influence is the East Indian (Indo-Guyanese) which brings traditional dishes like curry and Dahl - much like you would find in American India restaurants - often eaten by hand using a low yeast bread called roti which is pan cooked and crushed while hot to give it flexibility for picking up your food. Incredible variety and lots of seasoning not seen in the Afro-Guyanese palate. Later groups of Portuguese (from the island of Madeira) and Chinese also brought dishes like garlic pork and fried rice & chow mein. I’ve include some pictures of preparing food, and you may find stock photos of these dishes more illustrative. 

As to survival, it’s a point of pride that one has sufficient food to eat in a place where people have very little else. This applies to feeding self and visitors, and usually is large portions that ironically can be intimidating for American sensibilities. 


Language is a Guyanese Creole, based on English, it is mostly understood but requires learning a lot of colloquial words, phrases and grammar. For example, a crowded bus wants to add another passenger we have to “small up”, or telling the driver where to drop you off “drop me down dere”. Similar to Jamaican Creole, it is not a standard written language and can vary by region. 

Hair styles follow ethnic groups, with 40% of the population Indo-Guyanese and styling similar to what you would see in India; next major group is Afro-Guyanese and styling favors the Afro variations with very little straightening; Amerindian is next group at around 10% and follows trends seen throughout indigenous groups throughout South & Central America. No western influence so styles are free to follow their cultural norms. 

Music covers Caribbean, western hip hop and pop, India traditional and hip hop, all usually played loud! 

Clothing is traditionally western unless attending Hindu Mandir where India style clothes abound, and the small number of Muslims follow their traditional wear. 

Sports is big here, especially cricket (just completed Caribbean Premier League where Guyana won top place!), and of course football / soccer. 


So glad to hear the pictures and stories are a hit, hoped hadn’t sent too many!

Asked one of my colleagues about the ‘pear’ dilemma, and they shrugged their shoulders. Looked it up, and original name was avocado pear. Our fruity pear is grown in temperate climates (not tropical) and so haven’t seen any here, though a concerted effort might turn some up in the capital Georgetown? They’re grown in Argentina and Brazil, I think. Where avocado pears are very much tropical and when in season EVERYWHERE around here!


The sports day was just fun competition between three selected teams that teachers created - red, blue & yellow (or Giants, Titans and Vikings). The serious football (soccer) games are held in GT every weekend with top student athletes - Potaro Primary has won two weekends in a row, and will continue until eliminated. 


The President is handsome and charismatic, and I was fortunate to see him up close at the Amerindian festival but unfortunately not actually meet. Maybe some day? 


Georgetown doesn’t have a McDonald's but does have Burger King & KFC! GT is a bustling town with lots of people moving around on foot, bicycle, bus and car - and occasional donkey cart! (though that’s more common in smaller villages)  and feels crowded even though as the largest city it only has about 120,000 living there. Moving about can feel frenetic until you get used to the self-proclaimed chaos! 


In describing what living here is like, almost all food is prepared at home often starting before 5a! Snackettes are everywhere along roads, a cottage industry providing extra income for homeowner living there. Traveling around requires patience and willingness to sit close to any passengers - small (sqeeze!) up - and since few people own cars, traffic is light but dangerous as road rules are loosely followed, and moving many people quickly makes more money! That said, there’s an expectation of common courtesy and greetings at almost every encounter - reminds me of growing up in Texas. 

The most remarkable feature of Guyana is how much nature is all around untouched by humans - we took a short excursion through the jungle near town and we’re startled when we bumped into a troupe of monkeys!


I’m glad your planning a Guyana feast as I think they are most proud of their diverse Afro / Indian / native / Caribbean dishes. I so wish I could be there to celebrate the tremendous efforts your young learners have made.