Today is a good day! 😀 My placement letter arrived from Project Trust, so I know now exactly where I’ll be going to in the summer (less than 4 months now). I’ll be working in St Ignatius Secondary School, Lethem, Guyana. It’s the only secondary school in District 9 and has a wide catchment area, so it’s a busy place.
At some point in the next few days, I’ll put a page up with loads of information about the project and the area, but for now here are the basics:
UPDATE (8th May): That page is now here
Lethem is the capital of District 9 and serves as a hub to Georgetown for many nearby villages. It sits on the border with Brazil, separated by a river only about 130 yards wide (although the newly built bridge means I can stay dry if I decide to travel over there!).
I’ll be teaching maths and/or science – possibly with some English and PE as well – at CXC (Caribbean Examination Certificate) level, which is roughly similar to GCSE. While I’m there I’ll be staying in a concrete bungalow on the school compound, where many other teachers live. My information pack from Project Trust tells me “there is running water most of the time and the electricity supply is intermittent“. Internet is available in the town, so I should be able to keep my blog updated with stories, photos and emails to people back home.
That’s a long enough post for now (until I get a proper page written up on St Ignatius and Lethem), but for anyone interested:
» Google Maps showing Lethem (right of the river: Guyana; left of the river: Brazil)
» WikiPedia Info on Lethem
» 4 ways you could help me put that last £500 in my fund