Well, I think that it is only fair to first offer an apology for my overly pessimistic outlook following the devastating fire, which pretty much destroyed the entire MoH complex and several ministry vehicles. Amazingly the staff in the accounts department managed to get everything back on track within a couple of weeks; including processing my own reimbursements. An impressive task when you consider that most of them are now desk sharing in someone else’s office. What this has meant is that after re-submitting some request letters I got to finish my placement on a bit of a high…. I completed all of my outstanding visits to the regions as I had previously planned; a trip to Bartica and Suddie on the Essequibo Coast as well as some last minute education sessions and workshops…and as luck would have it they were some of the most enjoyable to date.




Michelle and I did our last joint coaching visit together, this time in Linden in region #10. We facilitated another of the resource making sessions, which are great because we get to leave behind the activities that are made for the rehabilitation assistants to use after we have gone. We also had a really nice training session at Cheshire Home, which is a residential home for young people and adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities. I facilitated a session on creating sensory stories; I used the children’s story ‘we are going on a bear hunt’ to illustrate some of the key concepts, though thanks to Michelle’s brilliant idea we decided to make it a little more Guyanese relevant and called it ‘we are going on a jaguar hunt!’. We spent the morning going through the principles behind sensory stories and then in the afternoon sat back and observed as the rehabilitation assistant and nurses delivered a really nice sensory story session to around 6 of the residents…they got really into it and I hope that we encouraged them enough that they will go on to develop more stories in the future.



I also did two sessions with the Rehabilitation Assistants working in the Palms on ‘Epilepsy’ and ‘Stroke and Talking Mats’. The Talking Mats were resources that had been kindly donated and I had for ages been meaning to facilitate a training session with this particular staff group, so I was really pleased to have done it before I left.

I also facilitated a session at Ptolemy Reid on designing AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) systems with children. This was really fun and confirmed to me that I had finally got the hang of using participatory approaches in training. We did lots of interactive activities, including giving messages using symbols, which I believe helped the rehabilitation assistants get a better understanding of some of the principles we were trying to put across.




The feeling that my placement is finally coming to an end has been reinforced by the timely arrival of a new Speech and Language Therapist from Belgium. I have really appreciated the opportunity to hand over the programme to someone else and have great confidence that the projects I have started will continue and develop further under her watchful eye. That said, it is still a little surreal to think that I will be leaving in what is now just over two weeks time. Officially I now have four working days left. I just have a couple of last minute reports to complete relating to work and my VSO placement; I have almost completed my seventeen (I know!) page end of service report…which gives me some faith that I achieved a few things during my time here!

Obviously me leaving Guyana is associated with many different emotions. I will be sad to leave behind both VSO and Guyanese friends and to some extent my responsibilities, but at the same time I can’t help but wish my last days and hours away since it means I am nearer to becoming Mrs. Lewis and returning home to all of my friends and family.

So I think that is finally it, my two year blogging experience is coming to it’s natural end….my time in Guyana has been one that I will always look back on with great appreciation. I have learnt so many things and met so many wonderful people and one person in particular that I had no idea I would be meeting when I started out on my VSO journey…(though a few people hinted that it was always a possibility!) so for those that have followed this story from the start it is time to say goodbye…and in case it is not yet obvious to say that this was one story that definitely had a very happy ending…..

ps I will make every effort to post one more picture before my final farewell! - check back after the 25th September 2009....