El dorado 15, roti and final presentation
Hi all,
So last week we were about to enter our final weeks of the project. For our final presentation we still needed to do a lot of documentation and preparations for the final presentation. However, there was still some time for enjoyment, since Ruben was celebrating his birthday in Guyana. We also were invited by the girls of a local place who made our lunch and dinner every day to make our own roti. After that we worked on the final presentations and there were some final vacation days for the team in Guyana.
The first week was filled with typing, referencing and adjusting the layout. The rapport was divided in the three sections of our project, namely the local drainage system, the big primary drainage channels and the downstream outfall structures named ‘kokers’ (sluices). Since the primary channel team made good progress with setting up the model, they were well on schedule. The local drainage part needed some more documentation and the outfall structures part consisted of inspection manuals and forms which were almost complete.
After a week of reviewing, debugging and hard work it was time for some distraction. Ruben was celebrating his birthday on the Friday. After a short elaboration the group decided that the best present in this country would be a bottle of 15 year old rum, which was a delight. Another good night out in Georgetown followed. The result was another bottle of 12 year old rum, a 10 cm thick pack of 20 GYD bills won at the local gamble game ‘Chick Chick’ and Hazes. The next day was a bit less active and the group took the opportunity to buy some souvenirs and coconuts with milk.
On Sunday, another day of work was needed. However all the government buildings were closed. In order to be somewhat productive, we decided to go to the local ‘hipster’ coffee bar to work over there. Together with the daily brew, which was from Equador that day, a lot of work was the result.
The next week was working towards the deadline to deliver the final report to all our stakeholders. The final presentations was finalized and took place on Wednesday. It was the official closing of our project in front of all the stakeholders and high officials. As a result the local and national press was again present. However this time we came prepared. During the ceremony our friend Ben ter Welle also spoke positively about our presence and shared his realistic look on the situation and the future of this project, namely money is needed.
During our stay, our host took very good care of us. For instance they arranged a locale venture to provide us with lunch and dinner every day. The favorite dish was the roti and curry dish. This had not passed unnoticed with the girls of the place. So they proposed that we would get a genuine roti workshop, which we were more than happy to attend. We learned some good tricks in order to make roti for our own back in the Netherlands.
With the final report now completed and all the material handed over, our project comes to an end. Martijn and Peter traveled back to the Netherlands. Martijn continues on his graduation and Peter is going to work for a study association. Jos traveled to the USA to work on another project for his masters. Siebe, Joost, Ruben and Thijmen traveled some more in the interior of Guyana. After the last project day they left Georgetown for a 20 hour during overland drive to Lethem. After passing through the coastal lands, the city of Linden, the famous Iwokrama rainforest and the savannahs of South-Guyana they arrived in Lethem which is lying on the border of Guyana and Brasil. During their stay they visited the surroundings and the Amerindian village of St. Ignatius. Here they were invited by a friendly man called Bernhard to drive with him to his brother’s creek and enjoy the family gathering on their free day. After an amazing swim and several drinks with the family they watched they went supporting the local football team. The trip was an amazing end of our stay here in Guyana.
So with these last lines our project is completed. It was a great experience in a country that was and in a way always stays unknown. We met all kind of wonderful and kind people. Not only at the ministries and our work, but also in the city and country itself. The Guyanese are very involved with the drainage problem and were always prepared to share some of their thoughts on this problem. This gave a great insight in the opinions of the people and always ended up in the most fascinating and hard to understand discussions.
Thanks everybody who helped us during our stay and of course thank you for following us. Until the next project!
JaJo!
