Guyana Trip Reports & Photos

Swap Shop

November Newsletter

West Demerara .

Before our first coaching session at West Demerara we had the chance to look around the area. We crossed the river and after a short taxi ride arrived at Best Full Gospel Church, one of HFT’s key partners, and were met by Pastor George. George was keen to show us the local area, and it was a real eye-opener. Graeme made the point that this was not an area where the Government got a lot of support, and left us to draw our own conclusions.

Pastor George, a key HFT contact

The hospital

We were all pretty quiet as we walked through the area. Some of the tin huts were very basic indeed, and we wondered how it was possible to live in a tin hut in such heat. As we walked along the old sea wall we couldn’t help but look for anacondas in the mangrove swamp a few feet away, even though George insisted that we wouldn’t see any, and he was right!!

The walk around the area had a big impact on each member of the team, and it made us even more determined to do the best we could for the young people who lived in this area.

Local housing -

Looking for anacondas!!!

The school at West Dem is about 10 minutes walk from the Hope Centre, which means that the young people that attend this school are a group that the HFT are very keen to work with and invest in.

Again we were faced with the challenge of doing coaching sessions on consecutive days with the same group of young people, but we were well prepared for this by now. What we weren’t so well prepared for was the heat – temperatures were up to the mid 40’s, and even our Guyanese friends were heading for the shade!! The young people were very still full of energy and enthusiasm, but playing sport in temperatures of 45 degrees C with the sun still beating down takes it out of you, it really does!!

Teaching the future West Indies test side how to defend!!

As ever, we were uncertain about the number of young people that would attend, but what was really encouraging was that three local men who would carry on the cricket coaching after we had left joined Rich and Dave for their session, with the promise that one more would arrive after he had finished work for the day.

That was a real boost to us all, and in particular to Rich and Dave. They used the time wisely – running the first part of the session themselves, then when the groups swapped over and those doing cricket went and played football, while those who played football came to do cricket, Rich and Dave handed the running of the session over to the local coaches, and only offering advice and assistance when necessary.

Working with the young footballers

Both the football and cricket sessions on the Monday afternoon seemed to go very well – Dave and Rich were still determined to teach the young batsmen how to defend, while Jon, Steve and Graeme worked hard to keep the footballers concentrating on their passing and controlling, rather than their dribbling and their shooting!!

The thing that we all noticed in West Dem was how the numbers of young people taking part continued to grow while the sessions were going on. Obviously not all the young people that took part were at the school, a sure sign that we were actually managing to reach some of the young people who were already outside the education system.

Wilfred, a local football coach

Rich and Dave with the local cricket coaches - Boris, Kumar and Troy

After the session finished we had what we all agreed was one of the best parts of the trip. As a team we sat down with 6 men who were going to take on the coaching responsibilities (5 cricket coaches, 1 football) after the team had left. A couple already had some experience, but most were there simply because they had been asked to get involved by the pastor of their church. It was great to witness their enthusiasm, to see their heart for the young people, and to be able to share some of our experience with them. Each coach got a shirt and a coaching manual, as well as a whistle – one of the first things we told them was the one with the whistle was the one with the power!!

West Dem cricketers

West Dem footballers

The following afternoon was, if anything, even better, even though it seemed to be even hotter!! More young people came, but this time we took the decision not to swap the groups, so those who wanted to play football did so for the full 2 hours, and those who wanted to play cricket also played for the full two hours. And again we were joined by the local coaches – 3 cricket and 1 football. It really was good to work alongside these young men, it gave us as a team another boost, but it was also good to be able to let them get on with it and see their confidence grow as the session went on.

All in all the time at West Dem was a real highlight of our time in Guyana – we worked with masses of young people (over 70 both days) and the sessions with the coaches left us confident that the work would continue. It’s proximity to the Hope Centre also encouraged us – these young people would not be forgotten, these couple of days weren’t just a flash in the pan, because local Christians were committed to working here in the long term.