Happy February!!
I’m so excited for this month! For starters, it’s the shortest month. Second, in a few days I’ll be celebrating my one-year in Guyana. And C, in 14 days the new group of volunteers arrive! It’s going to be a very busy month.
Today has been a great day. Chelsea and I finished recording our segment for “Ready or Not”, our monthly health TV program. And Chris, a GUY21er interviewed us for a documentary he is doing for Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary, which is next month.
He is interviewing both volunteers and Host Country Nationals about Peace Corps, life in Guyana, what it’s been like for people working with Americans, what have we learned about working with Guyanese, our struggles, the bizarre foods we’ve eaten and much more.
The interview was a huge eye opener that I really am learning and growing from this experience. Sure it’s not always easy, but life isn’t easy. I’m proud to be here and I know I’m going to think back on this time in my life often. I’ve come to see the true beauty that is Guyana, especially within the people. I’ve come to accept the island time mentality. I’ve learned that no matter what it’s important to keep and open mind and heart. Above all I’ve gained confidence and self-awareness.
I can’t wait to see the finished product of the documentary and hope to share it with you.
Chris interviewing Chelsea
Filming the rest of “Read or Not” was fun.
I discussed Go, Grow, and Glow foods and had three different food demonstrations prepared to show meals containing foods from the 3 categories. Chelsea interviewed me asking me questions about the different food groups and why it’s important to incorporate all 3 into each meal. I also talked about the importance of eating the right portion size and why people need to watch how much salt, fat, and sugar they consume. It was a successful take.
Then I displayed each meal, talked about it and had a local person try the food.
I demoed oatmeal with milk, a little sugar and raisins, expressing that this breakfast choice is full of Go, Grow, and Glow foods. I had a young woman be my ginnie pig, she was a good actress and said it was good for the camera but when he stopped filming she spit it out. I thought it was funny because here we are trying to give people healthier meal options but she didn’t like it. A common breakfast food here is porridge and people drink it, it’s mostly flour, sugar, and milk so my oatmeal was definitely different than what she and most people are use to.
For a healthy lunch option we made cook-up rice (rice, beans, coconut milk, and veggies) I love cook-up but I made some alterations by not using cubes, meat, and added more veggies. I didn’t want to put meat in my cook-up to tell people that rice and beans together makes a complete protein meaning you don’t necessarily need meat in order to get your protein and I referred to this as a good choice for vegetarians. The young man who tried my cook-up said it was fine just not salty enough, which allowed me explain why I don’t cook with cubes or a lot of salt.
Then I had him try our snack of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and slices of banana on top. First, we actually had a little girl try this snack. She stuffed a small square of the bread in her mouth, chewed a little but didn’t swallow. We asked her if she wanted to spit it out and she shook her head yes. So I guess this is a snack little kids won’t like. But the guy who tried it for us on camera said he liked it. Overall, the whole thing was good and funny and I’m sure people are going to think we are just crazy. It will be interesting to see what people say after the show airs.
Explaining the foods I used for cook-up
Trying the cook-up
Waiting for his thoughts
