Saying "Goodbye" In Guyanese

Well, then it came. That time loomed on the horizon, and what better way to begin the painful process of separation than to go on a trip with all your coworkers!?

So that's what we did. Most of my department at the hospital came together and we went on a weekend trip up the Pomeroon river. It was a delightful weekend retreat that brought us all closer together. We discovered that we had some fiercely competitive Taboo and Pictionary players among us, and also got the chance to swim, see the Amerindian Reservation at Kabakaburi and Meg and I whipped up an All-American breakfast for everyone, complete with mini-omelettes and homefries!

There were touching goodbye presentations and words from everyone, and it was in that moment that I finally began to feel that I could let go of my struggle with the need to feel that I was accomplishing something. These folks convinced me that I had, in fact, done just that. Maybe not in any measureable way, like grant proposals accepted, reports written, or research papers submitted, as I had anticipated, but more in who I had been to them and to the patients we serve, and what that had meant to everyone. Sister Sheila Walsh, the CEO of SJMH, echoed that in her goodbye, "It may not be that you've done a lot, but you've been a lot, and that's special".

There have certainly been some more concrete accomplishments as well. I have been the programme manager for grant monies supporting five complementary care programmes offering holistic care for the poorest and most vulnerable patients in our patient population for the past two years; I have assisted in the analysis and compilation of a research study on nursing retention at SJMH; I assisted in research which aided in the development of the programme "New Light, New Sight" which offers collaboration with opthalmologists and optometrists from Canada who will come to several small villages in the interior to offer cataract and pterygium surgeries (poor vision and blindness is a particular problem among the Amerindian people, who have very limited access to surgical resources, or even primary health care); I've encouraged 10 boys to put their faces in the water and not to be afraid of the deep end in my Saturday morning ministry; I've shared my love of theatre and performing with two classes of trainees, who have improved their public speaking and confidence in addressing others as a result; and I have been present to many changes within MVC, and have shown hospitality and welcomed several visiting college and Mercy-related volunteer groups to Guyana and to our home during their stay.

That's all well and good, but it's the relationships that have been the important thing about this time, this Rare Privilege. And those have been hard to bring to a close. So what the Guyanese tell me, those wise people who have had to say goodbye to many family members and friends leaving for abroad, is not to say "goodbye", which is so final and closing; but to instead use the creole expression, "laytah!", which better expresses our hopes of running into each other again someday in the not-too-distant future. It binds us together in anticipation and plants a seed, which will blossom again when my feet touch Guyanese soil.

And maybe the hardest goodbye of all is to my dear fellow volunteer, roomie, sister from another Mister, and best bud, Meg Ups. She is a light in my life, and I don't know what my mornings will be like without her. I'll miss all our little routines and jokes, I'll miss our heart-to-hearts, spirituality nights, and maybe even our business meetings - yes, even community business can be spiced up with Meggie around. I hope you get your name on that minibus, MAGGIE - in HOT PINK. Much love and gratitude to you.

And, of course, this experience would not have been possible without the support, guidance, cooperation, and inspiring example set by the Sisters of Mercy in Guyana. This group of women has truly shown me the meaning of dedication to God in service of His chosen ones, and has encouraged me with the realization that it doesn't have to be a hard, dull, sapping task, as I initially had some fear it would be. There could also be wonderful, touching, greace-filled, light-hearted moments, and those were really the gems I treasure. So thank you for your guidance and support, and thank you to the Sisters, Associates and Volunteers internationally who kept me, our community and our ministries in your prayers. God bless each of you specially, as you have asked Him to bless us.