Guyana 
Young people active in field of development and education (April 2010)
My name is David Reischl. I’m 21 years old and I live in Kehlen, Luxembourg. I am currently working as a volunteer in Guyana in the integrated development project with the youth of Guyana, being carried out by VARQA Foundation. This project is supported by Unity Foundation and the Luxembourg Ministry for Cooperation. Before going to University and as I had no idea which studies to follow, I decided to devote one year of service to humanity.
Guyana is a country with great culture and great people. People are very open minded and welcoming. I have the chance to make interesting experiences inside the Junior Youth Program; courses intended for young people between 11 and 15 years old. These courses consist of 3 main activities. The first one being the service to others. Each youth group is developing a service project for the community. This activity brings a dynamic into the group and it is a good way to strengthen their sense of unity. The second activity consists in studying a series of books written specifically for young people and teaching integrity and enhancing cognitive ability. Finally, the third activity aims to initiate social interaction. It consists in a series of actions to bring groups together; how to find good friends, how to cooperate with other young people in a respectful and friendly way. …
My group counts 3 tutors, me included, for a group of ten young people. We are dealing with young people of very different characters. They love to criticize and often their interest is limited to games. This frequently makes it difficult to motivate them to participate actively in other activities than games. We always try to motivate them to propose their own ideas, but I guess they often do not know themselves what they want and above all, it is easier to criticize than to make things change. This is an interesting task, though difficult, to transmit your message and to make them engage actively in the evolution of their environment. Guyana is a country that most people want to leave when they get the opportunity to do so, as they assume that life is easier and better outside, in other countries. The project hopes to gradually change this attitude. One of my personal goals is to bring these young people to develop critical thinking and to question the general opinion, to be able to reason by themselves.
Very often, the family background of these kids is really difficult and many of them come to the program to escape family atmosphere. The project team must show great patience and understanding to show these young people that happiness is not defined by drugs and alcohol, that it is essential to make the right choices in life and that they are responsible for the choices they make. We try to prepare them for life and we show them our confidence.
David
Guyana is located north of the equator in the tropics. It is surrounded on the east by Suriname, in the south and southwest by Brazil and in the west by Venezuela. It is the third smallest country in South America and part of the poorest. Guyana means "land of abundant water" in Amerindian. The country is characterized by its vast rain forests dissected by numerous rivers, creeks and waterfalls.