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Last Updated: March 10, 1997
![[Ted Burgdorff]](../images/ted.jpg)
SUBJECT: Our Move from California to Guyana
DATE: November 5, 1996
AUTHOR: Ted Burgdorf, his wife Betsy, and three girls - Heidi, Kristen, and Kara, work with the Gates family in Guyana.
We are in Georgetown, Guyana.
We left Chowchilla on Thursday Oct. 24, after I worked all of Wednesday night. It took us a couple of hours to finish packing in the last few items, and we were off to the bank to get some money for the trip. David, my brother-in-law, had recommended that we take some travelers checks, so we decided to take $1,000 in travelers checks. We were told it would cost us $10 to get them, which ruffled my dander a little, but we went ahead and got them.
Our next item on the agenda was to get diesel in the car, so we headed across the street to fill up. As I was walking inside to pay I saw something on the ground, and upon my investigation noted it was a $10 dollar bill. I looked around to see who could have dropped it, but only noticed 1 other vehicle in the service station, and they were still filling their vehicle. We felt a bit strange about the whole event, having just paid $10 dollars for the travelers checks, and now finding $10. We all felt that this was just a little sign from the Lord showing us that he was in charge and could be trusted to take care of us as we started towards Guyana.
Next we went by Phyllis Hawkins to see how the three cats were doing. Phyllis has graciously offered to take care of 3 of our cats while we are gone. Next we were off to the school, so that the girls could say good-bye to all their friends. I must say many tears were shed by all and the entire student body came out to our car and had prayer with us before we left. It makes us feel very good inside to know that there are so many who are supporting us with their prayers and best wishes.
The trip to Southern California followed, where we spent the evening with my younger brother Ken and wife Kaye. They took us out to eat at a nice restaurant, in celebration on Ken's birthday on the 24th. The next day we drove to Loma Linda, where we spent the week end with Betsy's aunt. Early Sunday morning we got up and repacked the luggage rack on top of the car. At this point I should add that we had 3 duffle bags in the trunk and 2 on top of the car. Besides those bags, we have all of our carry-on's on top with the 2 duffle bags. This caused some concern, because the roof was sagging in.
Later I was thrilled to know that the dent pushed back out. We also had basically poured items all around the 3 bags in the trunk. I had packed items around the spare tire, and had even laid a layer of books on the floor of the trunk, before putting the carpet back in and then packing the rest of the items. We also had 4 solar panels in the trunk. They measure 13" by about 44". I also had packed some books in the backs of them. Inside the car we had a small box for some friends in Georgia, and a bunch of loose school books, which filled one side of the leg room in the back, and the girls rode on 2 opened sleeping bags. The back window was for all the items the girls would need during the trip. Betsy's leg room was half taken up with an ice chest for food for the trip, and I had my carry-on on the floor under my legs. Yes I could break and accelerate just fine. Needless to say the car was squatting, so I had adjusted the head lights down to not blind people.
We made it as far as Las Cruces, New Mexico for our 1st real day of traveling and found and small motel. I went in to enquire about the rooms and cost, and they had a room with 3 double beds for 5 dollars more than a room with 2 double beds, so I opted for the 3. The lady at the motel started asking us about where we were from and where we were going, and when she found out we were going as missionaries to Guyana she said: "I let you have the room with 3 beds for the price of 2 beds. Again we were shocked, but pleased to know that God has a thousand ways of providing for all our needs that we don't know about.
The following morning, Monday, we drove to Carlsbad and saw the Caverns. It was warmer inside the Caverns than it was outside. We continued driving that day and ended up staying the night in Colorado City, Texas. Every night we had to remove all the luggage from the top, since it wasn't secured well. It was like a large canvas bag that straps to the top on the car. Tuesday morning we were up early and to see Citizen's Medical Center in Columbia, Louisiana. Heidi, # 1 daughter, was born there in 1981, when Betsy and I worked there. It was interesting to see what had and what hadn't changed.
We continued on to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where we checked on the motels and found out they were quite a bit more expensive than the other areas we had stayed at. We Inquired and they wanted $75 which we weren't ready to depart with, and the clincher was that it was a smoking room. We continued on down the road and found a very nice motel that had an indoor pool, a continental breakfast, and cost less. There was no way the family was going to let me leave there. After another good nights sleep and a free breakfast, we were on the road again, arriving in Atlanta around 4 to 5 p.m.
We stopped by to see our Russian friends, Nick and Liliya Pleshka, who had moved from Chowchilla to Deluth, Georgia, just a few months earlier. They were most gracious and gave up there bedroom and bed for us. This was quite something, because they live in a 3 bedroom apartment with Nick's parents, and 3 brothers and 2 sisters. They would not hear of us going to a motel for the night, so we settled in. Ww ate our meals in shifts, and when they insisted on us staying the next day and doing something with them and then staying another night we didn't know what to do. Since we are very good friends, we stayed, and went to Stone Mountain Park with them the next day, Thursday. This is a large granite rock that has three confederates carved on it. I can't remember them, but think they were Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and another person. They day was gorgeous and we could see down town Atlanta in the distance.
We were up by 5 on Friday, arriving at Andersonville, Georgia. This place holds great significance to my family, because my great grandfathers brother was held prisoner in the Andersonville Prison during the Civil War. He wrote a book about his ordeal, which we read while going across the country. We saw the outline of the prison, 26 acres, where over 13,000 soldiers died, and saw the South East corner where he describes digging a tunnel to escape, only to have it discovered. We saw the head stones of the prisoners that had died. They were lined up with the edges just about touching. The dead were just buried in an open trench, one next to the other. Tragic.
We continued our trip on to Deltona, Fl (next to Orlando), where we stayed at the home of some people who were missionaries in Africa with Ted's parents. They were in Washington visiting their son and family. We made ourselves quite at home and this was to be the place of our final packing. As we emptied out the car, our things exploded filling up one room. We were now 5 hours from Miami and our "port of departure". We had an enjoyable Saturday which started with the ducks waking us up. The house was located on a small lake and since we had arrived at night we couldn't really see what was around us. The Orlando area was warm and humid. We had called another friend/relative(almost), Nancy Ruiz (Elkins), someone that both Betsy and I grew up knowing in Bolivia. She and her family live near Orlando, so we spent Saturday with them. We ate a delicious meal and then later in the afternoon went to the beach just south of Daytona Beach and did some terrific bird watching. I've never seen so many birds that I couldn't identify, in one place. That evening they took up the a minor league hockey game in Orlando. That was a first for our whole family. It was very interesting. By the time the game was over and we drove back, though a couple of accidents on the freeway, we didn't get to bed until 11:30 pm.
Sunday morning David Gates, my brother-in-law, called. He was coming from Chattanooga and heading back to Guyana, so he spent Sunday night with us near Orlando. We spent Sunday morning packing, and went to Sergio and Nancy's for lunch, then the out carrousel that was starting to deliver some baggage. Once we retrieved all 10 bags we moved all of our baggage to one of the custom inspectors. I had unlocked all 7 duffle bags we had with us, and we handed the customs official the little booklet that I had itemized the content of each bag. He very carefully went through each page and then said to wait a minute while he went over to talk with his supervisor. He returned and said it was OK for us to go. We give thanks to the Lord, for we cleared customs without having to open a single bag. Guyana is known for its high import duty and could have really made it hard on us. We walked out of the airport to the Hot and Humid jungle climate. It poured down on us as we traveled the hour to the Davis Memorial Hospital. The airport is quite a ways out of town. We finally got to bed around 3:30 am. This morning we were awakened by the yelling of 2 scarlet macaws and a dog barking. We finally go up around 8 am. I went into town with David to exchange some money. The rate is 140 Guyanese dollars to 1 US dollar. I'm a millionaire. Georgetown is quite run down and dirty. The last regime was communistic and most of the wealthy and ambitious people left the country. Now they have an elected president and a stable economy, but the people are very poor. The roads have huge chuck holes in them and the rainy season is here. We had to run outside and get the wash off the clothes lines before it got all wet again. It has rained 3 or 4 times today, and the frogs are all in frog heaven. We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment. Becky and David are in one bedroom, Betsy and I in the other, and the 7 children in the living room. Needless to say we have exploded again, all over the place, but hopefully we'll get into some semblance of order soon.
We went shopping today for food. The open market is interesting and very dirty. There are some hole-in-the-wall super markets, but prices are pretty high. Tonight we are sleeping in a bed under a mosquito net. We didn't this morning on our arrival. I guess I was too sleepy to detect any bugs. I've caught 2 lizards so far, and fixed a couple of thing in the house. Someone had one of the bathroom doors with the lock so that you can lock the door from the outside, allowing anyone to come in on you when you're doing whatever it is people do in the bathroom when they lock they door. It's fixed now though. The water in the faucet comes out clear, to the naked eye, but if you see it in the toilet it looks kind of yellow/brownish. At first I thought that someone forgot to flush the toilet, so I flushed it and it was the same color. For our drinking water we let it sit in a 2 to 3 gallon bucket over night, and then have fairly clear water. The area around the hospital is very grown over, and a lot of trash is around, like the whole city. I found a used needle in the back yard of the apartment we're staying in. So goes day 1 in a far off land.
Wednesday Nov.6 David left early this morning to Trinidad. He has a few unfinished things to take care of, and should be back tomorrow night. I listened to Voice of America, in Spanish, and heard the results of the elections. Well at least some of them. We start theday with washing of clothes. That is done in the kitchen sink, by hand, and then put on the clothes line to dry. At least once now we have had to rush out and take them down because it starts to rain. Kara was eaten up by mosquitos. She has a bunch on her knees and elbow where she must have rubbed up against the mosquito net. I kept myself busy finishing the unpacking and putting things in groups- medical supplies, tools, electrical items, books, office items, etc. Then I fixed Becky's sewing machine. The pedal would work only occasionally and then at irregular speeds. Seems instead of a rheostat it has carbon discs that increase the current flow through them when they are pushed together more. I found an old carbon brush from the hospital shop and we have a working machine again. The girls have been playing with the cousins allot. I saw 13 different types of birds from the compound of the David Memorial Hospital today. (cattle egret, black vulture, brown chested martin, ruddy ground dove, great kiskadee, tropical mockingbird, blue-gray tanager, yellow oriole, red-breasted blackbird, smooth billed ani, and in the cages outside- scarlet macaw, red & green macaw, and orange winged parrot).
Thursday, Nov. 7. Happy birthday to Betsy. Again the clothes were washed, at least by some, before breakfast. Then we made plans to go shopping in town. The 10 of us boarded a Toyota van, and by the time we were half way to down town I counted 24 adults and children. It cost 15 U.S. cents each way, so public transportation at least isn't too high. We went to the museum, which was free, and saw many of the countries flora and fauna and other historical items. There were many items from India and the east indian population that is dominant in the country. Next we went to the open market. The girls were overwhelmed by what they saw. Kara said she wanted to go back to the U.S. with uncle David, to stay with grandpa and grandma and aunt Bonnie. We went through the meat market and picked up 2 eyeballs from a cows head. The lady gave them to us for free, but I gave her $40 dollars to buy a soft drink as a good gesture. We purchased some "fig bananas" (finger bananas) and a Guyanese Peach, which was as large as a small grapefruit, Dark red/orange in color, but had the 4 small leaves at the base of the stem and 4 large seeds in it like at persimmon. Inside it was off white, and tasted like a flower (according to Heidi) and had the texture like cream/butter. This fruit was not popular in the house hold, so we won't be seeing it again. Another fruit we picked up was about the size of a medium sized lemon, with a thin red skin, a white flesh and 1 seed about the size of an apricot pit. This you could eat skin and all and the girls like its tart flavor. Mangoes are just starting to ripen, so are still a little expensive. The trees around the hospital are loaded and should be ready in a few weeks. At the end of every day the big event of cooling off and getting rid of the days slime is in order. We have a large marbled plastic bath tub that has the sides and top and other areas screwed together. The plumbing in a 1/2"pvc pipe coming out of the wall with a T. Going down in line is an L leading to a faucet, and going up in line is a valve then farther up the shower head. This was you can run either or both at the same time depending on which valve you open. The eggs here have a very pale looking yoke. I don't know if its because of a nutrient deficiency or just a species feature. One thing the girls do enjoy is the powdered milk. We buy the full cream/whole milk. That tasted better to them that the skim. We've seen it 25 Kg. sacks but haven't purchased it that was yet. We are still looking around for different items to buy. I'm sure they have them somewhere, but we haven't seen any shovels and other gardening supplies, mattresses, or plastic wares. We'll have to keep asking around.
I went to the airport with Becky to pick up David. We didn't get back until 11:30 pm. The roads a full of holes, narrow, and impossible to navigate when the vehicles coming in the opposite direction have there high beams on. The drivers are quite inconsiderate it seems. Becky wanted me to drive, but a told here I could see myself learning the drive-on-the-left at night. The cars have the gear shift in the same place, so you have to shift left handed, and the turn signals are where our windshield wipers would be. The side mirrors are mounted way up front above the wheels, on the fenders. I know I'm just a spoiled kid and don't like the thought of changing my driving customs. Today I identified 2 more birds. A striated heron and a tropical kingbird. Thus ends this first letter.
We are enquiring about getting to Kaikan. At present it seems the least expensive way is to fly to Kamarang at U.S. 50 cents a pound for persons and bags. We are thinking if we take the bare minimum we can save money. >From there to Kaikan it is a 3 day hike. Most of our group is in favor of this plan, so we are asking around about it. Many of the church people around here think we are crazzy to even think of trying to hike in, yet the church members there do it frequently, and would probably be very glad to help us get to there village by carrying our things. It sounds like the book we read "Jewels from Green Hell" about the Cott's who walked in to the interior here.
Love, Ted Burgdorff & Family
You may write to Ted at: gates@andrews.edu
Last Updated: March 10, 1997