It’s Official: Our Swearing-In Ceremony, September 21

The day before our official swearing in-ceremony, we all packed up our belongings and headed back to the youth center for one last night in the rondavales. Joe went over early as he was making another trip to Pretoria to help return trainees’ computer hardware items (proved useless with the USB cords most of us brought) and to help shop for our celebratory BBQ dinner. Kelli packed up our bags, made more difficult by our newly purchased items and the 40 pounds of books, medical kits, mosquito nets and water filters given to us by the PC and relaxed with the other trainees for the remainder of the afternoon at the youth center. It was fun to reacquaint ourselves with the NGO volunteers as we had seen them only 2 other times after moving in with our host families. The evening progressed with the return of the Pretoria trip, hamburgers and hot dogs, stories, showers, a call from Kelli’s dad, and early birthday presents for Kelli that Joe had purchased in Pretoria.

We awoke the next morning in the same rondavale that had accommodated us during our first week in Africa enthusiastic to start the next part of our journey. We dressed in the nicest clothes that we had brought (thanks Christi for picking these out for us before we left!) and jumped in the Peace Corps cumbi’s that whisked us to Zitabiseni (the same resort where we had our principals’ workshop). The Deputy Ambassador to the U.S. Embassy, a representative from the department of education, two trainees and our country director all gave moving speeches during our ceremony. The woman from the department of education spoke about South Africa’s distant and recent history, connecting us to the first humans and the freedom fighters and emphasizing the importance of team work. Our PCT representative made us all proud by writing and masterfully delivering a speech in Zulu (clicks and all) which made the audience laugh, cry, clap and shout with joy. Lisa, our country director, encouraged us all to write down our goals for becoming a Peace Corps volunteer so that we could continually refer back to them over the roller coaster that will be our next two years. We also sang both of our national anthems and recited the oath that officially confirmed us as Peace Corps Volunteers. The day continued with a delicious buffet lunch, good-bye’s, the incredible task of fitting all of our luggage into our principal’s car (successfully completed with the help of a neighboring truck), and finally arriving back in Vezubuhle for the start of our two year adventure. We were pleasantly surprised and extremely excited by the sight of two double beds and two wardrobes awaiting us in our new home. The day concluded with dinner with our new family and sweet dreams of the future.

picture: Day 1 of 736