A Fond Farewell: September 17

On our last weekend in Bundu the Peace Corps threw a farewell party for our host families in order to formally thank them for their hospitality. The party began with a three hour ceremony in which the trainees delivered speeches in native languages, acted out skits and sang songs, traditional dancers and singers performed and the host families were awarded certificates of appreciation. Joe was the star of the ‘yebo’ skit in which the language instructors kept asking him to perform certain tasks, such as taking care of a baby, holding various bags, marrying a woman, and participating in a traditional ceremony, to which ignorant Joe kept responding “yebo” (yes). The skit concluded with Joe being lead away by two women while Kelli was trying to figure out what was going on. Joe’s punch line was, “guess I should have learned more in language class than yebo”. It was especially funny to us that Joe was picked for this skit, considering his difficulties with foreign languages. Following the ceremony, we all feasted on rice, umratha, boiled vegetables and beef from the cow that was sacrificed for the ceremony. We all had a great time and everyone enjoyed calling Joe ‘yebo’ for the rest of the day.

pictures: Farewell celebration; "Yebo" skit; Traditional Ndebele dancers; our sisters