On the 18th of June in 2015, the 31 Peace Corps Trainees of Namibia Group 41 officially became Peace Corps Volunteers. Yee haw. The training staff were all very pleased with us that NO ONE went home during Pre-Service Training. Apparently, they usually lose up to 10%, and sometimes more, during the process.
Graduation day is the same day as
moving-to-your-new-home-for-the-next-two-years day, so it was quite busy. (Well, actually, I and many colleagues moved
to our new homes on graduation day, but some people moved to temporary quarters
until their new homes were ready, or stayed one more night in Okahandja because
they were moving someplace very far away and needed a full day’s worth of
daylight to make the drive. So. There’s always a wide range of experience in
Peace Corps service, even in the same country, specialization and time period.) I jotted a few notes a day or two later, and
took several photos of the ceremony part, and saved my program, so I may be able to reconstruct a
bit, from the distant vantage of December.
Trainers prepare the stage. |
Two days before graduation – which Peace Corps calls Swearing In – we
met the site supervisors with whom we’d be working for the next two years. (Most of us, of course. Again, some supervisors did not attend; a few
sent counterparts instead; and many PCVs will interact with supervisors only
rarely, spending most of their time solo or with counterparts.) My supervisor is a very cheerful native
Namibian man of about 40 who has worked in capacity development for a decade or
two. He is very excited about the
opportunities we have to assist local entrepreneurs, both individuals and
collectives. He likes to joke and laugh,
so I’m very comfortable with him.
Our whole group – 31 trainees and almost as many supervisors – did a
series of exercises on Monday and Tuesday to help set expectations and support
our efforts to work together effectively.
For me, nothing surprising emerged from those training sessions, and I
think my supervisor felt the same. I
think the most useful and the most fun part was getting to know each other, and
other supervisors from other parts of the country, over lunches and tea breaks.
On Swearing In Day itself, we had to be at the conference center – a
new one; not our trusty training center – well before the ceremony started,
probably to ensure everything was in place when the dignitaries arrived. Many of the incipient PCVs wore Namibian
clothes, either traditional attire or contemporary outfits they had ordered
from a fashion designer and seamstress who was one of our Community Economic
Development business partners. We
chattered together and took each others’ pictures for an hour or two, and then
took our seats for the ceremony.
We opened, of course, with the African Union, Namibian and US anthems,
which all of us PCTs knew well after singing them at least weekly for nine
weeks. Then the Okahandja Youth Choir
took the floor and demonstrated how real
singers sing. Benna, our training
manager, presented us, and Danielle, our country director, accepted us, and the
Peace Corps Regional Director for Africa, Dick Day, celebrated us and all those
who supported us through training. Then
Danielle led us in our pledge of service, which we had already had to read and
sign, along with an oath of loyalty to the US – a modified version of the ones
sworn by federal employees and military personnel. At that point, we were officially Peace Corps
Volunteers, and it was all so exciting we needed the OYC back up for another
song or two.
More speeches – lovely and touching and rife with the metaphors of
school graduation ceremonies; all apt.
In accordance with Namibian mores, each speaker began by thanking all
the other speakers, special guests, and three or four people ‘in absentia’ – those
were the dignitaries who had planned to attend but had to cancel at the last
minute, who included the US ambassador and the local police chief. After two to three minutes of thanking, the
speaker says, “The protocol is observed,” and moves into the unique part of his
or her remarks. It makes for a longer,
slower ceremony than one might find elsewhere.
Benna, Danielle, Dick, Local Official subbing for Honorable Councilor Steve Biko Boois in absentia |
Two volunteers made thank you speeches in their new languages – one Afrikaans,
one Silosi – and three recited a poem they had written, together, in their
three new languages: Afrikaans, Khoikhoigoab and Rukwangali. People cheered like crazy. The Okahandja Youth Choir performed an impromptu
song when the P.A. system went wobbly and we sat waiting for it to be fixed. We did all the anthems again and then went
outside on another gorgeous day for a lavish buffet that was not quite lavish
enough to feed everyone. Many of us new
volunteers looked a bit bemused, as the realization that training is done and
we’re off on the independent, on-our-own part of the adventure. Two of us will be living in huts made from
reeds.
Three days after being sworn in, I took this photo of the desert sky from my new back yard. 21 June 2015. |
Six months later, as I type this, we have a new country director (the impressive and delightful Danielle resigned the day after our swearing-in), and four of my Group 41 friends are back in the States to stay. Winter has turned to summer, and the difference isn't great: nights are warm and days are too hot, instead of cool-to-cold nights and perfectly comfortable days.
(Belated) Congratulations, Ms PeaceCorpsVolunteer! Big day for all of you!
ReplyDelete100% of the group graduating - goes to show what a great set of people that must have been. Even if some of them have returned to their old home(?) in the meantime.
Desert sky from your new back yard - you see those colours of the sky in pictures in magazines or travel brochures and you think they can't be real - THEY ARE!
ReplyDeleteIf you fail to say 'the protocol is observed', have you failed to observe the protocol?
ReplyDelete