The Peace Corps Swearing-In Speech

I was quite honored to give this speech at our swearing-in ceremony on September 12th.  I wrote it in English but read it aloud in Sepedi.  I thought about posting the Sepedi version but this one is more suitable for the blog…

As we gather for our swearing-in, I am struck that we have, collectively, reached the end of a beginning.  No more will we all meet daily here at the college with the novelty of South Africa still fresh during every lunch break, every taxi ride and every new conversation.  When we return to meet as a group in the coming months, South Africa will feel even more like the home in which we live and less like the land to which we adjust.  When we wake, we will feel less like we are away from home and more like we are at home. 

Indeed, it is truly a unique opportunity to be able to serve one’s home country while living in and learning from another.  Personally, through these first two months, it has become increasingly clear to me that each of us needs the warmth, opportunities and acceptance of South Africa much more than South Africa needs us.  By accepting our invitation to serve we have each left  those at home who are often curious but more often worried.  Often proud but not as often jealous.  And although it is perhaps left as an artifact of the distant past, each and every one of us as volunteers has worked exceedingly hard to be sitting here today.  For some of us, the day we swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer has been over a year coming.  And certainly this is true for those of you in the Peace Corps staff who have worked to make sure that we are here.  Through the long application, the securing of references, the medical clearance, the insane overseas flight and the two months of learning and patience, we are here today feeling accomplished.  And yet we have barely begun.

 While I know that expectations were never encouraged prior to our arriving here in South Africa, I feel quite comfortable in saying that we each now have a better understanding of what to expect in the months and years to come.  I myself have repeatedly tried to avoid expectations up until this point.  However, upon reflection, I have realized that perhaps there is a benefit for us to indulge in expectations now.  Indeed, if our language teachers, training coordinators, drivers, and staff here at Marapyane are indicative of the people with whom we will be working with in the next two years, we can expect to feel welcomed, supported, and loved.  And if the interactions and experiences we have shared with each other here in Marapyane continue to resurface within the challenges and opportunities of our next two years, than we can and should embrace the expectation that the coming years will be two of the most interesting and rewarding years we shall live.

 

~ by bernish on November 19, 2008.