Swearing-In Ceremony

It’s official… we’re Peace Corps Volunteers. Out of the 58 that arrived in Ethiopia on July 3^rd, 57 of us made it through training. I’m so proud of us. It seemed like we would never get through 11 weeks, but we did. And as I sit here in my new home without any of the people I trained with I can say that time really does fly. So let me explain our swearing in ceremony. 

It took place on Friday, September 20^th at the US embassy in Addis Ababa. Our Peace Corps country director, Greg Engle, gave a speech. Then, three Peace Corps trainees gave remarks in the respective languages that we have learned in training, Amharic, Afan Oromo, and Tigrigna. The US Ambassador-Designate, Patricia M. Haslach was present and each one of us walked on stage to shake her hand along with our country director’s. As all the speeches were made, I couldn’t help recognizing what we had accomplished.

The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960 when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged the students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. Out of that inspiration an agency arose out of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. Since that time, Peace Corps has served in 139 countries. There are hundreds of organizations working in international development that are similar to the Peace Corps. What makes Peace Corps unique from the rest of those organizations is that volunteers live with the communities they help. They live just like the people around them in very similar environments. Peace Corps volunteers are out in the field 24/7. So as I sat listening to our director and ambassador explain the meaning of the Peace Corps and its mission I had to hold back tears because I couldn’t believe that I was part of such a huge legacy and important mission.

After the ceremony there was a reception for volunteers and invited guests. We were treated to delicious foods, sushi and brownies to name a couple. If you ask certain Volunteers this may have been their favorite part of the event seeing as how we’ve been craving foreign food since about a week after we arrived in Ethiopia. I joked during training and said that the only thing that was getting me through hours of language classes and technical sessions was the rumor going around Peace Corps Ethiopia that we would get brownies at the swearing-in ceremony. Well, the rumor was true and those brownies tasted amazing.

As is tradition, a few current Volunteers took out the new Volunteers to celebrate that night. We all packed out bags since we were leaving early in the morning and put on our best outfits. We then went out in Addis Ababa to celebrate with drinks and dancing. Out of the 57 new volunteers, about 48 of us went out together. It was so nice to be with everyone in a non-stressful environment.  I think at one point all of us were dancing in the club, letting loose and getting a little crazy. 11 weeks of training will do that to you.

But it was a bittersweet day. Sweet because we had all made it through training and got to spend an amazing day together. Bitter because the next morning we would all be going our separate ways, and as new volunteers are not allowed to  leave their site for 3 months, we knew that none of us would see each other until our In-Service training, January 1^st, 2014. That date seems so far away, but as I’ve said plenty of times, time goes by very fast and if we all made it through training, I have no doubt that all of us can get through the next 3 months alone at site. Many of us have formed bonds that will last a lifetime. We will need each other more than ever the next 3 months as this will prove to be one of the most challenging periods of our lives thus far.