Stagiaires no more!
On Friday, fifty of us former stagiaires (trainees) swore in as Peace Corps volunteers. As is traditional in Benin, at a big fête you wear même tissus (the same fabric) among some group you are a part of. As the only Information and Communications Technology volunteer from this year, I didn’t really have anyone to pick tissus with, so I wore the fabric of the business volunteers, since I have been training with them almost nonstop for 9 weeks anyway. As another show of solidarity, most of the male stagiaires grew some sort of mustache for the occasion.
These are some group shots with nearly everyone accounted for.
Environment
Small Enterprise Development + ICT
Yves (the program director for SED and ICT) is to my right.
Rural Community Health
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
The folks from my host family who came. They are always smiling until someone says they are about to take a photo. It’s one cultural aspect that you get used to quickly, but I don’t think I will ever stop smiling.
Me with “Bak”, the coordinator for SED and ICT. Bak ran the SED technical training and still found time to arrange for me to give two 90 minute presentations in French at a local Cyber, and found the owner of a local computer store who was willing to talk to me about what is available. And he did most of this while he was fasting for Ramadan.
Lucie was in charge of stage this year. She is also the SED program director in Madagascar, but Madagascar evacuated earlier this year, so she was available. What she lacks in size, she more than makes up for in energy, intelligence and enthusiasm. She got the loudest applause of anyone during the ceremony.
And remember folks: “The views expressed here are mine personally and not necessarily those of the Peace Corps or the US Government.”
