I Swear...

(The newest Small Enterprise Development Peace Corps Volunteers of Cameroon)

So, yesterday after nearly three months of training, my 42 fellow staige-mates and I, all in our matching pagne*, took our official oath and became real-life Peace Corps Volunteers. I’m pretty sure that was my first time ever raising my right hand and swearing an oath. It felt fairly strange -- mostly because of the little unexpected pangs of patriotism it brought with it. I said good-bye to my gracious host-family, and with our 7:00 curfew finally lifted, I celebrated with the other newest Cameroonian PCVs for our final night together in Good Times Bafia.

Today, I am in Bafoussam – a town in the West Region several hours north of my village of Njombe – staying in a PC Volunteer transit-house (my fellow volunteers who are also here are currently making “pizza sandwiches” which is a really big deal and I’m super stoked). Not sure how much (if any) internet access I will have once I get to village, so I wanted to go ahead and get one more post up – it might be a while until the next one. The next few months will definitely be pretty interesting (…and by interesting, I mostly mean challenging). We are encouraged not to do “work” when we first get to post, but rather we should just get to know our community and the people in it (and for me, continue French learning). It’s definitely going to be a lot of work.

My African life, then, really begins now. And with daunting realities like only knowing sub-par French, the lack of having any American friend close by, opening a new post, having an outdoor latrine, and the feeling that I don’t really know what I’m doing all lingering over me, I don’t feel like I’m ready. But, then again, I’m a little ready – at least ready for all the new things I will be learning and for those adventures that surely will be responsible for bringing that much needed education.

Maybe my next post, after being in my new home, will be more interesting and have a little more substance – maybe. Can’t make too many promises. But, one last thing (and actually most importantly) – I am now Tantie Elizabeth!! Mary and Louise came two weeks ago (good job Katie). I’m glad to be in Africa, but really, really wish I could be with these beautiful baby girls. But until I can, Seth and Katie are going to make up cool stories about Tantie Elizabeth to tell them, and Uncle Gabriel and Aunt Rebekah are going to send photos of the babies to me all the time. Right?? Right??

*Pagne is the fabric that many Africans use to make their traditional clothes – comes in all sorts of colors and patterns. And in Cameroon, it is customary for groups to wear matching pagne for special events or occasions. Yes, we are aware our 50th Anniversary pagne is not attractive. And another side note, even though you can have custom-made pagne clothes, the end product isn’t necessarily what you wanted. But, you just got to roll with it.

The Superlative Committee Chair(wo)men & "Real Good" People

Gathering before swearing-in

Some of my Bafian host-family -- Constantia, my host-sister on the far left, was especially good to me