{"id":205,"date":"2013-08-19T20:03:43","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T18:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.traviswohlrab.com\/?p=205"},"modified":"2023-05-03T00:33:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T05:33:34","slug":"v-from-trainee-to-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/v-from-trainee-to-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"V. From Trainee to Volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Khosto bakhotsi!
\nHello friends!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

August 13th<\/sup>, 2013- I, along with 18 others, became official Peace Corps Volunteers for the United States and the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. It\u2019s a great feeling, that’s for sure. Pre-service training seemed much longer than the 10 weeks it was. However, it provided a great foundation of skills and cultural training to build off in the next 2 years of my service. I\u2019m very thankful for the hospitality put forth by my host family Thamae, the village of Ha T\u0161itso, the Language and Culture Facilitators (LCFs); most specifically \u2018M\u2019e Malineo and \u2018M\u2019e Makani, and the great PC staff consisting of Americans and Host Country Nationals (HCNs).<\/p>\n

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Peace Corps Lesotho Healthy Youth 2013<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The swearing-in ceremony to mark the graduation from training was spectacular and like nothing I’ve ever experienced. All the trainees were provided with traditional Basotho clothing (pictured right). My family was honored to host the entire event. It was attended by all three training villages and their respective chiefs, the Director of Peace Corps Lesotho, Wendy Van Damme, the US Ambassador to Lesotho, Carl Fox, and the Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation, the honorable Ntate Thesele \u2018Maseribane. The entire event was recorded for Lesotho television, and while none of us got to see the broadcast, some volunteers were approached in the following days with strangers exclaiming how they saw us. It began with the national anthems of Lesotho and the United States. Then we were welcomed as volunteers with introductory speeches by all the dignitaries present. In between speeches, various groups of villagers performed traditional dances. We then did the official swear-in by taking the official oath of service and receiving our certificates. After the proceedings had completed we were treated to an equisite lunch consisting of chicken, mutton, rice, papa (cornmeal), all kinds of veggies, and bread pudding for dessert.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to our Director of Programming and Training, Eric Goldman, who took the following superb pictures and video of the entire event. Below is an album followed by some clips.<\/p>\n

Peace Corps\u00a0Lesotho Healthy Youth 2013:
\n– – http:\/\/imgur.com\/a\/fPhyX<\/a><\/p>\n

Peace Corps Lesotho Healthy Youth ’13 Swearing-in<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n