May 9th, 2014

On May 9th, 2014 I participated in a ceremony at the house of the Lewis Luekens, the current US Ambassador to Senegal, in which I took the oath to officially become a Peace Corps volunteer.  After 2 long months of intensive language, cultural, health and safety training I am finally moving into my village tomorrow where I will be living for the next two years.

A picture is worth a thousand words so here a few to capture the whirlwind of the last few months of training...

My CBT (Community-Based Training) host family's home and my home for the last 2 months in Mbour, Senegal.

My host family's sheep that regularly attempted to eat my clothing off the clothes line.

Four of my beautiful CBT host sisters on the day of their eldest sister's baby's baptism (from left to right: Fista, Aja, Aminata, Mami)

My CBT host father and his first grandchild at 3 days old.

Some spunky neighborhood girls who taught my to dance at my host niece's baptism.

Me and baby Jameela on the day of her baptism/naming ceremony.

My host sister, Fista, making beignets. NOLA is never too far away...

CBT Family Party at the Thies training center after the completion of training (From left to right: my host sister Mami, my fellow PCV/host sister Kadi, My host mother, myself).

Lamine Savane, my LCF (language-cultural facilitator), and myself.

Some really great people (From left to right: Arielle Kempinsky, Becca Singleton, Tess Komarek, me).

May 9th, 2014 - Swear in of the newest class of health/CED PCVs at the Ambassador Lewis Leukins' house in Dakar, Senegal

The "Gou Crew" - aka the PCVs who are all headed to Kedougou for service - alongside our Peace Corps Country director and former Kedougou volunteer, Chris Hedrick. (From left to right in the back: Michael Lachance, Aaron Persing, Chris Hedrick, me, Nicole Aspros. From left to right in the front: Caroline Johnson, Kadi Magassa, Arielle Kempinsky, Tess Komarek, Laurie Ohlstein).

Me and Mamadou, the health program director

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, I guess a video must be worth a million. The entire ceremony was broadcast on Senegalese TV.