The Big Move

So we’re approaching the end of our Pre-Service Training (PST), and I can’t believe that it has already been two months since we stepped foot in Lesotho. It seems like it was just yesterday, and at the same time I almost can’t remember what my life was like before I moved here… The world of indoor plumbing and private cars has never seemed further away, and yet, quite frankly, I can’t imagine a time in my life when I’ve been happier or more fulfilled. It’s a difficult feeling of contentment to describe…

But for all of us current-trainees (ie. soon to be Peace Corps Volunteers!) our temporarily, stable and “normal” lives in Berea District are about to be uprooted yet again… And this time we’re making the “Big Move.” It’s debatable whether the most difficult part of this adventure is already behind us or yet to come… Either way, anxieties and excitement are high in the village as we approach our “Swearing In Ceremony” on Monday afternoon. We will officially become Peace Corps Volunteers when we take our oath… Yet I know many of us feel that the real test of whether we can count ourselves among PCVs world-wide, will be proven in the next few days and weeks, as we scatter to the far corners of Lesotho and attempt to make a new place in a foreign culture our home.

For me, I think this is the real challenge moving forward. Our Country Director, Kathy, told us yesterday that the next few months will be the part where “you prove to Peace Corps, and more importantly, to yourself that you can do this.” I swear I could have heard a pin drop in that little church. I’m nearly certain we each felt our stomachs shift slightly at the thought of what lies ahead… The magnitude of this next step is overwhelming… For every single trainee, years of waiting in the U.S., months of packing and repacking, countless amounts of tax-payer dollars, and several thousand students across Lesotho all come down to this next step. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for…. It’s the answer to a question that has plagued each of us since we first hit “Enter” on our Peace Corps applications months or years ago. CAN I DO THIS? How will I cope with isolation? How will I make this new place in a foreign culture my home? Will my fledgling Sesotho skills be enough to carry me through the plethora of unimaginable situations that lie in front of me? Will I feel safe there? Will it ever feel like MY family, MY home, MY village? Will I be able to make a lasting difference in the lives of even one of my students?

I am lucky, in that I have no doubts that I will make it through my two years of service… (In fact, it’s even already crossed my mind that I might not be ready to leave in two-years!) For me, it is only a question of “how” I will survive, not “if.” I am much too stubborn and determined to leave under anything other than extreme circumstances, and I do truly love it here already. But despite where each of us is mentally or emotionally- We are not in this alone. Which for me, is a source of incredible calm and stability as I face this next step.

I could never sing the praises of the Peace Corps Lesotho Staff and current PCVs enough. It is unbelievable the amazing out-pouring of support and love we’ve received throughout PST, and for that I’m eternally thankful. They truly are a family here, and I am honored to be joining it. I feel prepared… Thanks to countless hours of technical trainings, safety and security briefings, health lectures, practice teaching, one-on-one Sesotho tutoring, cultural integration trainings, and field trips across Lesotho. I can’t imagine fitting one more nugget of information into my exhausted and overwhelmed brain. Ha!

The end result, however, is that I am ready to face this next challenge. WE are ready. WE will do this together… With a lot of laughter, consistent support from our new mentors and friends in Peace Corps, and with a huge dose of resiliency. WE will do this.

Thank you to everyone that helped us get here!

Khotsong! (Peace!) –Mary Beth