We officially became Peace Corps Volunteers today! In the presence of the Governor of Ouarzazate, the U.S. Ambassador, the Peace Corps Morocco Country Director and all the LCF’s and staff we raised our right hands and swore to uphold the constitution and committed to do our best to serve the people of our communities and Morocco.

It was a nice ceremony, short, sweet and to the point. Our country director spoke (in Darija), the Governor spoke (also in Darija) and 1 student from each of the three languages (Darija, Tashlheet, and Tamazight) gave a speech and the Ambassador did the honors. It felt great to be a part of it all, the last hooray for the group as a whole. Tomorrow we head out to our final sights and I know I may not see many of these people (especially health volunteers) again until close of service.

After the ceremony there was a little gathering in the reception hall, we got to speak with the governor our program staff and newly inducted volunteers. We also got invited to tour the movie studios in Ouarzazate where things like Jewel of the Nile, The Mummy, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator and many others were filmed. It has been a really nice day and I know tomorrow will be bitter sweet.

    

Dave, Sami and Governor of Ouarzazate                                                     

                                                                                                Dave, Sami, Naima, Cara and Mohssine

These last 2 months of training have been a roller coaster which I know isn’t even close to over yet. In fact I believe it’s just speeding up. One of the great things about training was that even during the difficult times, I could always count on coming back to Ouarzazate in a few weeks time to see everyone and share our experiences. Now we will be so far apart from some of those people whom I have come to look to for advice or even just a laugh.