April 2007- Pre-Service Training

On April 20, 43 new trainees arrived in Botswana. The volunteers range in ages from 22-62, 12 male and 33 female Peace Corps Volunteers from different parts of the United States. We spent the weekend in orientation at the Oasis Hotel and then moved to the training villages to meet our home stay families on April 22.

The Home Stay Matching Ceremony was filled with excitement and anxiety. The Chief (Kgosi) of Tamaga, Police, Peace Corps Country Director and Administrative Staff, Embassy Consuls, Language and Cultural Facilitators were all present during the ceremony. We entered a school in Tamaga where all the host families were sitting on the right hand side of the room. As we walked in the room, the families were pointing, laughing, singing, trying to guess what volunteer they will host for 2 months.

My name was called after Neo Mokgosi, she stood up and gave me a big hug and a flower. She didn’t speak much English so immediately started speaking Setswana. My Setswana name is Tuelo meaning ‘payment’. Batswana families name their children according to what is happening in their life. So for example, you will find someone with a name of Mistake. I was so nice to drop my bags after traveling and living in and out of hotels and airplanes for the past week.

The Pre-Service Training helped guide us in health, safety, Ministry of Health Policies, Peace Corps Administrative Policies, community capacity building, government structure, language, culture, gender, and international development.