The status has changed… I’m no longer a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) but rather a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). I have the official volunteer status. Woot Woot!

About a week ago my Auntie came into my room with a bundle of blue fabric… shiny blue fabric… with spider web designs and gold star things all over it… She told me that this is the material I would be wearing to my swearing in ceremony, and that I at once must go to the tailor to get fitted for a dress… yes ma’am.

Fast forward to August 12, 2010

I got up to start getting ready for the big day… the day were we all become official volunteers, where we move from our home stay families home to our new homes… I put the well made dress on that my family had custom made for me, only to walk out my front door to see my aunt wearing a dress made of the same material as me, as well as my sister and her little 2 year old girl… Amazing… matching family moment (I felt like I was in a Lends End Catalog).

We are the 49^th group to be sworn into Ghana to serve as volunteers. With Ghana being the first country that Peace Corps ever set out to serve, we are all ‘ready’ (I say that with some apprehension) to tackle our main projects and continue to make Ghana better for its people and the world.

The “Swearing in Ceremony” was almost comical. Done in true Ghanaian style, with starting an hour late, name introductions (almost annoying), formal greetings, and random interruptions along the way (like when the US Ambassador drove up about an hour late, they drove her through the middle of the ceremony and then had to stop the speech that was being given to introduce her to the audience… weird). Almost every family gave their host child an outfit to wear to the ceremony, and it was as if there was some sort of competition going on of who could look the ‘best’ (and by best I mean the most ridiculous).

The ceremony was filled with speeches, certificates, drumming and African Dancing. It was filled with many congratulations, as well as many sad good byes (we may all be in Ghana but can’t hang out on a regular basis anymore). It was to honor the people who helped take care of us for the first 10 weeks (I can’t believe that it’s already been 10 weeks… 2 years to go) and to recognize all the hard work that the people of Peace Corps Ghana did to ‘prepare’ us for the next two years.