The Farewell Party for Our Hosts

Our eight weeks with our home-stay families is winding down as training nears its end, and Saturday we trainees put on a farewell-and-thank-you party for our host families. The Peace Corps bought a whole cow (slaughtered somewhere else), and village women came to cook the bogobe and several kinds of vegetables, including butternut squash, green beans, cabbage, and spinach. It was a traditional braai, with lots of grilled meat and chicken -- cooking the meat is a job that men traditionally do over an open fire. David proudly demonstrated his skill at grilled chicken.

I wore a traditional dress that my host mother had made for me. It was quite a hit, especially with the local women who came up and hugged me and told me how good I looked.

The trainees put on a show for the hosts and we gave our families certificates of thanks for hosting us for the last seven weeks. Many of the hosts got up and talked about how much they had liked having the trainees. One tall, large woman told us that her husband had died a few years ago and she was lonely now. She liked having the trainees in her home and she had a couple living with her. She had decided to give her male trainee the name of her late husband so, she said, she felt she had her husband back for a short while. The trainee in question turned bright red, but it was really very touching.

Many of the speakers began by singing a short song. The audience knew these songs and joined in. The wife of the tribal chief was present and she, too, began her talk with a song.

The trainees put on a hilarious skit. It was about an African family that takes in a trainee and all the funny things that happen. The trainee asks where the shower is and the host says the only time she will see a shower is when it rains. It went on to exaggerate the amount of the trainee's luggage and the difficulties of language training and was quite a hoot.

One trainee gave a short speech in Setswana and another read an original poem.

After the program we had a big dinner with lots of food. Besides the meat the men had cooked we had vegetables and salads that local women had made and a custard for dessert. It was all very good. We are going to miss our host mother and our neighbors.