So today was our official swearing in ceremony! We are now all Official Peace Corps Kenya Volunteers!

We had a small but nice ceremony this morning at the American Ambassadors residence here in Nairobi. The Ambassador, Mike Ranneberger, was in attendance and administered our swearing in oath. Also in attendance was our Country Director (CD), Steve Wisecarver, along with all of our excellent training staff, our new Site Supervisors and/or Site Counterparts, and two parents from Oloitokitok to represent our host families. Among the other guests in attendance were Dr. Tom Wolf, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) who served in Kenya in 1964 and now works as a leading politcal analyst and consultant in Kenya, and two representatives from the Kenyan Government sectors of Small Enterprise Development and Public Health.

Below i have posted some photos of todays events. The first is one of what we like to refer as "The Family," its my closets group of friends here in Kenya. The second picture is of me and the Peace Corps Kenya CD. The third is of me and my new counterpart, Dennis. There were many other pictures taken by the volunteers and media but i have no way to get those now...i will post them if i can get ahold of them. You may also be able to find an article or two, along with pictures, if you search the intrenet for Kenyan Media sites; i recommend checking the major Kenyan newspapers and television stations.

On a more personal note, tomorrow morning we will all be departing Nairobi in different directions. I will travel with the other two volunteers going to the Lower Rift Valley Province, their supervisor along with Dennis. It should take us approximately 2-3 hours to reach Narok and then Dennis and I will continue on together to our site in Oloolaimutia, which is about another 3 hours further. Lets hope none of my luggage walks off (gets stolen) during our journey! Haha.

I anticipate many tears tomorrow, from the girls in our group of course, haha. It will be sad to see each other go, knowing we will very soon be all alone...some of us more than others however. Some volunteers are very close together and will therefore inevitably see one another on a regular basis, others of us will be much more isolated and left to fend off our emotions alone... We have big life changes ahead of us, i hope i am ready for them (i think many volunteers may have not given their futures enough thought in regards to preparing themselves to be alone). The fortunate thing, thanks to some reorganization of the training program, is that we will be back together in 6 weeks for In-Service-Training (IST).

Im excited for the adventure ahead of me and i will do my best to make regular postings from my site. I plan to spend the first week setting up a home and from then on, until IST, i will conduct a Community Needs Assesment (CNA) to determine what types of projects i will be conducting at my site. Also, the CNA will influence what i learn at IST 6 weeks from now.

All i can tell you for sure is that i will be walking alot. Dennis said the first couple weeks we will walk to close villages then, when im in shape, we will start walking to the distant villages. Also, he plans to have me wearing the traditional Maasai clothing once at site!

P.s. My FB posting about "eating REAL doritos" was from the Ambassadors residence...they had REAL doritos for us to enjoy! Unforunately, we dont have the proper credentials to go shopping at the Embassy "Morale Store," the only place (we know of in Kenya) with real American doritos... :o(


F. Porter Nellans Jr. - From Kenya With Care