Swearing In Speech

I FINALLY uploaded my speech at the Swearing in Ceremony. I also gave in and made facebook albums.
You can find it on the side link video bar, or here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R9_QaNCzZk&feature=youtube_gdata

And here is the written version:

"Honorable Governor General, Prime Minister, Peace Corps Staff Members, distinguished guests, friends and Volunteers;                                

This is the bad thing about being the last to speak, you feel like everything has already been said. 

Welcome and thank you for being here today on what promises to be an unforgettable moment for all of the members of the 80^th class of the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean.

Since the first day that we landed in this beautiful federation, St. Kitts & Nevis has been warm (and I mean that in both meanings of the word) and welcoming. Sure, there has been a lot of heat,  a lot of mosquitoes and new dialects to adjust to. But there have also been a lot of friendly personalities, welcoming attitudes, and who can forget the natural beauty of the federation. with the lush mountains on one side and the gorgeous ocean on the other. There has also been the completely different sense of breathtaking on our rides with the reckless bus drivers.  

One of the Peace Corps slogans is: How far will you go? Well, in actual distance we may not have gone as far as we could have in comparison to some of the other countries the Peace Corps serves in. But in our actions, both what we have and have not done, by being here today about to be sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers, I can say we have all gone very far indeed by leaving our friends, families, homes and everything that made up our lives; to make new ones here.

We all believe that we want to make the world a better place. But what sets us apart is that we don’t believe that change needs to be on a large scale to make a difference. Which is why each of us in the class of EC80 strives to make at least a small difference every day, even if one day that small difference is simply bringing a smile to the face of a Kittitian child.

In the past few weeks of training especially we have learnt a lot. And not to take away from our amazing trainers, but a lot of it has been outside the classroom than in. Little things that set us apart from the tourists. Little things that add up to make all the difference. Will has learnt where and where not to sit on the bus. Tiffany is fitting right in with her Kittitian timing (that’s my nice way of saying stop being late Tiffany). I am learning to come to terms with the thousands of monkeys slowly taking over.

I think special thanks go out to all of our incredible trainers for having the patience to teach us invaluable skills that we will carry with us throughout our next two years and even after. From working with schools and youth development, to safety, security and health, to program management and NGO development, we have learned a lot from you.

Special thanks also go out to all of the wonderful community members that opened up their homes to us. You shared your meals, family events, church services, friends, conversations and time. Your kindness has been priceless and I know that all of us have cherished the last seven weeks. 

On behalf of my fellow EC80 members, I would especially like to extend an extremely grateful thank you to our dedicated Peace Corps Staff Members who made it possible for us to stand up and be sworn in as volunteers today. Special thanks go out to our staff on island: Vicky, Michele and Mavis, who despite being sick at different times, worked incredibly hard to help us get through training.

I know we can all say we’ve been waiting for this day for a really long time and I think some of us are still in disbelief. This ceremony is a little bittersweet because we’ve lost three of our trainees due to unfortunate circumstances. But I can safely say you will have to pry the rest of us away after everything we’ve been through to get here. And honestly, we are in love with the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis and are only sad that each new day means one less day of our time here.

That being said, we look forward to spending the next two years being a part of your communities, ranging from St. Pauls, to Tabernacle, to Gingerland, and working together for our common goals.  We all come from a multitude of educational and professional backgrounds along with a variety of life experiences that we are all eager to share. We have all undergone extensive training in the past 8 weeks in order to prepare ourselves for immersion into the wonderful communities of St. Kitts & Nevis and to learn about your culture. While we all have individual personalities and skills, we all share a common goal of making a difference in our time here. We look forward to collaborating in order to integrate and meet your goals and we look forward to challenging yet unforgettable life experiences involved in this cultural exchange.

We are pleased to have the honor of representing the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean. Thank you. "