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From the Field

Share Your Peace Corps Stories from the Field

If you are an RPCV and you have a memory you'd like to see featured here, or if you are a currently-serving PCV and you'd like to share a story from the field, email Kelli a couple of paragraphs and a photo. Thanks for sharing!

Greeting Committee

 

I worked at the junior secondary school in Thamaga, Botswana. My walk from work back to my house was a thirty-minute commute. It was a long, quiet walk over hot sand, past rock formations and in between donkeys and goats.

I always looked forward to the part near the end when these two sisters, who were always dressed alike, would peek around the pink wall surrounding their pink house. In the beginning, they would just smile and wave, then duck back behind the wall. After they got used to seeing me, they would run out past their wall and we would exchange greetings we had learned in each other’s languages. When we got to the end of our words, giggling over our mistakes, we would dance. Sometimes they would teach me some dances from their culture, and sometimes I would teach them some of mine. 

It was a fun, silly way to end the work day. I always appreciated the smiles, giggles and dances we shared. It was cultural exchange at its best.