The final event of PST is the Swearing In Ceremony. On Friday, 28 May 2010, 36 of the most appreciative (they thanked us for every single thing we did throughout training) trainees swore in for service in Belize. Once again the ceremony was held at the Governor General’s (Sir Colville Young, who also attends and participates in the ceremony) Field under a massive tent. The trainees take the Peace Corps Oath and are officially sworn in by the US Ambassador to Belize. In addition, a trainee from each language group gives a short vote of thanks in the local language (for this class it’s Mopan Maya, Spanish, Garifuna, and Kriol) and one trainee is selected by the entire class to give a speech. The language speeches were excellent, and the main speech was highly inspirational – it was timely not only for those swearing in, but for those PCVs who’ve been here for 7 months and 19 months to remind them of the reason we are here and the work we do.
After the main event, we have time for a Belizean lunch and then the annual futbol game between the new class and the current PCVs. This year the game ended in a tie; after all the trash talk from both sides that was probably best!
We have also been privileged enough to be invited to the Ambassador’s home for a reception for each of the 2009 and 2010 swearing in events. Our Ambassador came to Belize in August of 2009 and has made it part of his mission to work together and be partners in our development work. He is extremely supportive of Peace Corps and we feel fortunate to get to work with and know such an incredible man. His wife puts together a delectable Indian meal and we all enjoy a wonderful celebration. The trainees present their training slide show of pictures from the previous two months and award their class superlatives. We’ve also had to say farewell to a staff member at each dinner thus far – with our former country director’s departure in 2009 and now our programming and training officer’s departure in August. Each time, Anthony has taken the lead on coordinating the farewell speech(es) and purchase of a gift. We had the added bonus of welcome speeches for our new country director who arrived in April. 
The whole week was a whirlwind of excitement leading up to the swearing in and a lovely celebration of the success of the trainees and best wishes for their two years of service.
We took some silly photos
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