Speech!

Before swearing in, some of us then PCTs wrote speeches to compete for the honor of speaking before the volunteers and guests at swearing in. The speech would be presented both in Setswana and in English. After presenting our speeches to our fellow trainees we all voted and I narrowly lost to my friend Adam B. However he was gracious enough to ask me to read the speech in Setswana and to work on revising it since some of the trainees had expressed support for his speech on condition that he modify some of it. We ended up shifting the focus of his speech from being soldiers of peace to the theme of marching for peace and we also included some of the good bits from my original speech. Come swearing in we presented it and it went over really well. A few people came up afterward and said they liked our speech the best of all the ones given that day. When I presented in Setswana, the principals of our schools all seemed to understand, laughing, nodding, and even singing along at parts. So without further ado, here is our speech in English and Setswana. I want to first make it clear though that the main credit for the imagery and theme go to Adam who was the primary author.

In Setswana:

Dumelang bagaetso, borra le bomma, baagi ba Afrika Borwa, le ditsala go tswa Amerika. Re a le leboga gore fa sebaka sa go bua mo boemoeng ba baithaopi.

Gompieno, dinaga tse pedi tse di keteka go nna teng ga Peace Corps mo Afrika Borwa, dingwaga di le lesome.

Leina la ka ke A.J., fela jaaka baithaopi jaaka nna, ke filwe leina la Afrika fa ke goroga mo Afrika Borwa. Leina la ka ke Kabelo, ke go fiwa ka bonsti. Maina a rona a mantle, a na le bokao, le ditsholofelo, gore re tla dira ka thata go di fitlhelela. Le ga le re file maina jaaka boKabelo le boMpho; kabelo ya nnete le mpho ya nnete ke thaletso ya go tla kgaogana bokamoso ba setshaba se.

Beke tse pedi tse di fetileng, ke eme mo seraleng ko sekolong sa ko Gopane, ko thapelong. Ke utlweletse mantswe a bana ka mowa ole mongwe o montle. Ga ba fetsa, barutwana ba ya ko diphaposing tsa bona. Ba opela ka boitumelo,

“Re tsamaya, re tsamaya, re tsamaya leseding la morena.”

Monyebo wa thlagelela mo sefathlegong sa ka fa ke bona ngwananyana gata a gatoga ka uniform jaaka lesole. Ka ipotsa, “Masolenyana a tsamaela eng?” Ke lemoga ka pele gore ka ditsela tse dintsi gore le rona jaaka baithaopi ba Peace Corps le badiramogo, re a tsamaya. Ke nagana gore modingwageng tse lesome tse re ipotsa gape gore, “Re tsamaela eng? Re ya kae?”

“Re tsamaya. Re tsamaya.”

Botlhe, ma Afrika Borwa le ma Amerika, re a tsamaya, fela ga re ke masole a tsamayang ka bongwe ka ditunya mo magetleng a bona. Re tsamaya ka bongwe, menagano ya rona mo magetleng e e agaeng e seng go senya. Ga re apare diveste tsa tshipi go fitlha dipelo tsa rona mo go gobaleng. Re butse dipelo tsa rona go amogela bothlhoko, leso, le tshokolo go di fetola go nna boitumelo, bophelo, le thabo go botlhe.

“Re tsamaya. Re tsamaya. Re tsamaya leseding la ENG?”

Ga gona ope wa rona yo a tsamayang ole nosi. Lesedi le re tsamayong ka lona, ke lona le re fang maatla le boitshoko. Ba bangwe ba itlhopela go tsamaya le modimo wa bona. Ba bangwe ba itlhopela go tsamaya le setshaba sa bona. Gape ba bangwe ba itlhopela go tsamaya le pitso ya bona go thusa ba bangwe. Nnete ke gore, ga re itsamaile, re tsamaela bokamoso ba bana ko diphaposing tsa rona; bokamoso ba lwetse ba HIV le AIDS; bokamoso ba rona botlhe.

Re tswa mo ditshabeng tse difarologaneng. Re itlhopetse go tsamaela mabaka a mafarologaneng. Le ga re satshwane, dinaga tse pedi tse di dumalane dingwaga tse di lesome tse di fetileng go tsamaya mmogo ka bongwe mo strateng, mo gae, mo depelong tsa ma Afrika Borwa le ma Amerika. Lona, batho ba Afrika Borwa, le setse lefenste leeto la lona le letelele go ya kgololosegong. Rona, jaaka ma Amerika, re lesego go nna fa, go kgaogana diphatogo tsa bona bangwe ba rona ba tla dira mo makeishene ko peo ya diphatogo e jetsweng teng. Ba bangwe tla bereka mo metseng e e sokotseng ka nako ya Apartheid. Go sa kgathalatsege gore re dira kae, re tla tsamaya mmogo ko bokamosong bo bobotoka. Bokamoso bo bosenang kgathologo; bokamoso bo bosenang malwetse; bokamoso bo botletseng tsholofelo. A re tsamayeng mmogo, ka thotloetso le lerato, re opela ka boitumelo, “Re tsamaya, re tsamaya, re tsamaya leseding la kagiso!”

In English:

Distinguished guests, citizens of South Africa, and friends from the United States of America, we thank you for allowing us the opportunity to speak on behalf of our fellow trainees and current volunteers of the United States Peace Corps in South Africa.

Today, both of our proud nations have chosen to collectively celebrate this joyous, once in-a-lifetime occasion, the 10 year anniversary of Peace Corps in South Africa.

My name is Adam, but like my fellow trainees, I was given an African name soon after arriving here. Mine is Thabo, which means “happiness”. All of our new names are full of both appreciation and expectation that we will have to work hard to live up to. Even though you have given us names like Kabelo, which means offering, and Mpho, which means gift, the real offering, the real gift was your invitation to us to come share in this country’s great future.

Just two weeks past I was standing in the courtyard of a primary school in Gopane, attending the morning assembly. I was listening intently to the harmonious mixture of the young school learners’ voices. At the completion of the assembly, the students strode off to their respective classrooms, proudly singing,

“We are marching, we are marching, we are marching in the light of God.”

A smile crept across my face at the sight of a small boy, no more than 6 years old and three feet tall, stomping away in his uniform like a little soldier. I asked myself, “What are these tiny soldiers marching for?” I quickly realized that in many ways we, as Peace Corps Volunteers and our South African partners, are also marching. I think on this 10 year reunion it is fitting to ask ourselves again, “What are we marching for and where are we marching?”

“We are marching, we are marching…”

All of us today, South African and American, are marching. But we are not soldiers who march in synchrony with guns on our shoulders; we march in synchrony with our minds on our shoulders, which we use to build, not to destroy. We do not wear a metal vest to conceal our heart from harm; we open up our hearts to receive pain, death, and suffering and transform them into joy, life, and happiness for all.

“We are marching, we are marching…” Marching in the light of what?

None of us is marching alone. What gives each of us the strength to persevere is the light we choose to march with. Some choose to march with their God; others choose to march with their nation; still others choose to march with their own personal calling to serve others. In truth, we are not just marching for ourselves. Rather, we are marching for the future of the little learners in our classrooms, for the future of those people affected by HIV/AIDS, for the future of us all.

We come from separate nations and we all choose to march for different reasons and causes. Despite our diversity, our two countries agreed 10 years ago to march together in unity through the streets, homes, and hearts of South Africans and Americans. You, the South African people, have already emerged victorious from the long march to freedom and we, as Americans, are fortunate to be here to share in the waves of change. Some of us will be serving in townships, where the seeds of change were sown. Others will be working in the villages that were most neglected under the old regime. No matter where we serve, together, we will march toward a brighter future: A future free of ignorance; a future free of disease; a future full of hope. Together let us march forward with courage and compassion, proudly singing, “We are marching, we are marching, we are marching in the light of peace!”

(I dunno why the text sizes got messed up in the speeches when I posted...still getting used to this blog)