End of Service Speech

I read this speech last night at our final dinner all together as a group of PCVs and staff:

I volunteered to do say something tonight and realized that is an impossible speech to make, there are just too many milestones that are passing. We have to deal with PC RIM being suspended, saying goodbye to PCVs, saying goodbye to APCDs, saying goodbye to Obie, and saying goodbye to Jody. The challenge is to meld all of these strands that are somewhat perversely twisted together here and produce some sort of catharsis that I feel like we all greatly need. Whether you are a PCV, APCD, CD, or THE D, you have been involved in the process of transition for at least three months. I know for us adopted Mauritanians, we have had this day in the back of our minds ever since it was announced there was no new stage class. It has been a long time dealing with uncertainty, guessing at what was going to happen, and plans interrupted. Some how I don't think my great talent of being able to recite all of the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby is going to suffice in this case.

Fortunately one of the benefits of this crux in the transition between the adventures in life is that it makes the true importance of what we value clearly stand out. More than any other facet of our busy existence, our relationships and connections to each other are what shine through in this difficult time. They have kept us in high spirits through tough situations and have brought us to tears when we knew the worst was true. In fact, I think perhaps when describing the Peace Corps there is no better framework to use than that of relationships. Today sum of us were asked to write our elevator speech about our experience in the Peace Corps in preparation for our return to the US. I would like to share mine with you now.

Given that I have a penchant for quotes as a way of explaining the truths in life in the most elegantly concise manner, if I were to sum up my PC experience in a sentence I would use Alfred Tennyson’s axiom of “I am a part of all that I have met.” I do not believe that I could find a more authentic sentiment about my time in the PC than that. In fact, I would challenge you all to do better. After all, at its heart, the PC is about establishing relationships. It says so directly in its 2nd and 3rd goals and the 1st instructs you do to just that in order to accomplish its own objectives. I have a good feeling that most of the countries in which the PC operates also implicitly teach the same lesson. The reason it takes a half an hour to walk across a small village in Mauritania is because that when you really think about it, whatever pressing activity you are going to do is almost never really more important to you than your friends and family. It is this lesson that the PC teaches us that keeps APCDs around for decades, makes a CD want to stay past what is allowed, and makes it very painful for a director to step down and say good by to an organization that does nothing but give.

Yes, I do believe that Tennyson spoke truth but I also believe that his quote is unfinished. If I may be so bold I would like to say that the full quote ought to be “I am a part of all that I have met and therefore all those that I know will remain with me throughout my wanderings.” As our shared time together fractures apart and we all head off to new and differently great adventures we can rely on the connections we have made and the relationships we have formed to carry us through this difficult transition period. At least as long as the PC keeps buying us phone credit.

Unfortunately most of us will not be able to share in person with our Mauritanian friends and family how much our connection to them means to us. However, we do have the opportunity to share that feeling with each here to night. To my fellow PCVs I’d like to speak for us all when I say that you guys mean the world to me. I can’t express how amazing it has been have become instantly close to you in the first few days of stage and then for that connection have grown so much stronger. We have all survived the worst hazing that Mauritania has to offer and have become closer and stronger for it. To the staff that is here with us tonight, we cannot thank you enough. You have consistently proven that the PC is not a job but a connection to service that one is called to. You have tutored us, aided us, and even sent us on paid vacation. For all this and more on behalf of the current RIM PCVs I would like to offer you all a small token of appreciation of the connection you have taken the time to build with us.



Tennyson says, “I am a part of all that I have met,” and I know that I will be connected to all of you for the rest of my life. In honor of that connection I would like to close with a poem and blessing that my father wrote to me when he first heard the news that PC RIM was being shut down:

The deck, it appears, is being shuffled yet again. May hope, peace,
and joy that passes all understanding sustain and flourish in you. The currents, and eddies of history are often capricious.
In all things love abides