Tamashek Swear In Speach

Tamashek Swear In Speach

When I first arrived at homestay, I was very curious but also a little frightened by the mysterious man behind the blue turban, sitting across from me. He would soon be introduced to me as my Tamasheq father and I wondered why he was covering his face. It wasn’t until 3 days later when he finally unwrapped his turban, revealing his face, that I began to realize what a mysterious and fascinating culture I was becoming a part of.

This is the first time in Peace Corps history that volunteers have been invited to live and work with the semi-nomadic Touaregs of the Sahara and speak the Tamasheq language. We feel very lucky to be a part of this historic event and we hope to give as much to the Tamasheq people as they have already given to us.

The four of us, Natalie, Jared, Bess and Susmita, now known as Aysha, Iknet, Nezzar, and Sadie, were blessed to have been placed with the Tamasheq community in Bamako for our Pre-service Training. Our homestay families have embraced us as their own, including us in weddings, baptisms, naming ceremonies, and spontaneous dance parties. We have also witnessed and participated in some unusual customs. Jared, for example, was introduced to a little-known Touareg practice one day when an elder in his family slapped his inner thigh and beckoned for a massage.

All of our preparation didn’t come without having to stretch our personal boundaries. From maribou visits, to building up a tolerance to tea, to dealing with a constant barrage of marriage proposals, to the early morning wake-up calls from the nearby mosque, we have adapted in ways we never thought we would.

Our LCFs, Abdullah and El-mehdi, along with our families, have given us both the tools to survive in Mali, and the ability to appreciate a culture so different from our own. Amidst all the challenges of learning a foreign language and adjusting to a new lifestyle, we have had an amazing network of support without which we would not be ready for what lies ahead.

It has been our greatest pleasure to integrate into our families, and we can’t express enough gratitude for the way in which they have reached out to us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our host families, and above all, our LCFs, whose passion and dedication, were truly an inspiration to all of us.

Ij ik yalla dihad kay-arhan iman-nak d-imarhan-nak wadden dihad kay-arhan imiksanam-nak. (May you go where people that love you want you to be and not where your enemies want you to be).