My Speech

8-6-08

As promised, here is the text of the speech I gave at the welcome ceremony. After every sentance I would stop and one of the Cambodian Peace Corps staff would translate it into Khmer.

Thank you all for coming. My name is Mitchel Hayden, and I have volunteered to speak to you on behalf of our group today.

This ceremony marks the beginning of an exciting and challenging process. For the next two months we, the Peace Corps Trainees, will be living among you, in your village and in some of your homes. We are probably some of the first Americans to visit Tek Phos, and certainly the first to stay here for an extended period of time. From what we have seen of Tek Phos, I can tell you that we can hardly wait to begin our stay.

Many of you must have questions; who are these Americans? Why are they here? What is the Peace Corps? How different are they from us? What will the next two months be like? I will try and answer as many of these questions as I can.

Who are we? We are Peace Corps Trainees, but first and foremost we are all Americans. But as you will find, Americans are an amazingly diverse group, and the group that will be living among you reflect that diversity. We come from many different parts of the United States; some of us from the largest cities, and some of us from the most rural areas. We are of different ages and religions. We all have different backgrounds and experiences, and none of us had met each other two weeks ago. But we are all united by one common trait; the desire to serve. Not just to serve our own interests, but by our desire to serve the world and all of it's people. That desire has led us to begin the long application process for a spot in a Peace Corps group, and months, for some of us years later, it has led us here, to you.

Why are we here? We are here to learn all that we can about living in Cambodia, but also to teach you all we can about America. For the next two months we will be studying your language, your culture, your education system, and everything else that we can fit into our brains. But we are also here for you to learn about Americans firsthand. So that you can say that you have met Americans, have talked to them, and that you now know Americans as more than just people on television or in the news. That, despite all the cultural differences, we are not all that different from you.

But what is this organization that we are here with? What is the Peace Corps? Although I have only been a part of the Peace Corps for a short time, I will do my best to tell you what it is and why it has sent us here, to you. The Peace Corps is not an NGO, but is a part of the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship, and to assist interested countries with their needs. This is a very important duty, and one all of us take very seriously. But most importantly, the goal of the Peace Corps is to create a greater understanding between Americans and the world. We are here to help your teachers, but we are also here to bring our two countries closer together.

The next two months will be a challange, for all of us. We are new to your country and have had little exposure to your culture. You will find that within five minutes of meeting us, we will have spoken all the Khmer that we know. You will find that we do not know how to do simple things that you do every single day without thinking. You will find that at times we will do things that Khmer people would never do. In the course of this speech I have probably broken several cultural rules without knowing it. All I can ask for is your patience and understanding. Please know that the silly things we do are not on purpose.

But every day we will get better. Every day we will return home in the evening knowing a little more of your language. We will be able to talk to you for longer, to tell you more about ourselves. Every day we will seem a little less foreign to each other. And by the end of our time here I hope each and every one of you will think of us not as a strange foreigner staying in your house, but as a son or a daughter.

We have not been in Cambodia for very long, but I can speak for all of us when I say we love what we have seen. Your country is beutiful, and the people we have met have all been very friendly to our little group of confused foreigners. Kampong Changg has welcomed us, and for that we are extremely grateful. We hope that we can live up to the kind welcome Cambodia has given us. The next two months will be challenging for all of us as we adjust to each other, but I am confident that we will leave this place as better people than we were when we arrived. And when we go out into the countryside and begin the jobs that we have been training for, I know we will have Tek Phos to thank for our success and service to Cambodia. Thank you very much.