Saturday, November 3, 2007

La Ceremonie

I don't have anything particularly notable to say today, but made a commitment to myself to write something every day, at least while I'm traveling, so readers may want to skip this post.

This morning was devoted to quality control ("QC" as they say) of the bikes, which means tightening all the bolts and screws and stuff.

This afternoon was all about the "handover ceremony." It was deemed necessary to have an official ceremony to officially mark the handing over of our 169 bicycles. The vice governor came. The mayor came. A bunch of other bigwigs came. And a few people even came to listen to the bigwigs talk. And I had to give a little speech. The first problem was that I really had nothing to say. I thanked a bunch of people. I said a few sentences about what EngenderHealth is doing here, and a few more about why bikes are so important in a place with no transportation. And then I thanked a bunch more people. The second problem was that I had to do it all in French. I survived, but I'm not planning to make a career of public speaking in French.

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