Weeks of Peace Corps training and service: 108
Books read: 108
One-hour miniDV tapes shot: 20
Donkeys captured on video braying: 1
CFA in the village women’s group’s bank account when I left: 369,500
Functioning wells in the village: 2
Square meters of enclosed gardening space next to the new well: 225
Babies born in the village: 10
Deaths in the village (none [...]
Everyone who asks me how my readjustment to the U.S. is going does so with just a hint of morbid expectation, as though they’re looking for signs of an impending meltdown—or at the very least some involuntary twitching. However, after a week of re-immersion in the warm, soapy bath of American culture, I’m here to [...]
My last African sunset, for a while at least:
And me—headed in that direction later tonight:
To everyone who offered support and encouragement during the past two years:
You were all an integral part of my Peace Corps experience—thank you, thank you.
Today, with the brief flourish of a pen, I became an RPCV. Granted, before that there were also mountains of paperwork, rivers of blood tests, and three poop samples—but the final moment was, as most endings are, anticlimactic. No brass band, no ticker tape parade, just a little boogie in the hallway and the dawning [...]
A series of photos of my favorite photo subject in the village: Kanni’s youngest daughter, Aadama. I watched her go from the Terrible Twos to the Terrible Threes and almost to the Quite Sociable Fours. She stayed cute-beyond-all-reason throughout.
New photos are up for month 23, demystification, and The End. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if I’d written a thousand words for every photo I uploaded, I’d be done with my final reports and essays by now.