While a student living on campus at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., I read the student run newspaper named The Hatchet. When I got back from the Peace Corps, they called and were interested in doing a story about my decision to join the Peace Corps. The title of the article was "Ditching the office to promote peace abroad".
At the time I left for the Peace Corps, I was working for BearingPoint, in the company's emerging markets division. The consulting company had won contracts in many post conflict locations in the world and was chosen by USAID to develop a strategy for the economic reconstruction of Iraq as war plans by the Bush Administration seemed likely. In February, I thanked my boss for the great experience and politely turned down his offer to go to Iraq, a decision I would cherish as I read later that year, a BearingPoint consultant was killed on her way to Baghdad. I would always remember that I started my Peace Corps service on the same day the war started.
On March 18th, I flew to Dakar via Paris. We landed in the capitol of Senegal late at night and were quickly put on small dilapidated buses headed towards the city of Thies (pronounced Chess). We arrived at the Peace Corps training facility which was a renovated French colonial military base. I fell down on my bed and passed out despite the nervous anxiety I had running through my body.
March 20, 2003
The next day, I wrote "I am laying on a bed covered by a mosquito net listening to the BBC report news on the war in Iraq. It's my second night in Senegal and my life seems, well its hard to describe how I feel. I am staying in a walled compound with armed guards at the gates and 52 other Peace Corps trainees and about 40 staff. It has the feel of Sandy Island but with a tropical flare. Today was also the first time I went into the "Centre Ville" of Thies where I saw beautiful women wearing colorful and striking fabrics. I saw little boys playing soccer with bare feet on a dusty dirt field. Some children were working in the market while others begged for money and food. Their malnourished bodies stuck out sharply from the backdrop of the abundantly stocked food stalls in the market. On the walk back to the the training center, as we strolled down a sandy road, I looked up and saw the most beautiful full sun, slowly setting over the flat Senegalese landscape . The sun appeared larger than life, as if it was something you see on TV. And so it was, my first of many African sunsets..."
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