2006-09-21 - 3:32 p.m.

I left Mauritania.

I am officially a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer...currently visiting Italy on my way back to the Land of The Free!

It was sad saying goodbye to friends made over the course of two years in such a powerful and relationship-centric environment... yet it's been nice to be back in Italy for a little under a week.

The first shocks came with the overwheleming scent of grass and trees, the majestic view of the evergreen laden mountains lacing the lake, the colder crisp air... thinking about how my Mauritanian friends would react if they were to ever see and experience this reality.

It was nice to celebrate with family and friends the end of two years lived in Africa. Two years experiencing life at an amazingly slow rate, tasting every single second of heat and drop of sweat. Memories are racing through my mind. I wonder what will come next.

I leave you with an excerpt from a journal entry a new volunteer wrote shortly after arriving in country this past summer. To read more entries from this married couple (Joni and Nick Groesz) follow this link - http://blog.dyscrasia.org

"Mostly I am kicking myself for being mentally unprepared for coming here. I pictured myself living here but never logically processed the realities of living in a third-world country. When I leave the lycee and walk around, the shock is pretty strong. There is garbage everywhere and it smells bad. There is abject poverty everywhere and you cannot escape it here. It is not a television commercial for Children International, it is not an article in National Geographic, it is not a fucking joke. People are born into poverty and poverty is all they will ever know. But still they dance and still they invite you into their homes.

It is inevitable that you question your motivations and the motivations of other Peace Corps Volunteers. Because nobody could say with a straight face that they came here to help all the people of third-world nations become like the West. So, but, why did we come here? I have this small feeling that there is a general malaise in our generation. Too much TV, too many video games, too many corporations, no national culture. We are discontented, dissatisfied. Everyone finds their own ways to cope. They drink, they play even more video games, or they join the Peace Corps. I suspect that our capitalistic “culture” is crumbling under its’ own weight. It has grown too large. More and more people find themselves empty. I hope this is the case, anyway. At any rate, while rejecting our morally bankrupt culture is great, it does not provide sufficient motivation to stay in Peace Corps. I think that to last the two years, you do have to genuinely want to help people. You have to have some higher purpose."

Much love,

Jordy

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