From the mom

It is me speaking, the person who published most of these posts, sent to us via mail, and put online to share with a few friends and relatives who cared. It never dawned on me that others might read this blog, which unfolded like a story.

Over the past few years when I have followed Peace Corps volunteers' blogs I began to care about them and always wondered what became of them after they came back to the US. Somebody, somewhere, might like to know what has happened since Jessica returned to the US 10 months ago. I will be brief, and I hope she doesn't mind.

She took a long time to "re-adjust." Readjustment will probably never completely happen, and I think that is a good thing, because this was a transformative experience and it will be part of her for the rest of her life. That is as it should be.

Jessica is in contact with her village on a weekly basis, through the magic of Skype and cell phones. The grain bank has managed its first year without her. The school is thriving, but the doors need to be fixed, and she is able to call the contractor in Konni and a go-between in Niamey. Her village has just survived a very difficult hunger season, and is looking forward to an improved harvest in 2010. She plans to return to Niger within the next year.

Jessica is in graduate school in upstate New York, being challenged in the area of International Nutrition at Cornell University.

If you are reading this, welcome, and thank you for checking in!

Kerry