Today I got a long e-mail from Alex and Bri, two of the Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) I met out in Niger; they were up in Winditan, and I ran into them a few times, and saw one of their friends who was ill. The e-mail was great - I'd been wondering how the anniversary of 45 years of Peace Corps in Niger had gone, and Alex's account was astute, detailed, entertaining, even wry in places. It was the sort of e-mail which makes you feel like you've been living in the next village to someone for the past couple of months instead of thousands of miles away.
At the end, though, they revealed that Matt, the PCV I went and stayed with, has had his Peace Corps service cut short because the US army, which he served with in Iraq before going to Niger, have recalled him.
Matt was and is extremely opposed to soldiering as a career. You can read his thoughts on Iraq and agriculture online; while I was out there he got flown back to New York to talk at a veteran's conference, where he was interviewed by Reuters, and appeared on I think the Today programme.
Recalling him is just crazy, and I'm so damn upset for him I can't even say.
Saturday 27 October 2007
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