From Sequim to Senegal: Local couple returns from two-year stint in Peace Corps

Matthew and Naomi Richards knew that serving in the Peace Corps would be challenging, but the hurdles began before they even left the states. Multiple doctor’s office visits had to be scheduled for physicals and immunizations against exotic illnesses.

Then, when it came time to board a plane for their assignment — Senegal — there was another hurdle: They had to leave behind everything except what they could pack into two suitcases each.

The couple, who grew up in Sequim and met at Peninsula College, recently returned from their service in West Africa and are spending the summer with family members in Sequim before deciding what comes next. They came back home with a story to tell. In fact, they are scheduled to speak at Sequim Sunrise Rotary’s meeting on Aug. 28. Matthew received a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation when he was a student at Sequim High School, where he graduated in 2016.

The young couple made it back to Sequim seemingly no worse for wear, but their adventure had a bit of a rough start, aside from the packing challenges.

“We showed up with food poisoning on the day of our installation,” Matthew recalled with a laugh.

A third-generation Sequim resident, Matthew earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, and later worked five years in accounting for a trucking company.

Naomi completed the Running Start program at Peninsula College through the Sequim School District and later earned a degree in public relations from Western Washington University. Before joining the Peace Corps, she worked remotely for a public relations agency.

The idea of serving overseas began during the COVID-19 shutdowns.

“During COVID, when we were all shut down, I started dreaming about living abroad,” Naomi said. “Learning a new language, living in a new culture, doing something a little more interesting. That’s when I first started thinking about the Peace Corps.”

She brought the idea to Matthew.

“At first, I was like, ‘No, that sounds way too scary,’” he said. “But we talked about it for a few years and got to a point in our jobs where it felt like a good time to leave.”

They eventually applied as a couple — each completing separate applications, interviews, and then a joint interview — and told the Peace Corps they were willing to serve anywhere. Matthew requested the business development sector; Naomi was open to any assignment.

“It’s a long process,” Naomi said. “We applied, waited a couple months, interviewed, then waited more. It ended up being about eight months from application to actually leaving.”

When the offer finally came, it was for Senegal, a politically stable country in West Africa where the Peace Corps has operated almost continuously since the early 1960s.

“Peace Corps has been there since 1961,” Naomi said. “They’re very sensitive to any sort of danger. If there were riots in the capital, we weren’t allowed to go there. They also kept volunteers away from borders with countries that were having security issues.”

Because they applied as a couple, they knew they would be placed together in the same village. Before leaving, they underwent extensive medical clearance: physicals, dental exams, blood tests, mental health evaluations, and a battery of vaccinations, including a yellow fever shot that cost hundreds of dollars — fully reimbursed by the Peace Corps.

“That’s kind of the biggest hurdle,” Matthew said. “The health stuff.”

After staging in Philadelphia with their cohort — the group of volunteers they would train alongside — they traveled to Senegal for three months of training in language, health and safety, and technical skills.

Their permanent site was a town of about 2,000 people in the Kolda region, near the border with The Gambia.

“They don’t really have running water or electricity,” Naomi said. “Most families have little solar panels to charge their phones, but no one really has computers.”

For the first year and a half, the couple drew their water from a well.

“We would just pull up the bucket, pour it into other buckets, carry it home, and then filter it if we wanted to drink it,” Naomi said. “To shower, you just pick up a bucket and pour it over yourself.”

Their modest home — a small blue house that began as a dirt-floored hut — sat just outside their host family’s compound.

“We put in flooring and painted it,” Naomi said. “We added tile to the whole house, which cooled it down and made it a lot cleaner.”

For most of their service, daytime temperatures were relentlessly hot.

“You’re at the edge of the Sahara,” Naomi said. “We hit 115 degrees where we were. Volunteers farther north got up to around 123.”

There was no air conditioning. They coped with shade, frequent bucket showers, and a locally made clay pot used to cool water through evaporation.

“It’s an impressive sort of ancient technology,” Naomi explained. “You can use that for a cool shower when it’s really hot.”

Naomi served in the health sector, with a focus on maternal and child health. Stationed at the local clinic’s maternity building, she did patient intake, took vitals, and became an essential part of the clinic’s emerging digital record-keeping system.

“Their online system is somewhat new,” she said. “The people who work there aren’t that computer literate, so I was a great resource for data entry.”

Outside the clinic, she partnered with local health workers to give community talks on topics like nutrition, hygiene, and malaria prevention. She led a pregnant women’s group and other community gatherings, helping mothers recognize signs of illness in young children and understand when to seek treatment. She also started a girls’ health club at the elementary school.

“We talked about basic hygiene and biology,” she said. “They don’t really have science classes, so they don’t learn much about themselves and how to take care of themselves. Working with the kids was probably the most fun part.”

Matthew’s work in the business development sector looked very different.

“I taught a business class that followed the school year,” he said. “We covered basic business skills with middle and high school students. About 15 finished and got certificates. They loved getting certificates.”

He also worked on grant proposals to fund community projects, often through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) streams. But partway through their service, that funding evaporated.

“We were kind of starting and stopping things, and then finally it was like, nope, the money’s gone,” he said. “The community is disappointed, you’re frustrated that you can’t help them, and they were expecting this of you. That was tough.”

With fewer formal projects, he spent more time on the Peace Corps’ “second goal”: cultural exchange.

“Work just isn’t a super high priority there,” he said. “A lot of time is spent drinking tea, talking, and hanging out. I built kites with kids, put up a swing in a tree — little things like that. I had more downtime, which gave me time to get homesick, but it also let me build relationships.”

Senegal is linguistically and culturally complex, with dozens of languages spoken. While French is the official language and Wolof is the most widely spoken local language, the couple studied and used a different regional language in their village.

“It’s 96% Muslim,” Matthew said. “We woke up every day at 5 a.m. to the call to prayer from the mosque.”

To help them integrate, their host families gave them new local names.

“I was no longer Naomi Richards,” Naomi said. “My new name was Ansara Balde. I was named after my oldest host sister, also named Ansara.”

Matthew became Usman Balde, after their first host father. The names quickly became part of their daily identities.

Like most volunteers in rural placements, the couple dealt with periodic illness. Matthew endured a gallbladder infection and dysentery. Within two hours of having lunch one day, he said, he had a 104-degree fever and full body shakes.

For serious issues, Peace Corps volunteers had to travel roughly 10 hours by car on rough roads to modern hospitals in the capital of Dakar. The Peace Corps provides private transport in emergencies and supplies each volunteer with a medical kit, plus 24/7 access to Peace Corps medical staff by phone.

“One of the best things was having each other,” Matthew said. “Most volunteers serve alone. I don’t know how I would have coped with the gallbladder infection by myself.”

Back home in Sequim

The couple’s official service ended May 23. After some travel in Europe, they returned to Sequim in early July and are reconnecting with friends and family and catching their breath.

When Matthew and Naomi left for Senegal, their families were more excited than afraid. Both sides had prior international or military experience, and Matthew’s father had traveled to Africa before.

Would they do it again?

“Not right now, and probably not a similar situation,” Naomi said. “But there are programs that are a lot easier — some in Eastern Europe where you live in a city, work with a nonprofit, and you’re not in 115-degree heat.”

Matthew, who had never left the United States before joining the Peace Corps, said the experience pushed him far outside his comfort zone in ways he’s grateful for.

“You’re confronted daily with questions about education, gender equality, and culture,” he said. “You’re talking with people who have very different views from your own, and you can’t really avoid those topics. It was hard, but really enriching.”

For those who want to support Peace Corps volunteers, Naomi noted that people can contact their members of Congress when the Peace Corps budget is up for debate, or help fund individual projects directly.

“On the Peace Corps website, there’s a section where you can search projects by country and type — wells, education, health,” she said. “There’s always a story about the project and the volunteer, and you can donate there.”

Asked what they most want people to know about the Peace Corps, Naomi replied, “It still exists. If you’re healthy and really want an in-depth cross-cultural experience — not just travel, but actually living in a community, learning a language, and working alongside people — it’s a pretty incredible opportunity.”

For more information about the Peace Corps, visit peacecorps.gov.