On Saturday, September 23, I went door knocking with Senator Shapleigh. It gave me an opportunity to relay a funny story to the Senator about my time in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Many people know that the Senator was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone from 1974 – 1977. Few people know, however, that the work that he did while he was there continues to have a positive impact on the community where he served.

I arrived in Sierra Leone in August 2004 as a Fellow for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an American non-governmental organization (NGO) which works in over 100 impoverished and conflict-stricken countries around the world. In Sierra Leone, the agency supports health, agriculture, shelter and peace building projects in areas heavily affected by the country’s civil war (1991-2002). In January 2005, my supervisor asked me to accompany a monitoring and evaluating team to the country’s Northern Province. The journey was arduous. We traveled nine hours by Land Cruiser to the village. Some stretches of the cratered road were so difficult to traverse that we inched forward at fifteen miles an hour for periods of twenty minutes at a time. The journey was rewarding nevertheless. When I left, I understood that the work of our youth is just as important as the work of our adulthood.

We reached the village by nightfall and our team was exhausted. The chief, Pa Musa, invited me to join his family for dinner. Because the village lacked running water or electricity we ate around a campfire to stay warm in the chilly mountains.

Pa Musa asked me, “Usai you commout? (Where are you from?)”

“America,” I said.

“I knew a man from America, once” he told me.

“The U.S. is a big country,” I thought.

“His name is Eliot. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in this village during the 70s,” Pa Musa explained. Although I knew that the Senator lived in Salone (the local name for the country), I never knew which village. My encounter with Pa Musa was completely serendipitous.

“He’s a big man in our country,” I said. “Now he’s a leader in our provincial parliament,” I told him.

“I knew he’d do good things with himself,” Pa Musa said. “He was always a hard worker and the children loved him.”

The next day, Pa Musa took me to see the granary which Senator Shapleigh built with funds he raised. Despite the war, the building is standing. It’s an important part of the village’s infrastructure. Most of the people live in mud dwellings. I was inspired by the trip. Sometimes as young people, we don’t know if our efforts have an impact on the world around us. But I think the Senator’s work has shown that anyone committed to public service can have an impact at any age; whether in Sierra Leone, New York or El Paso. So I write this blog piece, not only as an endorsement for the Senator, but also in hopes of inspiring other youth who think their efforts aren’t important.