There were many small accomplishments, little breakthroughs that came while eating with a host family or teaching music and English at the local elementary school. But the crowning achievement during his two-year stay was leading the reconstruction of a dike and dam. Right now that dam is trapping water during the rainy season, allowing the villagers to grow more rice and catch more fish. DiFranco changed Diambacourou. But Diambacourou also changed him. That's what happens in the Peace Corps, he says. His last day in the village, a group of elders had a going-away feast. Instead of the usual fare of millet, millet and more millet, they had duck and spaghetti. And if it was like other days there, at some point he repeated a common Fulfulde phrase - basically their response to a greeting of "How are you doing?"
Dan DiFranco served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali
Peace Corps veteran appreciates the little things
By MARK WOODS, The Times-Union
It's not that Dan DiFranco is oblivious to the economic turmoil that has the rest of us so worked up.
But if you ask the 24-year-old to talk about what's on his mind as he goes through his day now, he'll probably mention an appreciation of electricity, refrigeration and cheese.
"I've been eating a lot of cheese since I got back," DiFranco says with a laugh.
DiFranco, a 2002 graduate of Orange Park High School, recently returned home after spending two years in the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps' motto is: "Life is calling. How far will you go?"
His answer brings to mind an old expression. From here to Timbuktu.
Get out a globe, spin it around and find the large landlocked nation of Mali in West Africa. In the middle of Mali, you'll find Timbuktu. You probably won't find a nearby town called Diambacourou (pop. 3,000). It's too small to make it on a globe.
This is where DiFranco went.
From North Florida to West Africa. From here to a place more isolated than Timbuktu.
It's not hard to figure out where DiFranco got the desire and nerve to take such a leap. His father is a retired naval officer and teaches at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. His mother is a longtime teacher at Orange Park High School and sponsors the school's community-service club. His older brother is in the Navy. And his older sister, who he says has been "a big inspiration," served in the Peace Corps in Africa.
"My whole family has been into public service," he said.
After studying international development in college, I suppose you could say that DiFranco decided to become a "community organizer."
His community just happened to be a rural village in one of the poorest countries in the world.
The language spoken in Diambacourou is called Fulfulde. DiFranco didn't speak it when he left. He does now. That's what happens when the nearest English-speaking person, another Peace Corps volunteer, is 35 miles away. So when he says there were "hurdles," especially in the first year, that's an understatement.
There were many small accomplishments, little breakthroughs that came while eating with a host family or teaching music and English at the local elementary school. But the crowning achievement during his two-year stay was leading the reconstruction of a dike and dam.
Right now that dam is trapping water during the rainy season, allowing the villagers to grow more rice and catch more fish.
DiFranco changed Diambacourou. But Diambacourou also changed him.
That's what happens in the Peace Corps, he says.
His last day in the village, a group of elders had a going-away feast. Instead of the usual fare of millet, millet and more millet, they had duck and spaghetti. And if it was like other days there, at some point he repeated a common Fulfulde phrase - basically their response to a greeting of "How are you doing?"
"Baasi fuu walaa," he said. "It means, 'I have no problems.' "
