This week, I talk about calling your friends and family in your community of service once you become an RPCV.

I have been back almost five years now and I did a pretty good job in the beginning at keeping in touch. As the years progressed, however, the calls became less and less frequent. This wasn’t something that I was consciously doing, but I made excuses that my my life in America was too busy. As time went on, I became more and more guilty that I hadn’t called. It was a kind of a catch-22–I felt ashamed for not calling, so I didn’t call.

Over the past few days I’ve been calling my friends and family back in Burkina Faso and the conversations have been amazing. I thought we would have little to talk about but was quickly proven wrong.

If you are fortunate enough to have a way to contact members of you community, do so. Not a week goes by where I don’t think about my service and the deep connections I made in my community. They helped shaped me into who I am today, and I owe it to them to stay in contact.

Have you been able to stay in touch with your community after returning home?