Jon in
Salone

After a full day of traveling, Jon checked into a hotel in Freetown for the first 5 nights. First meal in Africa: a yogurt, a banana, an egg, and a bottle of Sierra mineral water. Not too shabby.

Stationed in Kambia District for 10 weeks of intensive pre-service training. Jon moved in with a host family — a host mama who had been a teacher for 20 years and was now head teacher at a school with over 1,000 students and only 23 teachers (just 7 on payroll). Walked nearly 3 hours to a village to buy a bunch of bananas for $1.50. Got followed by 30 kids.

Two weeks away from home — "Infinite more experiences and knowledge to gain and memories to make." The list of Sierra Leone's 16 districts pinned to a classroom wall — one of them will be home for 2 years.

"My 7-month vacation away from the classroom has come to an end, and my new journey has begun." Day 39 — halfway through training. Teaching math at a chalkboard in West Africa, ratio problems and all.

Weekly photos with host mama became a ritual. "I've gone to church more in Africa than the past 7 years in America." Rocking full Afrikana fits every Sunday, aspiring to have as much style as host mama before leaving Salone.

Pre-service training officially over. "We are volunteers now." Sworn in alongside the STEM Peace Corps Salone 11 cohort in their matching ashobi outfits. One of the best days of the journey.

Posted to his permanent site. The education system in smaller communities: challenging. But the kids — "they show up every day and they try." Also discovered a serious soccer culture. Played with the Kambia District Legends. Scored goals with 100+ local kids running at him in celebration. Spent more time on the pitch than in the classroom — "I'm not complaining."

Three hours to cook a traditional pumpki plasas (pumpkin stew with fish over rice). Noted that cleaning and frying the fish was unnecessary. Life lessons from the Sierra Leonean kitchen.

His cohort of 19 volunteers had fun with superlatives: most likely to offer gratuity to someone, most likely to marry a host country national, most likely to start a side hustle. The kind of awards that say everything about who Jon became in Salone.

On day 100 of his Peace Corps journey, Jon was called to PC headquarters and administratively separated. Before packing up, he painted "Love Does '23" on the wall of his house — handprints and all. He wrote a heartfelt, funny 7-page letter to Peace Corps leadership, signing off simply: "Love does, Jon Estes."

"It's sad knowing the reason my service ended was because something silly... What's done is done. Goodbye PCSL."

One week later: "At least I can say I did the Peace Corps. Even if it only lasted a month."