Such a brief life, shattered by inexplicable violence. I honestly feel sick.

Good on you Manko, good on you. Your words are so very true.

Thank you so much for this wonderful piece. Kate is my cousin. My wife and I visited Kate in Badjoudè over Thanksgiving two years ago, and my wife was there again this past December. We experienced what an amazing place Benin is. Kate’s village is beautiful and full of people that loved Kate. She was doing exactly what she wanted to do. There has been a lot of nastiness on blogs in relation to Kate’s death, and we would just like to say that the spirit of this blog is exactly what we would like to see. Kate would be mortified and angry to see people speaking badly of the Peace Corps, but even more importantly speaking badly of the people of Benin, and women in service. Thank you. We are utterly devastated.

@hcoates, your point about the wrath of the village elders is something I understand more now, after some admittedly brief but intense experiences in that very region during the past couple of weeks. They absolutely do not fuck around, and potential consequences for something like this are as extreme as you can imagine. Traditional culture is not a joke.

And I, too, have seen the same thing happen in communities in Guatemala and elsewhere, when I was observing/reporting on or working with aid or development projects. The reckless, violent, or sociopathic acts of a single community member can create untold damage even beyond that act, because aid groups or would-be forms of help just dry up and go away.

NGOs don’t want to send people, or resources, into a community where there is proven risk. And it just takes one person, one person who does not represent the will or standards of that community, to blow it for everyone.

When you look at her blog and photo album, and you see how much she absolutely loved and was devoted to those beautiful kids there, the reality of that likely outcome — a cutoff of support — makes the situation even more tragic.

For her family and friends, I pray that her memory will bring you peace and comfort.

I have a new Grandbaby named Kate. May she live her life with such honor.

I really don’t know what people think the Peace Corps life is like. We toil unnoticed by pretty much anyone but our family members. We try to improve our sites in almost any way we can. While most of us feel completely safe in our towns and villages, it’s not true security because cultural and linquistic differences keep us separated. People know we are Americans. They think all Americans are rich. They don’t understand why we give up 27 months of our lives to come to their country.

It’s very slow going. I will finish at the end of this year and I am not sure if I have made much of a difference for anyone. When I go home, I will be tossed back into a world that is substantially different from the one I left. (There was no financial crisis in fall of 07 when I left.) We work often times without having another American very close by. If we want to have a gathering, we have to exercise caution because there are elements that would take advantage of that. If I have a serious illness, I am about 20 hours from reliable medical treatment.

All that is to say, without patting myself on the back too much, Peace Corps Volunteers are all heroes. Ms. Puzey deserves the same level of honor a soldier killed in combat receives. She gave her life serving her country in the *best* way possible. She didn’t go there with any agenda other than to help, because the benefits Peace Corps pays in the end are pretty meager. The main reward is how you feel knowing you went to this other country and managed to survive and maybe even be loved by your community.

Even that is double edged because the community I am in is filled with ethnic minorities who already suffered mass deportation and will likely suffer again in another five or six years as the local former superpower exerts pressure on the people and the peninsula. What will I do if people I love are embroiled in a war? What will I be able to do to help them?

This post, her blog and photos, and the brevity of her life moved me to tears. May she rest in peace.

(Although I’d like to note that in the country where I was posted we had a Country Director who wouldn’t permit us to blog – wouldn’t even permit us to write letters to stateside newspapers until HQ had gone through them all and censored out all references to, say, poverty, AIDS, famine and corruption.)

Consider this about this tragic case: the typical PCV is a vivacious, adventurous, very physically healthy middle class female feminist in her mid-twenties, fresh out of college…and one of the first things her trainers will teach her is that, thanks to Hollywood, people all over the world think of her as (1) a slut (2) a natural born victim (3) the universal beauty ideal and (4) their best chance to escape their poverty. Female PCV’s often have a hard time accepting the limitations their gender places upon them in some societies…and female PCV’s get raped and/or mugged a LOT.

What a beautiful person, she was.

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I spent an amazing two weeks with Peace Workers in Costa Rica in 1989; it was an inspiring, eye-opening experience for a doe-eyed (yet so sophisticated I thought I was), Silicon Valley-bred teenager.

My condolences go out to Kate’s family.

I have been fortunate to learn of a non-profit, East Africa, Stepwise, which focuses on East Africa and “…is a not for profit organization committed to providing basic needs to rural East Africa’s orphans and vulnerable children.”

While not based in West Africa where Kate did her work, the young Australian and American woman behind Stepwise, demonstrate a similar spirit, one I thought the BB community might be interested in.

Kate would not want to be in this spotlight. She wouldn’t want her life relegated to the shadow cast by her death. She would want all of us to learn from her love and service and carry on her mission to help others in need.

Xeni, thank you for your wonderful posting.