Our Story
Alex and Rachel first met each on their first day of Peace Corps service on September 9, 2014, when they were on their way to Cameroon, a country in west central Africa. They were sitting at the same table at Peace Corps orientation in Philadelphia for a group of volunteers who were headed to Cameroon. Alex and Rachel hit it off right away. For the following two and half months while they were training with other volunteers in a little village, Mengong, in the south of Cameroon, Alex and Rachel became best friends. At the end of their training, Alex and Rachel had to go separate ways to their posts. Rachel was posted in the capital of Northwest region, Bamenda. Alex was posted in a little village in Adamawa, Mbakaou. They remained in touch during their first three months at post through texting and phone calls. A few days before Alex and Rachel finally saw each other for the first time since training at Peace Corps’ in-service training in Bamenda, Alex went to a fellow volunteer, Jasmine, and asked her what she would think of Alex asking Rachel out. Rachel messaged her friend from Boston, Taylor, and asked her what she would think of Rachel asking Alex out. On February 23rd, 2015, Alex beat Rachel into asking her out on a date. On February 25th, 2015, Alex and Rachel took a motorbike to a restaurant, Ritz-Kay at Travellers on Bali Road, also known as Trans-African Highway, and ate delicious Cameroonian food.
For the following year and a half, Alex and Rachel endured a long distance relationship with many tribulations and joyous moments. They saw each other only every four to ten weeks as they lived three days travel apart. To travel from Rachel’s post to Alex’s post, one had to take a seven to nine hour bus ride on a road that had not been maintained for decades, then spend a night in the capital, then take a 12 hour overnight train ride, then take a two to three hour bush taxi ride, which involved riding in an old sedan car packed with eight to eleven people. Finally, the journey ended with a 45 minute moto bike ride on dirt road.
In spite of Alex having fallen ill with malaria and typhoid fever and taking an hour moto bike ride on a dirt road to get to the nearest hospital and Rachel having been assaulted, broken three teeth and medevaced to the US for one month, no lowest of the lows of their service stopped them from doing rewarding work. Rachel provided persons with disabilities in the Northwest region access to health education and HIV testing. Alex taught health education to his community and assisted a group of persons with disabilities in setting up a group and starting a garden where they successfully grew lettuce and carrots.
Alex and Rachel also shared many romantic and adventurous moments throughout their service that allowed them to continue to develop a special connection with each other. They swam in the ocean at Kribi Beach, gazed at the stars on the grassy field of Mbakaou, danced while electricity was out in Alex’s home, ate dinner by the sunset in Bamenda and traveled to Greece.
After closing their service on October 21st, 2016, and flying back to the US together, Alex and Rachel spent the following seven months traveling all over the US, Canada, Israel and Turkey discovering many new places. They did many firsts in their life - scuba diving in Israel, hot air ballooning in Turkey, and sleeping in a hogan in Arizona.
Alex and Rachel are now settled in Washington DC. Alex is attending grad school pursuing a masters in his passion, history. Rachel is working at her dream job, an international development consulting firm. They are raising an adorable little Havapoo puppy named Sammy.
