Last modified: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:14 AM EDT Jed Perry of Plainville is shown with the young men of the village of Rambo, who have just returned from a day of mining. (Submitted) Drawn to service in the Peace Corps BY LAUREN CARTER FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE PLAINVILLE - Jed Perry wanted to do community service to help him get into medical school. But while more conventional avenues might be volunteering in a nearby nursing home or homeless shelter, Perry chose to join the Peace Corps. "I'm not like a straight-A student," said Perry, a Plainville resident and 2001 graduate of King Philip Regional High School. "I figured if I wanted to show medical school I'm really determined about this, I had to do community service that really exemplified that. In the beginning, a lot of it was mostly self-interest. I wanted to show people that I am capable of pursuing a goal." In his pursuit, Perry went through a rigorous three-month language and cultural training, during which he learned French. He was then given an assignment teaching math and science to middle schoolers in the village of Rambo (pronounced Rah'mbo) in the former French colony of Burkina Faso. Perry said he went in with no idea of what Africa would be like; he's seen stories on the news, but had never even heard of the West African country he was about to move to. Not surprisingly, Perry had some adjusting to do. He was living "out in the bush, as people would say" with no electricity and no running water, "horrendous" transportation and a market that came every three days. He had a latrine for a bathroom and a little courtyard as a home. It was dry and hot. He didn't join the Peace Corps to lose weight, but that was one of the side-effects - in the 100-degree-plus heat and on a steady diet of rice and toh (flour and water mixed into a solidified gel) he shaved about 100 pounds off his 285-pound frame. When he wasn't teaching, he kept himself occupied by studying for the Medical College Admission Test, planning lessons and hanging out with his school district director, Brahiman Ouedraogo. During the summers, he visited Mali and Ghana and volunteered at a local clinic, where he discovered an interest in pediatrics. He was able to keep in contact with his family back home via cell phone, and every few weeks he would head into the capital to a transit house for volunteers where there was running water and Internet access. Teaching, itself, was no easy task. Class sizes ranged from 60 to more than 110 students and took place under a tin roof, often with little or no wind to provide relief. And since school is not mandatory in Burkina Faso, if parents don't have money to send their children to school or purchase a uniform, their children go uneducated, and Perry saw fewer and fewer girls attend the upper grades. Especially concerned about one bright girl who was an orphan and could not afford to continue school, Perry established a scholarship program for girls. After nearly two years in West Africa, Perry returned in June of this year and said the opportunity afforded him some newfound patience, medical knowledge and a chance to break out of his social shell. Perry, a 2005 graduate of Stony Brook University on Long Island with a bachelor's degree in biology, was diagnosed as dyslexic as a freshman in high school and largely written off by teachers. As a result, he had to work doubly hard, so most of his time was spent hovering over books, not partying with friends. "When I went to Burkina, I developed a social life," he said. "I was friends with my director and I had a girlfriend. I really developed a life there and I felt like I was a part of something. I guess I actually felt like I had a purpose." Perry, 25, said he also gained an appreciation for human kindness and generosity, and would like to return the favor. He has accepted a position at a school in Cannes, France, teaching English, but still hopes to attend medical school and said he would like to return to work in Africa if he does become a doctor. "People there asked me what I thought of Burkina - it's kind of an odd question," he said. "Compared to the U.S., it looks really desolate. There was absolutely nothing there, except for a few houses for teachers and clinic workers, and the rest of it was open nothing, just trees and a dirt road. But, it's basically the people that make it worthwhile to me. "Some of them would literally drop what they're doing to help you," he said. "You could just stop by unannounced and they would invite you to dinner. If you did that here in the U.S., they'd think you were a little loopy." LAUREN CARTER can be reached at lauren-carter@hotmail.com.