Update on Joel Hastings

Joel Hastings (far right), Jim Mack (center) and I enjoy a relaxing miraa
session at Joel's apartment in Old Town Mombasa in this 1988 file photo.

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It's been a while since I posted. Sorry about that, and sorry I missed the Puget Sound reunion. What can I say: the house needed painting, the garden needed tending and the checking account needed resuscitating.

I'm writing now to pass along some somber news: I recently received word that Joel Hastings, a volunteer polytechnic teacher who was stationed in Mombasa during our time in Kenya, has been diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer. He works for Securitas Inc., a business security company in Portland, Ore., and lives with his wife and three kids in Battle Ground, Wash. Below is a recent family picture:

From Joel's last e-mail, he has begun chemotherapy and his doctors hope they discovered the cancer early enough to knock it out. Tests show that it has not spread to any other vital organs. He sounds pretty optimistic and has been fixing up his RV in anticipation of doing some traveling when he finishes his treatments.

I tracked down Jim Mack, another PCV in Joel's group (I think Ricardo was a member of that group, if I'm not mistaken), in San Jose, Calif., and we have discussed staging a reunion in Battle Ground sometime before the first of year. We're trying to coordinate our work schedules with Joel's chemo schedule, but nothing has come into clear focus yet.

I always considered Joel and Jim the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid of the Coast Province volunteers. They were my mentors early on, and Joel eventually came to work on Lamu with the Fort Lamu restoration project after he finished up his Peace Corps service. While he was at Lamu, Joel stayed in the historic house that had previously been rented out by Louie and Melissa Espinosa, and he and I and the house caretaker, Josphat, had many a good time chewing miraa and rinsing our tonsils with pombe.

Anyway, I wanted to pass along this news to any of you out there who remember Joel. In the past, I have tried to e-mail Ricardo to invite him to join this blog, but I've never heard back from him; I think I might have an outdated e-mail address. If any of you are in contact with Ricardo, would you please pass along the news about Joel. You can reach Joel at joel.hastings@securiasinc.com.