Her assignment as a volunteer is rural health education. She often accompanies a nurse who gives vaccinations to other villagers. The top target of their trips is yellow fever.

A campaign is in progress to vaccinate the entire population of Senegal against yellow fever.

While AIDS is the disease associated with Africa today, Katie has encountered only one or two cases in her time in Senegal. She acknowledged some infected individuals might not have been diagnosed. Only two percent of the Senegalese population is infected, she said.

The real challenge is malaria, the number one killer in Senegal. "AIDS is the disease we fear in America. We do not fear malaria because we don't have it," Katie said. "But we need more money and people to combat malaria."

Much of her work involves malaria prevention. With skits and demonstrations, she teaches people how to treat mosquito nets with insecticide. The leaves of neen trees mixed with soap and water make an inexpensive insecticide.

A graduate of Kansas State University in communications, Katie had been to Costa Rica on church mission trips and spent a summer studying in France. But her assignment to a small Senagalese village a day's trip from the nearest city at first set her back.

Poder, the regional capital, where Katie had to go for access to e-mail, was 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. The bus stopped frequently and sometimes broke down. It was a three- or four-hour trip. You could not go and return the same day.

"I was really having a difficult time with homesickness and culture shock," Katie told the congregation at the First United Methodist Church recently. "I was crying every day," she admitted.

Gradually, Katie adapted. After about three months, she said, she began to make a few friends and feel "a little bit of comfort." She relied on her cell phone to talk with her mother each week. That helped a lot.

Now Medina, a town of about 12,000 near her village, has acquired a computer. Katie may be able to send e-mail from there when she returns to Africa next week.

Aram has electricity, but it is not connected to homes. Batteries are used to operate radios and an irrigation pump. Only one family has a working television set. Girls sent out to gather wood for cooking have to forage farther all the time, Katie said.

The weather is a huge challenge.

The people of Aram talk of the "hungry season" before the rains come in August and September. "Cows, dogs and people get thin," Katie said." The temperature can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in May, the hottest month. After the rains, there is no more precipitation. Dust storms come frequently.

There are 25 volunteers in Katie's group. It started with 36.

In Senegal as a whole, the Peace Corps currently has 130 volunteers. Their contribution to the development of the country is sometimes questioned, but Katie considers it unique.

Peace Corps volunteers live up to two years in host communities. They grow close to people. This allows them to contribute in many small ways. "I think the Peace Corps has something to offer that host country people, or non-governmental organizations, do not." Katie said.

Her parents, Steve and Beth Wilke of Winfield, visited Katie in Aram in late 2006. A baby boy born before they arrived was named "Steve." Katie said the Senegalese like to use names to honor people. She herself has had several children named after her.

The largest, most handsome structure in Aram is the mosque. Still African animist practices persist, Katie said. Many people wear pouches on their arms or around their necks containing a written blessing from the imam. This custom predates the arrival of Islam in the late 17th century.

Young people in Aram show great respect for their elders, Katie told her First United Methodist Church audience, and she admired this. She was saddened, however, to learn children had not been taught colors or to ask questions of their teachers, she said.

The discipline and behavior of the villagers impressed her. "I never felt safer in my life, including in Winfield," Katie said.

Everyone knows Bill Clinton's name because he had come to Senegal. They associate President George Bush with Osama bin Laden and war, according to Katie.

She will complete her Peace Corps service in May and plans to return to Winfield for a while. She will be looking for a job, she said, though her dream job would be working with a Senegalese community in this country, such as the one in Cleveland, Ohio, to prepare Senagalese to return home and work in their homeland in rural health.

Katie's aunt, Sarah, of Dallas, served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica and helped get her interested in considering joining, Katie said.

Katie is the granddaughter of Dick and Julia Wilke of Winfield.