Pieter volunteered in West Africa for two years with the Peace Corps. While there, he continued to build furniture—a bed, couch, and matching side tables. A local church felled several mahogany trees that were in the way; a type of wood hard enough to keep termites at bay. Boards were cut near the church, and transported, piece by piece, over twenty kilometers with a mountain bike. Once assembled, a mosquito net was the only thing separating the bed from the heavens for six months at a time. No rain during the dry season.