Today we’re talking to Kevin and Kayla North, a volunteer couple in Kosovo. Kevin is working as a Community Organizational Development (COD) volunteer, and Kayla is an Education volunteer. What Kevin and Kalya share gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place, especially for couples. They talk about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about their journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Partner-Specific Questions
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Tell us more about serving as a couple in Kosovo
Kevin: As mentioned above, I am a Community Organizational Development (COD) volunteer. Which is about as vague as it sounds. The overarching goal is to equip young men and women with employable skills. Kayla and I have been here approximately 16 months, and as we reflected on the one-year mark we discussed how our situation is as good as we could hope.
I work at a youth center, and Kayla teaches English at the nearby high school. It is nice because the school and youth center are about a 2-minute walk from one another, and we know most of the same teenagers. It is nice to have that overlap.
A typical day consists of going to the youth center at 9 am, and immediately leaving to go to a nearby coffee shop with my colleague Adnan (who does not speak any English). Then return around 9:30 or 10:00 to do various activities at the youth center. Most days consist of playing foosball or simply sitting and chatting with several of the teens that come by, most of which know English.
Kayla finishes with classes around noon and comes to the youth center. Kayla and I both do some one-on-one tutoring with students at the youth center as well. In the afternoons, Kayla and I go to the gym or another coffee shop before returning home to our one-room apartment and cooking dinner.
Kayla: As Kevin mentioned, I teach 11th and 12th grade at the local high school. I work with two different English teachers; we plan lessons and co-teach together in the classroom. My schedule is different every day depending on which teacher I am with and what classes we have. Our school has two shifts (11th and 12th grade in the morning and 10th grade in the afternoon), and I only teach during the morning shift, which allows me to spend time at the youth center and have time in the evenings to relax.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Kosovo?
Kevin: I think our motivation is fairly similar. We each had jobs in “Corporate America” for approximately 13 years and were simply burning out. We wanted to try something different, move to a new place, and not simply do the “rise and grind” that we became so accustomed to.
A Five-Year Plan
At the time we decided to seriously think about joining the Peace Corps, which seemed to meet everything we wanted, but we owned an English Bulldog. He was advanced in age and I am a planner by nature so we conceived a 5-year plan to care for our dog, and complete work and community commitments (I was a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer as well and my little brother would be turning 18 by the time we left) and then go on our way.
Gratitude and the Luck of Birth
The idea of living somewhere else and simply doing something different than the normal 9 – 5 was what initially drove us, but we also recognize that we were lucky to be born when and where we were, with a pretty darn good hand in life. Through no effort of our own, we were set up in a rather prosperous position.
This was brought home more so when we befriended a Haitian immigrant to the Dominican Republic. He was born in one of the poorest nations on Earth and immigrated to another relatively underdeveloped nation for a better opportunity for his family.
Seeking Simplicity
Knowing that we have lived fairly easy and comfortable lives, albeit nearly all consumed by the hustle and grind of working in the American sense, we wanted to see what others lived like and to give back in some way. Proactively reducing our standards of living was by design to live a little simpler and to gain a newfound appreciation for all of the comforts and ease of American life that we grew accustomed to and took for granted.
Finding the Right Fit
Kosovo was chosen because we were not certain exactly how much culture shock we could take and decided to go in the middle of the road in terms of reducing our standards of living. Also, the weather; I am nearly useless in extreme heat and the warning for Thailand said if you do not do well with heat and humidity this is not the post for you. I thought I would be the one needing help and not being able to give to the local communities as I desired, so we crossed that one off the list.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation.
Kevin: We are semi-independent. We live in a single-room apartment that is attached to a host family’s house. They live immediately above us. Our site of Rahovec is a small city, much larger than the small rural villages, but much smaller than several of the larger cities in the region.
Rahovec is slightly unique for its cultivation of vineyards and making wine and raki, which is a grape brandy. They know what they are doing because the wine is really good. The city has a wine festival every September.
The traditional food is primarily bread-based. The Albanian word for bread, bukë is used for every meal whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Burek and pita are very similar, it is a flaky crust with cheese crumbles, or meat and onions stuffed inside. Fli is a long process of layering batter and baking a thickly layered bread.
The traditional food is quite delicious, but since we are semi-independent we buy our own groceries and cook for ourselves. Our meals typically consist of vegetable stir fries, eggs, or casseroles. We do have a gym membership; there are actually three gyms in our small city.
Kayla: When we go to the gym, 99% of the time there are only males there. While I have felt welcome by the owners, it is a little odd being the only woman there, and I typically only go with Kevin.
With Kosovo in a transitional stage, there are varied stages of city development and access for women in public places. In very small villages, there are no places for women to socialize outside of their home or their school or organization. In the larger cities, women can go nearly everywhere. Rahovec is in the middle with maybe over half of the cafes welcoming women with several that are only welcoming to men.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with community members?
Kevin: There are several. My best friend in Rahovec is a 57-year-old man who works in the youth center with me. He has taken me under his wing and several times when we had breaks, he would take Kayla and me around the country. Kosovo is a small country, and you can drive from one side to the other in approximately 3.5 hours.
One day he took us to see some waterfalls, which turned into a much longer day than expected as he took us to several different locations. He kept asking, “Have you seen ‘this’” and I would say “No” and on to the next destination we would go.
On my birthday, Adnan took us to a ski resort in the mountains for a very nice dinner. He kept asking if Kayla could drive a car because we might get stuck and have to push the car out while she drove. Luckily, we didn’t get stuck!
Kayla: Another memorable experience was a trip this past summer. Our neighbors/friends, a husband and wife, invited us to go to the beach with them for a weekend in Montenegro. This past summer was unseasonably warm, so we were very happy to escape the heat for a weekend at the beach. We had a really nice trip!
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about the challenges in Kosovo?
Kayla: As I previously touched on, the conservative culture can be tough to navigate as a woman. I understand it is easier for me, as I am often invited to places simply because I am Kevin’s wife (which as an independent woman, can be tough to swallow!).
If I were serving by myself, it would be more difficult, and many of our fellow female volunteers struggle more with expected gender norms. Even still, in America Kevin and I both worked outside the home and split all household work evenly; we attempt to do that in Kosovo as well.
Another thing that can be challenging is the laid-back culture. In Kosovo, things rarely start on time and plans often change at the last minute. This has been an adjustment for me as someone who is chronically early and likes things to happen according to plan. However, if I am being honest, it has also been very refreshing, coming from a culture where we are often overworked and burnt out. Here, it is normal to get coffee with a friend in the middle of the day. We wanted a change of lifestyle, and we got it!
6. What challenges did you face while working on projects with community members?
Kevin: There is nearly no communication between staff in the same organization, much less with partner organizations. At first, I chalked it up to not knowing nearly enough Albanian to understand what was happening, but then I learned that it is simply something that happens here.
Long story short, in one scenario it was alleged that it was discussed that our group of youth would have access to the local gymnasium for a game of volleyball at 9:30 on a Saturday morning. The worker who I spoke to, with my Director’s help, was even there, but he did not have the keys to open the doors. So we all sat and waited, and waited, and tried to call people, and waited some more. It was not until two hours later we finally played volleyball.
What surprised me the most was that all of the kids stayed and patiently waited, which is a sign that they are very much used to this way of operating. I learned that I should have more patience.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
Kevin: Secondary projects focus primarily on teaching English in one capacity or another. I have tried to start an English course a handful of times, but they normally phase out after two or three weeks and students stop coming.
One secondary project that lasted several months included preparing a junior-level student for taking English exams and applying to US universities. He was highly motivated and very organized. Now that we finally completed all of his applications we are waiting to hear back from them to discover whether or not he is accepted.
Kayla: My secondary projects have also revolved around teaching English in various capacities, as I mentioned some one-on-one English tutoring. I also coordinated Kosovo’s WriteOn! Challenge in 2024, and we are in the middle of the 2025 challenge. This challenge involved many PC posts pre-pandemic, and Albanian volunteers decided to revive the project. We worked with volunteers in Albania and Montenegro to host a National and International creative writing competition for students in grades 6-12. We had several volunteers in Kosovo participate with their students, and it was successful for the first year post-pandemic. This year more posts are participating, and I am excited that the project is growing!
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as a volunteer in Kosovo?
Kevin: This will sound redundant to any Peace Corps Volunteer, but “be flexible.” It is very important to fully understand that plans if such a thing exists in the first place, are very fluid in this culture. Learning to roll with the punches as it were and pivot, quite possibly at the very last moment, is a concept you will need to learn to accept. It is a very ad hoc society and many things are done at the last moment without any planning and minimal communication.
Kayla: I agree, you need to be flexible and understand things won’t happen on your timeline. I have definitely become more patient since serving in Kosovo.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
Kayla: PST was very helpful in terms of language and cultural understanding. Unfortunately, it will always be nearly impossible to learn a language in the 2-3 months of PST, but learning as much as possible will provide the greatest benefit to one’s service. Not having enough language skills is what holds people back at the beginning of their site placement.
Other volunteers are often the greatest source of help and support volunteers have in their service. Anytime our cohort gets together for training, it is beneficial to share experiences and bounce ideas off one another. While everyone’s service is unique, having people who understand what you are going through is priceless.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Kosovo volunteers?
Kevin: I am a self-proclaimed minimalist, so I am not the person to ask. In my opinion “less is always more.”
Kayla: Luckily, Kosovo is fairly developed so you will be able to buy almost anything you need in the country. While you might not have specific brands you like, I can’t think of anything we needed and couldn’t find a suitable option or substitute.
The best thing I brought with me to Kosovo was a Kindle. I read a lot of books but usually read physical books from my local library. Now I just get those books on my Kindle instead!
11. How has learning the language been?
Kevin: We have been learning Albanian, and it is a very difficult language. Like so many things, trying to learn prior to staging is going to benefit individuals differently. For example, I would recommend people not put too much effort into learning the language prior to staging because letters are pronounced differently, and without a native speaker to pronounce them to you, you may learn to say them incorrectly. Therefore, you may have to first backtrack and be stuck in a negative feedback loop as your confusion only grows.
Partner-Specific Questions
12. As a couple in Kosovo, how has your experience differed from that of individual volunteers?
Kevin: Our experience is definitely different than those of individual volunteers. For starters, we arrive already knowing someone and having a friend to spend every day with when we go our separate ways from PST. We arrive with a built-in support network and we can easily discuss any issues with one another immediately and every day. Individual volunteers need to build up a network of friends once they get to site and do not have another American at their disposal to discuss cultural discrepancies and to help one another.
At the same time, having that other American available all the time makes it more difficult to integrate into site communities because we do not have the immediate need to connect with community members, and since we can always speak English to one another with complete understanding our host country language acquisition is slower.
PST was interesting because we were separated and lived with different host families. It was the first time in 14 years that we did not live together and we lived separately for 2.5 months. That was an adjustment, but knowing that it was only temporary helped us to make it through.
13. Has being a couple affected your integration into the community?
Kevin: We were told in our interview that it will likely be easier as a couple in Kosovo because marriage is highly respected. I think in many ways it has helped, particularly for Kayla, as she mentioned above. It is a traditional society in which women are expected to maintain the household. We are trying to show that men and women both can and should, contribute to their family by working outside the home as well as sharing the household responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning.
14. What advice would you give to other couples considering Peace Corps service?
Kevin: Ultimately every relationship is different and what is right for one couple is not right for another. The strengths and weaknesses that you have together in America will follow you to your Peace Corps post. The stress of a new situation will simply highlight what you bring with you for both the better and the worse.
Marriage is not always easy, and the same skills you use to manage your relationship in the normal day-to-day workings of the US will be the same as in a Peace Corps post. So the advice I have for any couple is the same regardless of extenuating circumstances, remember that you are on the same team and one partner’s success is the team’s success.
Kayla: In addition to what Kevin said, while it is natural to rely on your partner, especially in new and potentially stressful situations, it is also good to make your own friends and connections. We spend much more time together now than we did in America, so it can be nice to have some friends or activities that allow us to spend time apart. On the other hand, it is also helpful to have another PCV to collaborate with on projects, especially given our situation where we work with the same students.
Final Thoughts
15. Any last comments you’d like to pass on to future Kosovo volunteers?
Kevin: There are always trade-offs to any endeavor. The benefits of serving in Kosovo are due to its size and proximity to other countries. With Kosovo being so small, it is fairly easy to get in touch and spend time, with other volunteers on the weekends. If you really need to get away for a little while and “be American” you can do that.
Our cohort is still 100% strong after 16 months, and I do think one of the reasons is that we can easily be there for each other both in real life and in spirit. We created a strong group in staging and during PST and we have been able to maintain those relationships. Other larger posts might make those connections more difficult due to inaccessibility to other volunteers.
Additionally, it is easy to travel around the Balkans, to visit other countries, and historical sites in Europe.
Kayla: Kosovo is a beautiful country that is very welcoming to Americans. The people are so hospitable and the food is delicious! I have felt very safe in this country, even when traveling between cities alone.
With Peace Corps services, like anything in life, you get out of it what you put into it. We have had projects that were successful and projects that flopped. The best thing you can do is keep showing up and work with those who want to work with you, even if it is a small group or not how you envisioned things would happen with the project. At the end of the day, it is about making connections with people.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Kevin and Kayla’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Kosovo Government.
