In this interview, we hear from Kijana Beauchamp. Kijana is working as a Peace Corps Education volunteer in Togo. What Kijana shares 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. Kijana talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Kijana’s 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
- Social Identity during Service
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Tell us more about serving as an Education volunteer in Togo.
A Typical Day
In Togo, a typical Monday morning for me begins bright and early around 6 am. As I have the first-morning class at 7 am that day, I typically aim to arrive around 6:45 am to ensure that lesson planning for my English class looks achievable and I make updates as needed to the lesson. After I’ve taught my class I will usually eat my breakfast and do a personal debrief. I will analyze what things went well and what things could be improved upon for upcoming lessons.
As I teach in a French-speaking country it’s important to also consider what words I can use that also will be more easily understood by students. So for example often in class, it’s easier to say pause than stop because pause is also used in French or the word ‘copy’ though spelled slightly differently also has the same exact meaning in French.
After breakfast, I’ll normally get a nap in because they are very important after teaching, and then catch up on emails and other things that I may maybe focusing on for that particular week. After school ends around noon sometimes I will take a walk for some time or head back home and do a small workout.
After School Activities
Every other Wednesday, we do English Club at the school which is a great way for students to practice the English language freely outside of the classroom. Then, I usually like to go ahead and prepare lunch or seek out some community members to catch up with. On some days this is also around the time that I will work with my tutor on practicing French.
It typically will start getting dark in my village around 6:15 pm so if there aren’t football matches or anything going on at the school then I am likely headed home. Afterward, sometimes I will come back out to the “downtown” area of my village for some late-night gathering of food for later in the week. But aside from that I usually enjoy my recreational time with TV shows or movies until the eyes start to signal that my bed is my next destination.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Togo?
I’ve been interested in joining the Peace Corps since I was in high school. The fact that I could live abroad for a few years and develop relationships with a local community was intriguing to me but it really was the ability to travel internationally that was a motivating factor for me. However, my journey was not one that I ever foresaw.
Originally, back in the Fall of 2019, I was slated to go to Mozambique; and we were set to arrive in the capital of Maputo in April of 2020. Aside from the pandemic, my service was canceled even before all Peace Corps countries were evacuated due to disputes in the country and so afterward I continued to work for some time. Around the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, I was preparing for Peace Corps in Jamaica. About a month and a half before I left I just realized I would not be able to get through the medical process in time for that position and so after that fell through I promised myself that I would try one more time.
My thought process was if, after a third time, I could not do it, then it might just not be something that was meant for me, at least in the immediate future. After a few days, I received an email from Peace Corps Togo inviting me to serve with them as a health volunteer, which I still have the email to prove (I am glad I ended up in education though) and the next day I decided to accept their offer. I am thankful things worked out as they did in the end even though it wasn’t the route I expected. I truly believe God does everything for a reason!
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation.
Host families at both PST and my current site community both consist of big families. During PST my host family practiced Muslim beliefs and we were in a Muslim community. I had the experience of being able to see them practice their faith day in and day out, hearing the sound of the call to prayer in the early waning hours of the morning as well. All were very new experiences for me and my colleagues who were in the community as well as me at the time. It was also interesting just seeing my own self-progression grow as I got more and more comfortable with the French language.
My host family now at site is very much traditional and holds Christian Catholic beliefs. My community is located in the Plateau Region of Togo up in the mountains. It is an area with numerous plants and food growing amongst nature. My host dad is older in age and the family consists of his wife, grown children, and young grandchildren. On the compound, myself and the children have our own spaces while the grandchildren live in the home with my host parents. My host dad is very much active and serves as an inspiration for me to have that mobility if I am able to see that age.
We’re in a rural community of Togo that is farther away from the main road. Usually, my exercise routine consists of walking and going to get water. Walking is very easy to accomplish in my community because of the need to commute back and forth for school. Using water buckets to replace weights, and manipulating the weight with water in the bucket.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
There have been a number of memorable experiences with my classes, sometimes multiple in a day so it would be difficult to go over them all. But everything from the songs we would sing in class to games that we would play in English Club all brought out different levels of skills and thinking. I think specifically of a game like Heads Up 7 Up where kids had to use skills like listening, hearing, process of elimination, and quick recall all without realizing they’re encompassing all of those simultaneously. A true testament to the power of learning.
The time I’ve been able to spend with my Cultural Integration Facilitator or CIF, has been an invaluable experience. His patience and warm personality have been things that have resonated with me during my time here in Togo. I’ve immensely enjoyed getting to know his family as well, doing different activities, and sharing cultural exchanges that have helped us learn about each other.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Togo?
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the food. It took me some time to warm up to the preferred pepper sauce over here known as Pima but I have found it to add flavor when used in moderation. I do not eat it with every meal but with rice, it is a nice complementary addition. I’ve also found a new love in fufu with goat meat or chicken and peanut sauce. Beef is fine too but the first two just add a different umph to it.
It is something that I would eat back home although I know the process of how it is made is very non-traditional to U.S. culture and especially how you eat it. You can’t eat fufu with silverware just to let folks know, you have to be able to really get your right hand involved with feeling the texture of it, forming the roll by rubbing it primarily with three fingers and combining it with the sauce before consumption. It really is a treat!
6. What challenges did you face while working on Education projects?
I talked before about how Togo is a French-speaking country so that has been a barrier but even beyond that, my school has a tin roof and during the rainy season, the sound of rain pattering against the roof can make it very difficult if not impossible to talk over. Often in this situation, you can write a text out for students to then copy and go over later but aside from that, you have to wait it out.
Working in a rural community also poses structural challenges that for my school exist in the form of a lack of access to electricity and water. They are things that students persist through on a day-to-day basis and symbolize the resilience and ingenuity that permeates throughout the country.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
Secondary projects that I’ve been involved in have included NGOs in Togo like Pathways Togo, Aklala, and ANVT. Pathways Togo is an organization created by a former Peace Corps Volunteer that works to build self-confidence and encourage empowerment in young women from primary school up through high school. It reinforces skills like public speaking, developing social skills, and academic excellence while stressing the importance of avoiding teenage pregnancy and how to navigate life’s problems.
Aklala is an organization that helps empower young women as well through teaching them skills in the area of being a seamstress. Young women get hands-on experience with making various items while also learning their other subjects as well. They are housed through the organization with meals being provided as well during their stay. I was able to support their initiatives by purchasing items like oven mitts, bags, and even notebooks, and also had the opportunity to design my own clothing items with the assistance of the young ladies.
ANVT is a Togo-based organization that resembles AmeriCorps in a lot of aspects. Volunteers are Togo Nationals and work in the fields of Education, Health, and Agriculture. Myself and a few other volunteers had the opportunity to meet ANGT volunteers and help setup what future collaborations may look like between Peace Corps Volunteers and ANVT volunteers.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Education volunteer in Togo?
I am biased but I think Education is the best sector in Peace Corps Togo. I think the structure that the program provides with having clear objectives to compete throughout your service and collaboration with Togolese colleagues creates great comradery and a sense of understanding and opportunity for numerous cultural exchanges ps and learning by both you and your fellow teachers.
The training you will receive during IST will prepare you to teach. None of my fellow cohort members came in with any teaching experience and you will be taught everything you need to succeed in navigating teaching within the Togo education system.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
PST is a lengthy process but as it prepares you for your two-year commitment, it is very important and a time to ask as many questions as you need to ask and get familiar with the way of the land in Togo. You will have a full team of experienced personnel around you to help guide you along including members of your own cohort there as you all will be each other’s own support systems. During each of the training sessions, it is imperative to remember that as long as the day may seem, you will get through it and the purpose of the session or activity outweighs the burden that it may seem at the moment.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Togo volunteers?
I would have packed more undergarments and dress pants. There is a packing list on our country website that is updated every year so that is very helpful to refer to while you’re packing but truthfully you don’t want to overpack as well (you will have the amount of weight that your luggage will need to be under in communication from the Peace Corps Staging team). Having things like charger converters and power banks will always come in handy as well.
11. How has learning the language been?
Learning the French language is something that will be ongoing from the time you arrive in Togo to the time you leave and hopefully beyond, if you decide to continue your learning journey after as well. The French language in Togo is of course different than what you may actually have here in France because of accents and local language being mixed in as well as just unique phrases and slang that they have for things. I equate it to American English vs. UK English as both are English but there are different slang and terminology associated with different things and it can be different depending on what part of the country you are in.
Nonetheless, I think everyone from all three of the cohorts that have entered Togo post-COVID would recommend starting to learn the basics of French through a language-on-learning app if you’ve never taken it before or have experience with it before and you just need to re-familiarize yourself with some things.
French has been something that I took years ago in the early portion of college and when I arrived in Togo I had forgotten a lot of information I had learned. It was a challenge for me to retain what I had lost and obtain new information I was learning as well. I dif not use any learning language apps before staging or any other learning aids. I highly recommend taking my learning curve to shorten yours in preparing for the basics of French. The Language Cultural Facilitators, of LCFs, as you’ll come to know them help immensely when you are in the country and even have provided videos to help with the basics which you can access in your LearningSpace.
Social Identity during Service
12. Service Experience:
It was important for me to recognize the value that serving as an African American Male volunteer would serve. Being knowledgeable about the plight that my ancestors experienced in helping to shape where I am today is very important to me and this being the first time I have been on the African continent was really like a spiritual journey for me in a lot of ways. It has made my service really meaningful especially when the journey during service doesn’t always seem like it’s as clearly identifiable.
13. Challenges and Triumphs:
One of the main challenges I’ve faced in terms of social identity has been being called first American so much and then various local terms for foreigners. In the U.S. my identity has always been observed with the addition of ‘African’ in front and so to come to the continent of Africa and not get that was something I had to adjust quickly to. Being able to talk about it with my fellow Peace Corps colleagues and looking at it from multiple different lenses was something that allowed me to navigate the situation and also have some great cultural exchange conversations with people from Togolese and other West African cultural backgrounds as well.
14. Advice for Aspiring Volunteers:
Be mindful of how your identity could be interpreted or misinterpreted and think through how that would make you feel in the situation. Often times host country nationals are not intentionally trying to be culturally insensitive, it’s just that sometimes their inexperience or lack of exposure to those from different backgrounds can result in a lack of understanding when it comes to certain identity backgrounds. Be certain that you research things about the country(ies) you may encounter and look through resources on the Peace Corps’s website that may help as well.
Final Thoughts
15. Any last comments you’d like to pass on to future Togo volunteers?
First and foremost be yourself and don’t try to feel like you have to meet past volunteers’ expectations. It is ok for people to acknowledge all similarities if they do exist but kindly and firmly persist that you are a different individual going through your own unique experiences. Also, do not be afraid to hesitate to reach out to past volunteers for information but also know that things do and might change in the same regard. Your experience will be, just like many of the different beautiful textiles that you will come into contact with, tailor-made for you.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Kijana’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 Togo Government.
