Q. Why did you want to join the Peace Corps?
A. I just wanted to help people. In addition I wanted to learn a new language, experience a different culture and figure out the next step in my life and I believed that Peace Corps would help me along that road.
Q. What are you doing as your Peace Corps service?
A. Officially, I am in the Small Enterprise Development Program as a small business advisor. However, Peace Corps allows you to pretty much pursue whatever projects you see that will benefit the community, that people are willing to really work for.
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Meet Justin Name: Justin Hugelen |
Q. What has been the biggest challenge to adjusting to life in a foreign country?
A. To be honest, I thought it would be more difficult. It could be the country that I am in, but everyone seems very receptive to Peace Corps volunteers. In addition, the volunteers spread throughout the country provide a great support network if anything is getting you down.
Q. What surprised you the most about Togo?
A. How genuinely helpful and inherently nice people are.
Q. Why do you think your work in Togo is important?
A. I think it is important because a lot is needed here and people are thirsty for knowledge. It is the skills we learned in middle school and high school that seem to be the most useful, such as typing on a computer or searching for something on the Internet – things that are pretty much instinctual for us, but for most people here in Togo it is entirely unnatural.
