CDT Spearman’s CULP trip to Africa

August 20, 2014

The Professional and Personal Lessons That I Learned from My Trip Africa

When I was first told that I was being sent to Africa by the United States Army to teach English and train cadets at Togo’s military academy, I was very apprehensive. I had never had to teach English, I had never travelled to Africa before, and I was being asked to represent the U.S military as we built connections between the Togolese government and the United States. However, my apprehension quickly left as I began to interact with the Togolese officials and the cadets, with whom I would become close friends with over the course of my 15 days in country. Even as young cadets, we were treated with a high level of respect because it is the hope of the Togolese is that the United States and Togo become close political, military, and economic partners. I was also surprised to learn that the Togolese Military worked closely with the United Nations and that over 1200 Togolese military personnel are currently deployed to Mali to help their neighbor with the growing problem of Al-Qaeda. In the above picture, a cadet explains map reading and important English vocabulary to the Togolese military cadets, one of which is a Malian national, training to become officers. Only half the time I was in Togo was spent with the military. My team was fortunate enough to have been assigned a Togolese Captain that loved to show us the true culture of Togo. One afternoon, we hiked two hours to a remote village on top of a mountain in order to meet and interact with the locals. In the picture to the right, the kids were absolutely amazed by the touchscreen on my phone. They had never seen technology like that before. The whole experience was truly humbling. Although, by our standards, their living conditions were remarkably low, the people in this village were extraordinarily generous and friendly. They fed us local food and presented us with genuine handcrafted gifts. My overall experiences and impressions have left me craving to return overseas and one day work closely with the friends that I met.