Center for Multicultural Affairs Honors Black History Month With Life in The Peace Corps Event

To honor Black History Month, the Center for Multicultural Affairs hosted an event featuring previous members of the Peace Corps who served in different countries throughout Africa. 

The panelists spoke about their transition to living and working in different countries throughout Africa and enjoying new cultures, foods, religions and skills. All of the panelists learned to speak the language of the African community they lived in and had a variety of different service roles through education, community building and economic development. 

“I am Nigerian, so I grew up with some Nigerian culture and foods, so going to Mali and Senegal wasn’t a shock of culture,” Peace Corps Volunteer Teni-Ola Ogunjobi said. “However, rural life is different from city life or even just traveling to a country to live there for fun. You are basically going back in time and living in a village, riding a bike and surrounded by dirt roads.” 

The Peace Corps volunteers enjoyed the fresh meals in Africa, as the majority of the food the panelists ate during their service was locally sourced and had little to no preservatives. Food was also a way to build community and allowed the village to get together for celebration. 

“I was never tired of all the meat passing traditions and fresh foods,” Ogunjobi said. “I loved the rich food and the flavor because it didn’t have a lot of preservatives. I became a big fan of home grown foods and I came to love and appreciate the work that went into it.”   

The members of the Peace Corps were able to better understand the history of Africa and the local communities they were serving. By experiencing the cultures and ways of life in Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia, the volunteers were able to come home with new perspectives of the world.  

“Living in a place like Brooklyn, New York, and then moving to Guinea was a big change,” Peace Corps Volunteer Leslie Jean-Pierre said. “It was a village of 10,000 people, but it felt like everyone was a big family. When I was in Guinea, I actually learned more about Black history than I did in the 20 years I was in public school in the United States.” 

After leaving the United States, many of the Peace Corps volunteers said they struggled with their identity when they returned to the states. It was difficult for them to have both their American identity and a new identity formed in their host country. 

“The Peace Corps definitely challenged my identity,” Peace Corps Volunteer Nyassa Kollie said. “My parents are both immigrants from Liberia so I have a lot of identity placed in the African American and Liberian American identity. I used my American identity to talk to my students in Malawi about Black History Month and Martin Luther King Day.” 

The Center for Multicultural Affairs held this event so students could think beyond service on the Marist campus and think about volunteering globally. 

“It’s really exciting for me to see the opportunity for these volunteers to give time to help us at Marist see the value of not only serving our local communities, but the rest of the world,” Director of Multicultural Affairs Iris Ruiz-Grech said.

To honor Black History Month, the Center for Multicultural Affairs hosted an event featuring previous members of the Peace Corps who served in different countries throughout Africa. Source: Latifa Toike