Thousands of miles from home, John Leos contended with failed projects and the unexpected divorce of his parents. But his service in The Gambia, a small West African country bordering the Gambia River and bounded by Senegal, was not defined only by these hardships. On this episode, John fondly remembers his host family, the nephew named after him, his fellow volunteers, and the family cow.

Photos from John’s Story

John Leos’s Peace Corps Story

Where and when did you serve? What did you do?

I served in The Gambia from 2015-2017. I was in the Education Sector working as a Primary Teacher Trainer at a small Lower Basic School in the Upper Baddibou District of the North Bank Region serving approximately 250 students. I worked with teachers and administrators to improve teaching practices and student performance through lesson planning, co-teaching, model teaching, conducting workshops, and developing school resources.

I also had the privilege of serving with some pretty amazing fellow volunteers. Whether it was conducting malaria prevention workshops along the Gambian river or teaching career skills to Gambian youth in the capital, I was privileged to work with dedicated volunteers and host country nationals.

What is one of your favorite Peace Corps memories?

There are countless stories to tell. Attending a Gambian friend’s wedding, the night my namesake was born, the first solo lesson I taught in Pulaar, witnessing the intriguing and tumultuous Gambian presidential election, or jumping into the ocean after my cohort’s Swearing-In ceremony.

But the memories I cherish the most are the simple nights lying on the bantaba after a long day, chatting with my host family, drinking attaya, and listening to the hyenas call in the distance.

What is one of your least favorite Peace Corps memories?

Living off the grid with little access to international communication, it was easy to believe that my “real life” in the states would be the same as I left it. But time moves on no matter where you are and change is inevitable over two years. I learned this quickly as six months into my service, my brother broke the news to me that my father had moved out of the house and my parents were getting divorced.

Dealing with my parents divorce while serving in the Peace Corps was extremely difficult. As the months went on, it really felt like the home support system that everybody had stressed about needing for a successful service dropped out from under me. I didn’t receive the kinds of care packages that my peers were getting, and every time I would hear from the states, it never good news. My family didn’t tell me at first what was happening because they didn’t want to distract or upset me. After I knew, whenever I would float the idea of coming home early, they would protest, saying, “there’s nothing you can do to help the situation here, you’re service is so important to you, don’t leave because of us.” Still it didn’t help having hours and hours of down time in rural West Africa to imagine what was going on, all the while dealing with the everyday stresses of integration and project work.

On top of that, my projects at site were not going well, at all. My clubs weren’t popular with the kids, the Peace Corps and school staff were not excited and interested in any of my project ideas, and one time, I organized a school wide spelling bee and made almost every student cry. I think my lowest point was when my Peace Corps programming assistant asked me to teach an IST session for new volunteers on failures at site because I was “the volunteer of many failures.”

Sometimes, I really question my decision to complete the whole two years of service. There were months where I was pretty depressed, unproductive, and not at all present in my community. I think I fell victim to a mix of escapism and ET stigma,