His degree in economics and a longtime interest in anti-corruption programs pushed government budgets into the forefront of where Coleman wanted to direct his career. After moving back to Washington, he returned to the place he loved best, Peace Corps headquarters. He was immediately assigned to the chief financial officer's office as a collections officer, then as a budget analyst with the African Region. "Writing and monitoring governmental budgets might seem boring to some, but to me, it's a living, breathing document that changes constantly and that's exciting," he says. "Also, the wonderful people who work at the Peace Corps make everything worthwhile. Going to work every day was a joy for me. There was never a day when I didn't want to go." After temporary deployments to China and Togo and attendance at a conference in Senegal, Coleman decided to return overseas to work in the field again. "It just all worked out for the best. I had the perfect friends to rent the house out that I had bought two years earlier, and I was at a point in my job where I wanted to do more and to grow professionally," he says. Coleman quickly accepted when the position opened in Togo. "When I had worked in Togo previously, my staff was amazing and the direction of the programs and the happiness of the volunteers were exactly where one wants them," he says.
Gabon RPCV Jason Coleman has returned to Africa with the U.S. Peace Corps, this time as director of management and operations in the country of Togo
S.P. Native Back in Africa With Peace Corps
Caption: Jason Coleman in Namibia during earlier service in Africa with the Peace Corps.
By Florence Gilkeson
As of Sunday, July 3, 2011
Jason Coleman has returned to Africa with the U.S. Peace Corps, this time as director of management and operations in the country of Togo.
The former Southern Pines resident entered the Peace Corps in 2001 as a volunteer in the environmental education program in Gabon, a country in west central Africa. The son of Mitch and Barbara Coleman, of Southern Pines, he is a 2000 graduate of N.C. State University.
"It's so good to be back and working here for the Peace Corps," Coleman says. "It's been a blessing to have been a volunteer in the field, worked in the headquarters office and now as a staff member in the field. I've had the best of all worlds with the Peace Corps."
Since that Peace Corps introduction to Africa 10 years ago, Coleman, 33, has traveled around the world working with the Corps and in other endeavors.
Coleman spent his first two years in Gabon as a teacher in local primary and high schools. Then he traveled to Central America to study Spanish and become acclimated to life outside volunteerism.
"It was hard, getting back into the swing of things," he recalls of his return to the States after his time in Africa and Central America. "I always tell the story of my first visit back to a mall after leaving Gabon. It was complete overload. There were so many choices. The food court was just too much."
Returning to the States, he accepted a job in policy work for a lobbying organization in Washington, D.C. But he missed Africa.
A friend from Peace Corps headquarters emailed Coleman and asked if he was interested in returning.
Coleman jumped at the chance and re-enlisted as a volunteer in what was known as the Peace Corps' Crisis Corps program. Working for the Ministry of Higher Education, he was the regional HIV/AIDS coordinator for a region of Namibia, a country in the southern part of Africa.
"Namibia was completely different from what I had experienced in other African countries," he says. "It presented its own challenges and its own rewards. That's what is so great about Africa and traveling in general; you never ever know what's going to happen from day to day. One day you are working in your office and the next day you're working in an HIV/AIDS orphans after-school program or watching the sun set over the rain forest."
After completing six months with the Crisis Corps and traveling in southern Africa with friends, he returned to the States and entered graduate school at Clark University, where he enrolled in the International Development and Social Change Program.
"Clark University and graduate school was a great decision for me," he says. "I went into it thinking that finally I was going to get the answers on how to fix the world's problems, but I came out with the tools and knowledge of how to reinforce my own ideas in achieving what I wanted to do with my life."
His degree in economics and a longtime interest in anti-corruption programs pushed government budgets into the forefront of where Coleman wanted to direct his career.
After moving back to Washington, he returned to the place he loved best, Peace Corps headquarters. He was immediately assigned to the chief financial officer's office as a collections officer, then as a budget analyst with the African Region.
"Writing and monitoring governmental budgets might seem boring to some, but to me, it's a living, breathing document that changes constantly and that's exciting," he says. "Also, the wonderful people who work at the Peace Corps make everything worthwhile. Going to work every day was a joy for me. There was never a day when I didn't want to go."
After temporary deployments to China and Togo and attendance at a conference in Senegal, Coleman decided to return overseas to work in the field again.
"It just all worked out for the best. I had the perfect friends to rent the house out that I had bought two years earlier, and I was at a point in my job where I wanted to do more and to grow professionally," he says.
Coleman quickly accepted when the position opened in Togo.
"When I had worked in Togo previously, my staff was amazing and the direction of the programs and the happiness of the volunteers were exactly where one wants them," he says.
After training for five weeks and spending 10 days in Paris for a brief vacation to brush up on his French, Coleman arrived in Togo on March 1.
Togo is a former French colony in western Africa. With a population of 6.7 million, the country abuts Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso on three sides and accesses the Gulf of Guinea on the south. Togo gained independence in 1960.
"It's so good to be back and working here for the Peace Corps," he says. "It's been a blessing to have been a volunteer in the field, worked in the headquarters office and now as a staff member in the field. I've had the best of all worlds with the Peace Corps."
Coleman doesn't know his next destination after Togo but says he's not worried.
"I was reminded the other day of my favorite saying that I used to hear when I was a volunteer, 'petite a petite le ouiseaux faire son lit (little by little, the bird makes its nest).' With the wonderful support of my family and friends, one day my best will be done, and I can sit back and look at all the wonderful adventures that made it."
Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@thepilot.com.
