Teaching in Togo

Thanks for checking in!

2011-11-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

We are currently in Texas, enjoying plenty of Mexican food, BBQ brisket, and Dr. Pepper! We had a great trip through West Texas last week and were happy to meet and talk with students at Lubbock Christian University. We also want to thank all of you who have been in contact with us about teaching our children. Please keep praying about the possibility, and feel free to leave a comment or email us if you have any questions.

Thanks, Nicole

Update to budget page...

2011-06-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

We have made some updates to the "Living Expenses in Togo" page on the site, so be sure to check it out. Remember that we will help with fundraising for your time here.

Also, we have changed the email address, so if you're filling out the application, be sure to mail it to the current email address. We were having trouble accessing the old email address.

Feel free to send any questions or concerns our way!

Application

2011-04-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the application. Please copy the text into an email or a document and send to the listed email address. Answers need not be long, and if you don't have certain experience, please know that it doesn't disqualify you from the position. If you're not sure if you really want to come but are just interested in the position, feel free to send in the application and simply indicate in your email that you are just considering it as a possibility. The application is not a commitment, just something to inform us of who you are and open some dialogue. Thanks!

Application for School Teacher

Kabiye Team

Kara, Togo

Africa

This application can be completed by typing your responses in the spaces provided. After completing this questionnaire, please email it to Nicole Kennell at mnkennell@gmail.com.

Biographical Information:

Name:

Current address: Street:

City:

State and Zip:

Email:

Home Phone:

Work/School Phone:

Professional Information:

College(s) attended:

Years:

Degree(s) earned:

Years:

Specialty(ies)/field of study(ies):

Place of student teaching (if applicable):

Grade level(s) and Subjects:

Year:

Type(s) of certificates and states in which they are held:

Teaching experience: (list most recent experiences first). Include start and end dates, school and city, subject and grade, principal, and reason for leaving.

Mission experience: (list most recent experiences first) Include dates, city/country, director or missionary hosts/organizations, and activities participated in

Other jobs or professional experience: (list most recent jobs first) Include dates, city/state, place of employment, and reason for leaving

2 Professional References: Include Name, Address, Phone Number/email, and relationship to you.

2 Personal References: Include Name, Address, Phone Number/email, and relationship to you.

Reasons for wanting to come and work with our team:

Please write briefly explaining why you desire to come and teach our team children.

Describe briefly your assets, personality traits, gifts and talents, which will help you in teaching children, especially considering the special circumstances inherent in this position (i.e. living in Africa, dealing with adjusting to a new culture as well as teaching.). Also include possible weaknesses that you are aware of.

Faith Questions:

Are you a Christian?

How long have you been a Christian?

Where do you currently attend church?

Church Address: Street:

City:

State and Zip:

List one elder or church leader with phone and/or email address who can give you a reference:

Please write a brief statement of your faith and beliefs below:

Concluding Questions:

What experiences have you had in adapting to other cultures? What did you like/enjoy? What did you dislike/find difficult?

Are you willing to submit to the guidance and oversight of the team and/or the school governing body in regards to your teaching?

Is there anything else you feel we should know about you?

Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

If so, please explain:

Do you have any questions you wish to ask concerning your “professional” and/or personal life in Togo?

If so, please feel free to ask any questions below:

Living Arrangements

2011-04-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not having posted these sooner. We had two deaths in the family, so we've been making some unforeseen trips.

view of living room

view of living room from other perspective

kitchen, though you cannot see the small stove and fridge

one of the two bedrooms

the toilet portion of the bathroom

the shower portion of the bathroom

sink area, just outside of toilet and shower

other view of kitchen

front porch

These pictures were taken at a Peace Corps Volunteer's house. We are looking for similar living arrangements for you! As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Next Post...

Application!!!

Job Description

2011-03-03T02:25:00.000-08:00

-Wanted: teachers for children of missionaries in Togo, West Africa!
School Terms: (apply for one term, or both terms!)
February 2012- August 2012
September 2012- May 2013

We need someone (really two or three someones) to teach four students in varying grade levels. The hours of work are from 8 am until about 3 pm, from Tuesday through Saturday each week, plus planning time. Maddie, who is entering 8th grade will actually be doing her classes online, so she doesn't need a lot of instructional time, just someone to look over assignments before she submits them and help her when she has a problem. She is also experienced in teaching younger children, so she can be quite helpful!

Subjects taught will be math, writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, history, and science. Curriculum for each of these subjects is provided, so you need only review the curriculum plans and prepare for the lessons. After preparing for the lessons, you will teach them, assign work, and monitor students as they complete their work. Additionally, we ask you to evaluate student performance and report to parents on this (we have evaluation forms.)

We also include music, art, and French in our classes. You are welcome to teach one of these, but not required.

Qualifications
- At least two years of college
- Enjoys children
- Desire to serve God
- Willingness to live and work in Togo
- Teaching degree is not required, as several of us on the team are teachers and are willing to provide guidance as needed
- Speaking some amount of French is helpful, but not required

Coming Soon...

Pictures of Housing

and

Teacher Application

Living Expenses in Togo

2011-03-02T01:49:00.000-08:00

OK, so here is an estimate of living expenses for your time here in Togo. This is, of course, subject to change. We would like to have two, or even three teachers come join us, so some of these expenses could be split, like rent and utilities, however, we don't recommend splitting a vaccine!

Airfare $1800 one time cost

Passport/Visas $300 one time cost

Vaccinations Varies depending on your health department and insurance

West African Missionary Retreat
(if here in May) $700

Monthly Expenses insurance 100 USD Housing (only rent)	100 USD
Utilities	50 USD
Mobile phone (optional)	75 USD (for phone) plus 25 USD (per month)
Food (groceries)	50-100 USD (depending on how much American type foods you buy)
Food (dining out)	50 USD
Transport / travel	50- ? USD
Miscellaneous (sports, travel)	75 USD
Total Range	625 USD at most We are recommending that you raise $7300 for the March through September session, $9000 for the session from September through May.

As always, please feel free to send any questions or comments our way!

Stay tuned for these exciting upcoming posts...

Pictures of Housing

and

Job Description

How Your Time in Togo Would Be Funded

2011-02-16T02:12:00.000-08:00

They say the best things in life are free, so apparently food in your stomach and a roof over your head aren't the best things in life! How will you afford living expenses while you're living and teaching in Togo?

We will help you through the steps of FUNdraising for your time here. We will provide you with a multimedia packet of information for yourself, and to present to potential supporters. The packet includes step by step instructions, digital and paper copies of info to give out, and a video. We are experienced fundraisers, and though it can be a challenging experience, it can also be a very powerful exercise in depending on God's provision. Of course, we are here to answer any questions you, or perspective supporters may have along the way, so you will not be in it alone.

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions. If you would like to communicate but do not want the comment published, just say so and I will read and respond to the comment without publishing it on the site.

Coming soon...

2011-02-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

How Your Time in Togo Would Be Funded

Meet the precious darlings!

2011-02-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

We are excited about the teacher(s) God will be bringing to us! We know God will put that same anticipation in your hearts. Toward that end, we want to give you a glimpse into the wonderful personalities of the children you will be working with:

Maddie (currently age 12, entering 8th grade) is a very intelligent, very capable child with artistic flair. She wants to do everything very well—and she almost always does! She is very in-tune to the expectations of others and is eager to please and to do her very best.

Michal (currently age 10, entering 6th grade) is an extraordinarily loyal, kind child. Her mild, gentle manner puts everyone around her at ease. So what if her head is sometimes in the clouds? Her heart is always empathetic towards others.

Katie (currently age 8, entering 3rd grade) is a starry-eyed lover of all creatures. If Michal’s head is in the clouds, Katie’s is in outer space—her imagination certainly takes her to far-off places! But we all love to read her (many, many) books!

Jonah (currently age 5, entering first grade) may be a bit shy until you get to know him—and then he is the clown in the group! He enjoys making people laugh—with funny faces, funny words, and funny jokes (which may not actually contain humorous content, but are truly funny when coming from him!).

Of course, we are a bit biased, but we can honestly say that each of our children is a bright, sensitive child, keenly desiring to please God. We know they will be deeply blessed by your influence on their precious lives, and we pray you will be equally enriched.

Why we need a teacher...

2011-01-25T04:50:00.000-08:00

Today I am posting a link to my blog as an example of what kind of work I do. Having a teacher here allows me time to do this kind of work, as well as work with orphans and Association Espoir pour Demain (a local AIDS clinic.)

History of our work...

2011-01-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

Our team first formed at Harding University in Searcy, AR. There were five couples, and each of us had been introduced to African missions through the Harding African Internship. In January 2000 our team moved to France to study French. We lived in Albertville, France along with the four other families for 8 months, and in August we all moved from France to Togo.

We had chosen Togo because there was only one other team in the country. They were in the southern part working with a different people group. French West Africa is highly neglected because people don't want to have to learn French before they go to the mission field, they reason it would be more expedient to just go to an English speaking country. That philosophy has left a vacuum in places like Togo and Benin even though they are sandwiched between two very highly evangelized countries- Nigeria and Ghana. Also, Wycliff Bible Translators was working on the New Testament in Kabiye, and it was finished in 1999. We saw this as an indication that God was ripening this field for harvest!

When we arrived we moved into houses here in Kara, which is about 6 hours north of the capital city (and is the second largest city.) We began learning the Kabiye language because we work only in their first language. (Kabiye is the main people group in Northern Togo.) Our first two years were spent primarily in learning language and culture, although we did begin some evangelism. In our third year here, our family decided to move back to the US. We had had complications with Michal's birth that resulted in our having to be evacuated, and then I had lost three more babies in miscarriages.

The other four families stayed and continued the work, and we moved back to the States to recover and heal. In 2005, we felt that God brought amazing healing and redemption, and we started praying about returning to the mission field. We prayed and thought about many places because we didn't want to assume that God would send us back to Togo. After praying, talking with mentors, and visiting with our teammates, we decided to return to Togo. One of the families, the Neals had just decided to leave the field and move back to the US. We rejoined our team and began praying and looking for support.

In January 2008, we moved back to Togo. Since that time all but one of the original families has left and the remaining family is leaving this April(two moved back to the US, two are preparing to start a work in Rwanda.) We are now here with a young couple from Alabama, a family from Australia, and we have two more families joining us next January.

Over the last ten years 18 churches have been planted among the Kabiye people. We have seen a shift in our role from primary teachers of the Gospel to supporting the Christians as they have become the primary teachers. We have also expanded to serving the physical needs of the people in an effort to expand our region of influence, and respond to pleas for help. We work mainly in orphan care, clean water wells, and ministering to those with AIDS, and we have smaller projects with agriculture and literacy.

Mark and I are both heavily involved in ministry to those who have or are affected by HIV/ AIDS, I also work with orphan care, and he works in leadership training in the churches. Mark has recently started to survey the surrounding areas, going beyond the area where our work currently extends. He is offering help to communities and families in dealing with HIV/ AIDS, and is looking for people who are open to Christ. I have been praying Colossians 4:3-4 for him almost daily! We are also praying that God would make tender hearts in those who are willing to receive him, and that he would give Mark the wisdom to know these people when he meets them. I remember praying these thing 10 years ago, and I am amazed at how he has answered those prayers. I can't wait to introduce you to Kpatcha, Jerome, Jean-Marie, Christianne, and Mazalo, who are his answer! What beautiful work God is doing here to proclaim his redemption through the working of truth and grace in people's lives!

blog posts from past teachers...

2011-01-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some links to blogs kept by our teachers from last year, Bethany, Sarah, and Jacque.

I chose to highlight Bethany's blog from last April, mainly because it has some great pictures, and it reminded me of a wonderful day we spent together in the village of N'Djei. Check it out, and read from posts before it, too, to hear more of her perspective on teaching.

Here are Jacque's posts from the trip to, and first couple of days in Togo.

Sarah's post features a day in her life here.

I love these girls dearly and miss them!

Thanks for stopping in and keep checking back. More information is coming!

Information Forthcoming...

2011-01-18T11:07:00.001-08:00

Please check back next week when we begin posting info about spending 10 months in Africa as a teacher! Thanks.