Amevi Augustin Bocco

Classification: Senior
Major: French
Hometown: Togo, West Africa

Amevi Bocco, known on the Lee campus as Augustin, came to Cleveland from Togo, West Africa to study French and share his love of the French language with fellow students at Lee.Coming from West Africa a little over seven years ago, Augustin could not speak English, but through the help of friends, Augustin was able to make it to Cleveland.

Like many international students, Augustin has not been able to return home since he began his education. However, his departure from his home country was not only motivated by his desire to study at Lee, but also because of his commitment to student rights and a concern for his personal safety in his home country.

Augustin was a student at the university in Togo where he participated in the student body government, whose goal was to fight for better student conditions, which they tried to accomplish through peaceful demonstrations. The Togo government, however, was outraged by the students’ protest and began shooting at them. After this demonstration, Augustin felt it was not safe to remain in Togo and came to the U.S. and to Lee.

After he left Togo, Augustin got married, and, sadly, because of his exile, he has only seen his wife a couple of times since he came to the U.S. His wife has been working to complete the process of getting a green card for three years, but is still waiting for the government to clear her to enter America.

While earning his degree in French, Augustin has continued his desire to help and work with students by directing language cafés for beginning and intermediate French courses. These cafés are designed to aid students in their conversation abilities, creating a friendly environment to improve language skills and interact with fellow students.

Augustin says he has grown to love the cafés. They have allowed him to build relationships with Lee students that he wouldn’t otherwise have had; in fact, he is a bit reluctant to leave Lee because of his attachment to the students and the cafés. “I don’t know how [leaving] is going to affect me,” he says. “But life goes on.”

In addition to going to school full-time and directing the French cafés, Augustin also works 40 hours a week at the Church of God of Prophecy offices as a French translator in the World Language department. Augustin will be graduating this May and continuing his education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He plans to get his Ph.D. in French literature.  

After completing his doctorate, Augustin would like to return to Lee and continue working with the cafés, but he is leaving his options open to God’s direction.    

Posted on -04/15/08