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International Offices World Language Translator Honored by Lee University
Amevi Bocco, a Translator at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee has been honored by Lee University, receiving the Paul Conn Award. He will be graduating in May from the University. The award is presented to the graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest promise of achievement in graduate/professional studies after graduating from Lee University.
Left with no option, I was forced
to leave Togo in order to escape the worst. Upon my arrival in the United States
at Newark Airport my baggage was nowhere to be found as they were not put in
the plane during our stopover in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Through the help of
some strangers and workers at the airport who helped me explain the fact that I
could not find my luggage, because of my incapacity to speak the English
language myself, I was given one hundred dollars (five bills of twenty dollars)
by the airline to buy some clothes. However, because my final destination was
supposed to be Cleveland, Tennessee due to the location of my contact, I used
the hundred dollars to buy a Greyhound bus ticket which cost exactly one
hundred dollars. Should God not have provided this money, I would not have been
able to get the bus ticket, because the money I brought with me from Togo was
in CFA, Togolese currency and I was told by a bank at the airport that it could
not be exchanged into American dollar.
I finally took the bus and arrived in
Chattanooga, Tennessee at midnight. As the bus station was closed and after
some unsuccessful attempts to call my contact, which was a church in Cleveland,
I walked to the highway, where I started to look for help by attempting to stop
people in their cars. This is something we do in Togo and is called “auto stop.”
But obviously this strategy does not work in the United States, as after some
thirty minutes, I was surrounded by six police cars. After some tough
interrogations (tough due to the fact that I could not understand what they
were saying), the police officers left me there. It is necessary to mention
here that to this day I am not able to tell accurately the content of those
interrogations, as I was not able to understand them at the time. All my
responses to them were purely imaginative. What is still vivid, however, in my
mind until today is the fact that one of the officers asked me a final
question, which he repeated three times after I responded two times, “pardon
me?”, because I was not able to understand him. Because I was too embarrassed
to say “pardon me” again, I said “no sir”. This response from me was received
with shocking facial expressions on the part of the officers, and one of them
after a few seconds, with a look that conveyed despair rather than a surprise,
said, “Ok if you say so”. They then jumped in their cars and left me there. It
is rather fair to say that based on their body languages the officers might
have offered me a help, but because of my serious deficiency in English, I said
“no sir” because I did not understand. Left with no options, I went back to the
bus station, where I sat down and rested, with one eye open, until morning.
That morning, a staff member came in and opened the bus station. I went in and
talked to him in my broken English mixed with gestures and mime and let him
understand through the address of my contact that I wanted to get to Cleveland,
Tennessee, and that I did not have money to buy the bus ticket. This man gave
me a free bus ticket on which he put JESUS CHRIST at the place of my name.
Amevi Bocco, a Translator at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee has been honored by Lee University, receiving the Paul Conn Award. He will be graduating in May from the University. The award is presented to the graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest promise of achievement in graduate/professional studies after graduating from Lee University. Amevi has been accepted into the Ph.D program in Modern Languages at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and has been awarded full tuition and a teaching
assistantship.
Amevi is an active member of the Wildwood Avenue Church of God of Prophecy in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Learn more about Amevi by reading his story below:
My
name is Augustin Amévi Bocco. I was born in Togo, West Africa in a family of
seven. I was raised all my life in Togo, where I received most of my academic
formation and education. After my graduation from high school, I started my
education at the only national university in the country, the University of
Lomé, Togo, with a major in linguistics. While studying there, I was involved
as a delegate from the linguistics department in the Student Council in charge
of dealing with the national government concerning issues related to the needs
of the student body. Because of the poor conditions and the serious lack of
infrastructure at the university at that time, and the refusal of the
government to respond favorably to student demands, the Student Council called
for a peaceful demonstration aiming at requesting better living conditions on
the campus. Unfortunately, during the
ensuing demonstration, some students were killed, others were beaten and
injured. Many others were arrested and jailed. After this unfortunate event, a
warrant of arrest was launched by the government against the members of the Student
Council.
Left with no option, I was forced
to leave Togo in order to escape the worst. Upon my arrival in the United States
at Newark Airport my baggage was nowhere to be found as they were not put in
the plane during our stopover in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Through the help of
some strangers and workers at the airport who helped me explain the fact that I
could not find my luggage, because of my incapacity to speak the English
language myself, I was given one hundred dollars (five bills of twenty dollars)
by the airline to buy some clothes. However, because my final destination was
supposed to be Cleveland, Tennessee due to the location of my contact, I used
the hundred dollars to buy a Greyhound bus ticket which cost exactly one
hundred dollars. Should God not have provided this money, I would not have been
able to get the bus ticket, because the money I brought with me from Togo was
in CFA, Togolese currency and I was told by a bank at the airport that it could
not be exchanged into American dollar.I finally took the bus and arrived in
Chattanooga, Tennessee at midnight. As the bus station was closed and after
some unsuccessful attempts to call my contact, which was a church in Cleveland,
I walked to the highway, where I started to look for help by attempting to stop
people in their cars. This is something we do in Togo and is called “auto stop.”
But obviously this strategy does not work in the United States, as after some
thirty minutes, I was surrounded by six police cars. After some tough
interrogations (tough due to the fact that I could not understand what they
were saying), the police officers left me there. It is necessary to mention
here that to this day I am not able to tell accurately the content of those
interrogations, as I was not able to understand them at the time. All my
responses to them were purely imaginative. What is still vivid, however, in my
mind until today is the fact that one of the officers asked me a final
question, which he repeated three times after I responded two times, “pardon
me?”, because I was not able to understand him. Because I was too embarrassed
to say “pardon me” again, I said “no sir”. This response from me was received
with shocking facial expressions on the part of the officers, and one of them
after a few seconds, with a look that conveyed despair rather than a surprise,
said, “Ok if you say so”. They then jumped in their cars and left me there. It
is rather fair to say that based on their body languages the officers might
have offered me a help, but because of my serious deficiency in English, I said
“no sir” because I did not understand. Left with no options, I went back to the
bus station, where I sat down and rested, with one eye open, until morning.
That morning, a staff member came in and opened the bus station. I went in and
talked to him in my broken English mixed with gestures and mime and let him
understand through the address of my contact that I wanted to get to Cleveland,
Tennessee, and that I did not have money to buy the bus ticket. This man gave
me a free bus ticket on which he put JESUS CHRIST at the place of my name.I was then able to get to Cleveland
where through some amazing provision by God, I met a pastor who took me home
and arranged for me to stay with one of his church members. It was then that I
contacted the United States government and was granted a political asylum
granting me a permission to stay indefinitely in the United States. Missing so
much my French language, I asked the brother with whom I was staying to take me
to Lee University in order for me to talk to students that are majoring in
French. It was then that I met Dr. Wilkins and Dr. Eledge whom God would later
use greatly in my life toward the fulfillment of my educational goals.