My name is Levi Benjamin Clay Rokey. Otherwise known as “Lewi” (LAY-wee) in the Rwandan village I lived in from 2018-2020. I’m a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who taught English to secondary-level (middle school) students in northern Rwanda. That’s the origin story of this blog’s beginnings.

After the Peace Corps worldwide evacuation in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved to Busan, Korea, where I taught English to elementary and middle school students at a private academy. In Korean, Levi = 리바이.

In 2023, I obtained a Master of Arts in Food Studies: Sustainable Policies for Production and Consumption from The American University of Rome. My thesis focused on South Korean rural development policy supporting the generational sustainability of agriculture by encouraging youth into the sector.

Since August 2023, I’ve been living a meandering existence with a base in the Denver area of Colorado. I work remotely in the agriculture technology space, helping the industry become more efficient (and therefore more sustainable) through precision agriculture.

Before joining the Peace Corps, I lived in Washington, D.C. for seven years, building an amazing karass of friends via founding the Exploratory Committee of Crawls and Shenanigans (ECOCAS). I also worked in public relations for a decade, helping private and public sector clients to analyze print, online, social, and broadcast media. Essentially, I read the news for a living.

In my spare time, I love gardening, board games, cooking, eating unique cuisines, reading anything related to food, politics, music, world events, agriculture, and culture, and spending as much time outdoors as possible (skiing, biking, hiking, swimming).

I’ll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, from his last work, A Man Without a Country:

“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”

This blog is my art.

*The content of this website (from my time in the Peace Corps) is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Rwandan Government.*