Travelling teacher images
I remember the old days, ten years ago, when West Australians' "travel world" was largely measured by Bali.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were the first destinations for a travelling Australian teacher. I wanted to explore Middle East.
Then, with the difficulties there, the world changed, our focus fell on other destinations.
I went back to Europe. I realized, when overseas, you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you are visiting.
South America was another of my 'dreams come true' destinations. I met many weather-beaten and poor, but very happy people.
They never complained. They looked after their families and took responsibility for their own actions.
My little students never found their exams too hard and never complained of too much homework.
I felt like screaming: " Come on, Australia, toughen up people there have it too easy."
" Toughen up Australia and make people take responsibility for their own actions instead of shifting the blame to others to their misfortunes."
Watching South Americans living together in big families, I often wondered what makes us, many 'Westerners' to prefer lonely and single lifestyle.
We have so many negative mindsets that are holding us back from experiencing and finding true love.
We also have got many negative life circumstances that are getting in the road: busy lifestyle, travelling, unability to share and change your habbits...
'Make sure when the right person comes along you are available to leap..' the South Americans sing in their songs about love and live accordingly.
My travels to South America completely changed the trajectory of my life. South America made me a better person and I find it a very exciting place.
What a person believes, their religious tenets, are the railway tracks on which many peoples lives run.
It sets the course of their journey and maps out their life in a predestined way.
"Nobody can change everything, but everybody can change something." I repeated myself many times.
South American people are very religious. I accepted it as a good thing.
Whatever feelings people have got about a spirit, or about beliefs to do with nature or some force or a god with a small g, or a God with a big G.
I find all of this positive. Belief and spirituality often inspire meditation, contemplation and abstract thought -all good things.
" Morning are all about promise and possibility", another their famous song taught me.
" There can be sadness in afternoons and evenings but mornings are newness and good things".
South Americans are able to leave all their yesterdays' troubles behind and start 'happy, new and fresh day'.
Their life circumstances are very harsh but they shared everything with me. " Everything you need to know about life is in books." I was taught but I now know it is not true. The most you learn from people you meet...
The ordinary people living in extraordinary situations. I have found my peace, my contentment and my gratitude towards life BECAUSE OF THEM...
Travelling teacher
From remote villages
to busy town and cities
I travelled
teaching little kids to write,
big kids to count the money,
and make them read, read, read.
From June to September
it is summer in Hong Kong
very hot and humid
and I remember
tiny childrens' faces
with keen black eyes,
repeating English phrases.
Asrate was a teenager,
in Ethiopia,
she learnt fast
and wanted to be
a registered nurse.
She was a bit different
from other normal people,
after a bad accident,
things can be hard to handle.
Asrate dreamt about
peace and prosperity
for her community,
I hope her wishes came true.
I lived in a small, green country
on the Baltic Sea.
The country with wild beaches,
grand pine forests,
with unforgettable smiles,
which were mixed with the sea.
In 1994 Latvia declared independence,
the Russian army had to leave
and I came to teach English.
Evgeniy and Snezhana
were my best students,
now
they are successful
overseas.
Alex was my student
in Kiev, Ukraine.
He was born
just few miles from Chernobyl.
He was affected by radiation,
very lucky to get sponsors
for treatment in US.
Buaphad was my student
in Thailand
and Esther in Tahiti,
She lived on a little island,
Eden Isle was the name of place.
When you arrived on the pier,
you can see some quaint huts
by the sea.
Parents of my future students
had been waiting there
to embrace me
with necklaces of flowers
around my neck.
You could see
the fine sand,
swaying palm trees
and very clear blue ocean.
The happy people
from Eden Isle,
the people who don't know
much
about the material world,
but they know how to live happily
and how to create pearls under the sea,
always stayed with me.
Just like the people in San Salvador,
Honduras, Bolivia, Peru,
Argentina and Chile.
Last year there,
when I went for a walk along the beach,
I found some interesting shaped pieces
of driftwood
that had been washed up
on the beach.
When I arrived home that evening
I put them on the garden table.
The next day
the man next door noticed them
and stopped to have a talk.
He would like to have them
in his small wooden hut.
His name was Karl Rabeder,
a successful businessman,
who is giving away
every cent of his fortune
to charity in Latin America.
" It was the biggest shock in my life,
when I realised how horrible,
soulless and without feeling
the businessman lifestyle is."
I looked at him in surprise:
" Now I know what is right,"
he smiled:
" I feel free and happy now."
I visited Rome, Paris, Vienna,
Poland, Slovakia, Romania
and Amsterdam.'
I am back home now
teaching children...
make them wonder,
make them question,
make them apologize and mean it.
Make students have respect
and take responsibility for their actions.
I make them stand
and sing Advance Australia Fair
because we are fortunate
enough
to live in this great country
called Australia.
Maybe next year,
I will be travelling teacher
again.
There are so many students,
up there,
waiting for an opportunity
to learn, to grow,
to succeed in life.
I met many rich people
on my travels,
with bored expressions
and five star hotel lifestyle,
businessmen,
who asked me:
" You worked whole your life,
how much money did you make?"
I went silent.
But not now.
Now,
when people try to judge me
by what I make,
I can hold my head up high.
" You want to know what I make?"
I ask:
" I make my students understand that
if they use gifts
they were given,
work hard,
and follow ther hearts,
they find their place in life."
I DON'T MAKE MONEY, I MAKE LIVES.
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