Today is problem one of the first times I have had a bad day at this job. My day wasn’t even bad but something extremely sad and touching happened while I was at work.
I was sitting in the staff office at 5:45 waiting for my next class to start at 6:45, when the owner of my school comes in and says to me.
‘Dina, you have a class at 6pm?’
‘No I have a class at 6:45pm’
We actually teach the same class but he is there Korean teacher and I am their English teacher. He asks me if I can teach them at 6pm instead of 6:45pm. I think yes, thank you. Because it means that I can finish teaching at 6:40pm and then go home or if not, do paper work until 7:20pm.
When I asked why, I did not expect to hear this story.
He explained to me that someone came in and asked for lessons. This person is disabled (handicapped). His wish is to learn English. He wants to learn so that he has more chances of getting a job or living abroad so he can live a better life. However, because of his disabilities, every company has turned him away.
I’m not sure of his age but when I saw him, I could tell he is older then other students at our school because we only teach Kindergarten and Elementary.
My director/ boss said he will teach this boy because he can see how happy it makes him.
You are probably thinking, other companies rejected him because it is unfair to take his money. I even thought the same but my director is teaching him without taking any money. My eyes were watering when he told me about this person who has been rejected to education. The one thing that he is actively searching for and I thought to myself, what world are we living in? And how amazing is my director?
Education is one thing that everyone takes for granted at one stage or another. But it meant so much to this young man that even after rejection because of his disabilities, he kept going to different companies and schools until he found someone that accepted him.
Allowing one student to enter your academy for free is not going to cause bankruptcy.
The kindness that I saw from my director was so touching and I was so sad that this young man was rejected by so many companies.
My director is teaching him English from scratch. I am going to keep asking for updates on this student because he has touched something in me today that made me realise again that we live in a horrible world. But there are amazing people like him and my director who give this world a little bit of hope.
Be kind.
Dina Daily 