An eye-opener?

My first teaching position was as an IT lecturer in a further education college, over twenty-two years ago. You didn't need any qualifications at the time, just a useful skill and the ability to pass that on, although I did achieve the non-degree, adult education version of a PGCE within a couple of years. I absolutely loved it there, and thought it might be a round-about way to get into secondary school teaching, but it proved to be life-changing in the most unexpected way.

My first-ever class was a group of young Kosovan refugees, who had to learn English as one of the conditions of their being allowed to stay in the UK. There were no dedicated English language classes available so I was asked to teach them word processing. In fact, I only got the job because there was a real shortage of teachers at the time and they were desperate! Over the next five years, although I had many on-site 'mainstream' classes, I also taught in social clubs, a prison, a mental health unit and an immigration detention centre. The obstacles my students had faced - and were still facing every day - and the horrendous situations many had left, often undertaking unbelievably dangerous journeys to escape, were incredible. Every story was different but they all had a few things in common - a deep sense of integrity, a strong work ethic, an endless store of resilience, the overwhelming desire to succeed and make a better life for themselves… and courage. Despite many wanting to return home as soon as they could, all of my refugee students, which grew to include people from all over the world, had a huge amount of respect for and gratitude towards the UK for having given them this opportunity. Above all, they were always cheerful and never complained. In more recent times, I have seen this same strength of character in the Syrian teenagers I have taught. I'm sure they would all be very surprised to know how much the happily-married American lady who taught them typing was in awe of them. 

It sounds ridiculous saying this under the current circumstances but I did joke to my boss at the time about my being a part of the 'war effort', actually meaning how pathetic it was that while so many people were doing so much to help people, especially military personnel and aid workers, all I was doing was teaching them to use Microsoft Office. She looked at me and said 'But without what you're doing, they wouldn't be able to stay here.' One way to look at it, I guess!

There is one young man who I've often thought about over the years. He was nineteen, from Afghanistan. All the staff thought he was amazing, as he spent every weekday taking as many classes as he could, while working six nights a week in the local abattoir. He absolutely hated the job but wanted to be a doctor and was determined to do everything he could to make this dream come true. I hope I'm sure he did. 

Over the past few days, I've contacted many of the organisations I used to work with, including the Red Cross, to see if there's anything I can do to help in any way (that's more than teaching IT!) but there isn't yet. I'm going to see some Afghan friends later and my question to them will be the same: 'What can I do?'