Three and a half months have gone by as the teacher at KSDC. It has now been long enough that I feel as though I truly belong here. I am happy to report that my students have become very comfortable with me, the nervousness before teaching no longer exists, and although I am a foreigner I no longer feel foreign in this small village. I have gotten to know my students very well, each of them with their own brand of charisma and charm. I know what to expect from them when I walk into the classroom and they know what to expect from me. Our in class conversations don’t feel as rigid or academic as they did in the early months. They flow more freely and the students have no problem discussing personal topics. In particular, they love to ask about girlfriends, boyfriends, and love. I’m not much of a gossip myself but I find it very entertaining to listen in on these innocent expressions of affection. “What are your plans this weekend?” one student will ask, to which another student will reply, “I want to see my girlfriend this weekend… but I don’t have a girlfriend”, and the whole class erupts in laughter. In fact, the mere mention of a crush or a girlfriend is likely to get the whole class grinning or laughing. They are very clever at changing my conversation prompts into something about love and I don’t mind it. If the class is laughing, the energy is up, and they’re having fun, I feel that this only adds to the enjoyment of learning English. 

I feel more settled as part of the village as well. I notice the look that the locals give me is much warmer as they recognize I’m not just a tourist passing through. I’m the only white man in the village so I’m always going to stand out, but I’m not made to feel out of place. Most of the men recognize me from the football field, some who speak English have approached me on the sidelines and asked how long I’ll be staying here for. The woman who works at the shop down the road has started practicing her English when returning my change. She now wishes me a good morning or a good evening whenever I come into the shop. I have also stepped in to take over Karunia’s English conversation group at the KSWDC organization. She had been teaching a group of six students in the evenings from Monday to Friday. I had attended this group a few times and they asked that I step in for her as she her farewell for Canada. I agreed to keep the group going on Mondays and Wednesdays, leaving some of my evenings open to play football. They’re a lovely group of people and it’s something that I feel happy to do with my extra time. It’s nice to feel like my feet are planted in the ground here. For now, I feel at home at the school, in this place, and in this community. 

I also realize that I have drawn closer to the end of this placement than the start. With that I feel the challenge no longer lies in integrating myself, but in making sure I don’t take any remaining moments for granted. There will only be so many football games played at the field atop the hill, only so many holidays and birthdays to celebrate with the students, and only so many classes left before I return back to Canada. The next challenge is to be present for all of it. I won’t be the KSDC teacher forever and I know that I’ll miss it dearly when I’m gone. I get to share the next 2 and a half months with my students, after that our lives head in very different directions. It’s a blessing to have made these connections but there is no certainty that I will see some of these people again. So while I’m here and while I share a path with them, I intend to make the most of it. I have all the incentive to keep playing football, to make conversation with the quieter students in the group, and make the remaining classes as fun and lively as they can be. I can’t change the amount of time I have left, only what happens in that time. 

The best thing about teaching at SDC is that every class can be unique and different. I enjoy creating my own lesson plans and seeing how they unfold. However, two of my favourite classes came when we had CAPI visitors at the school and the lesson plan was to simply let them talk to the class. Our program manager, Robyn, came to visit for a few days in late June. She was a guest speaker for the class and spoke to them about her history working with KSDC. She then offered them a chance to ask her questions about anything they wanted. Although I was just an active listener, it was one of the most memorable classes I’ve had. Some of their questions stuck with me months later. One student asked “is love important everywhere in the world?” and the class adorably oohed and ahhed when Robyn confirmed that yes, love is important everywhere. 

Another asked about the difference between school in Myanmar and school in Canada. Her response stuck with me. She explained to them that although the education system is more developed, learning is often limited to people’s minds, and that the process of learning with the heart has gone missing. It resonated with me because learning with the heart and with collective purpose can be seen everyday here. The students depend on each other to learn, to eat, and to do all of the necessary chores that keep the school running. They are driven to learn because they want support their fellow Karenni people in the future. Each of them will tell you that they want to help their community in the future. In Canada, we have the privilege of focusing on individual goals. However, in pursuing this kind of success we lose the fulfilment of succeeding with others. We often perceive reliance on each other as a weakness when really it’s a strength. It’s a good reminder that the success, health, and well being of our family and friends is also our success, and our success is theirs. With this sentiment in mind, it is much more impactful and purposeful to learn with your people, for your people, and with the heart as well as the mind. 

The last question that stuck with me was “what is more important to defend yourself, words or a gun?” The answer to this question is much more complicated than it would be if asked in Canada. In truth, I felt lucky that I wasn’t the one answering it. Robyn answered honestly and in a way that reflected a real understanding of the situation in Karenni state. That many people are working very hard to develop and improve things so that words, justice, and law can become more important than a gun. However, there are some circumstances where a gun is more important to defend your life. The students are very passionate about justice, some have told me that they want to become judges in the future. International law is one of subjects at SDC, and it’s a very important one given all of the injustices faced by the Karenni people. I hope that in the future, systems of law and justice continue to develop in Karenni state. I have seen a collective desire to make this happen. 

In late July we had Jaiya and Maddy come to visit from Malaysia. I was stoked to see one of my best friends and to introduce them to the students. Jaiya was a guest speaker in my class and the students had a round of questions for him as well. He told them about the work he was doing as a teacher in Kuala Lumpur, how his school compared to ours, and gave them a little background about our friendship. To no surprise, the class was most intrigued to hear Jaiya talk about his girlfriend in Canada. After answering questions from the class, we broke in to smaller groups for conversations. Between Jaiya, Maddy, Karunia, Jannae, and myself, each group had one Canadian to talk to. Many students have told me that they’d never spoken to a foreigner before the start of the course, on that day they had five to talk to. After class the students made an assembly line to take photos with Jaiya and Maddy, I’m sure that it was a memorable day for the students and my fellow interns. 

Three and a half months have gone by as the teacher at KSDC. There are already so many good things to look back on. Laughter from the classroom, memorable visits of friends from home, moments of connection with students. I feel lucky to be in the middle of this experience, to have great things to look back on and even greater things to look forward to as well. In the next two and half months I want to keep my mind clear, my heart open, and enjoy what’s left of this already amazing experience. I also want to express gratitude to my thirty-two incredible students, the way that they have engaged with the class and with each other has been incredible. I can feel how much they want to learn, I can sense that they listen intently and engage with what I try to teach them, the effort that they put in both inside and out of the class makes this experience everything. 

~Rowan Moore