Not what I want, but it's not about me

Last Thursday afternoon/evening was such an encouragement to me. My staff & I met for our weekly staff meeting, then left some of my staff to lead activities while I went to get supplies. As I walked by the village shop met up with the owner & 2 of his friends. All 3 of them are retired Thai police officers. Speaking Thai I asked the shop owner if he still wanted me to teach him English. He said yes, but then his 2 friends jumped in & asked if I could teach the 3 of them. I said sure & then they took a selfie of the 4 of us. Next I went to the Petrol station (gas station) 10 minutes away. When I went to pay the cashier she looked at me, smiled & said that she knew I was the guy who ran the community centre in the other district. She then asked in Thai if I could teach her English. The other fuel attendants listening in & added they would like to study also. 

I have realized that this is something deep inside that has challenged my pride. No matter what country I go I have always had this desire to know the language well and integrate as best as I can. Part of this is I have avoided teaching English knowing that my language acquisition would suffer. But, looking outside myself realize that if the poor people in the village our centre is in knew conversational English well the potential of almost doubling their monthly income could happen.

I am still a strong advocate for overseas workers taking the 1st year or 2 to only listen to local people, learn their culture & study their language as proof that we truly respect them. Ironically for me to truly listen to what my people want I will need to do what I have avoided since moving overseas 11 years ago; teach English.