Tomorrow I start a new part-time job as an adult English teacher to recent immigrants.
I'm a little nervous about the time commitment. (I will be in class twice a week, 3 hours at a time.)
But I am also getting a little excited about this opportunity and the chance to get to know these individuals.
Last week I shadowed a couple of different teachers so I could get an idea of how things run and the people I met were so sweet and earnest and grateful.
Whatever else you might say about immigrants, their life in the U.S. is far from easy. It's tough navigating a foreign culture and its systems when you don't know the language.
And for some, the move to the U.S. demanded large sacrifices.
I met a sweet Haitian woman from Port-au-Prince who is now living in Columbus and working hard to learn English. She was dignified and feminine and beautiful.
I asked her what she was doing for work here and I was surprised to hear she is stocking shelves at Lowes. A very physically demanding job.
When I asked her what she had been doing for work in Haiti before she left the country, she dropped her eyes and sadly uttered one word: Lawyer.
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