After being in a variety of classrooms earlier in the week, I decided to circle back to a few teachers and ask for their stories in becoming educators. As each one shared her narrative, what struck me the most was the fact none of the them aspired to be a teacher growing up. Nope. Not one. In fact, Oliness, talked about she “sacrificed” herself at church and worked with the little ones in Sunday school. Sadly, her parents died when she was in grade twelve, so her plans changed dramatically. After waiting two long years to get into a dental school program, Mrs. Gwanu was told by her mother to head to Livingstone and begin working on her teaching certificate. As luck would have it, her acceptance to dental school came a year later . . . but Mom forced her to stay in the teaching program. Third grade teacher Tina had always wanted to become a nurse. However, her older sister was helping to cover the cost of schooling and insisted she pursue a teaching career. Nursing school was out of the question.

As I walked home later that day, I thought a lot about plans—plans for the future, plans for children, and God’s plan for our lives. It’s true, we often invest a great deal of time (and money) in creating big plans. We believe our plans are set in stone when actually our well crafted plans could change in an instant. And what I find so interesting is that these women are three of the strongest educators at School of Hope. They are leaders in their field who inspire their students and continue to learn themselves. They are proud of their students’ progress and joyful in their careers . . . even if teaching wasn’t their first choice.