“I didn’t find out that I liked teaching until I was 45 years...

“I didn’t find out that I liked teaching until I was 45 years old. I was working as a graphic designer, and I volunteered to teach a group of kids from a poor region. It was part of a special program aimed at teenagers who’d dropped out of school. At first I was scared. Many of them had behavior problems. Some of them were addicted to drugs. One of them even brought a knife to class. But I discovered that I could really connect with them. Sometimes I could even reach kids that refused to talk to psychologists. I learned that I could transform someone’s life just by listening. The program only lasted six months, but it gave me such sense of satisfaction. I’ve been training for the last two years to become a real teacher. My test results just arrived and I got assigned to the school I wanted. I’m going to teach Portuguese to elementary school students.”

(Montevideo, Uruguay)