Hi everyone, how have you all been doing? I know, I haven’t been in touch for a while. It has been an intense year of transition. Wondering what I have been up to? Feel free to continue reading my newest article. While writing, I am currently on my 3 month sabbatical in Malta taking a much needed ‘Eat, Pray and Love’ break from everything!
Where shall I begin? As some of you know, I have been an English teacher for the past 20 years. For a large part of my life, this has been very fulfilling but turning ‘The BIG 40’ made me realize that there is more to life than just grading papers. Honestly, this felt like such a waste of my time and energy, especially when the kids did NOT learn for a test. While correcting, my heart would go out to the underdogs which were usually the teenagers with learning disabilities and behavioral deficiencies. In class, I noticed they wanted to learn but weren’t able to. This is the main reason, why I went back to university years ago to specialize in remedial teaching.
So after doing some soul searching, I decided to make a career switch. I decided to teach English to just one exam class filled with special educational needs teens and offer personal coaching towards teachers, pupils and their parents or caretakers. I loved the mixture of teaching and coaching. At the end of the school year I reached a crossroad and had to make a choice. Either continue teaching English, coaching in Special Educational Needs or my Entrepreneurship. I made the decision to say my goodbyes and engage in a new adventure!
At the age of 41, I decided to stop working at the high school where I worked. They say when, one door closes another one opens right? So, God opened the door for a new job! This time as a youth advisor at the ‘Gemeente Amsterdam’. It is incredible, how life prepared me for this job. Now, I work as a government official with the most vulnerable youth between the age of 16 until 27 years old. I am now able to help youth who live in poverty, who are addicted or ill and help them find the right education or work. Together with my amazing team @Het Jongerenpunt, I can help the youth of Amsterdam towards a brighter future.
In the meantime, my company Gilleon’S Hope was growing. Many students either wanted to learn the English language, learn how to write poetry or get coaching in their own entrepreneurial skills. In my previous article ‘Poetry Competitions’, you can read about the different opportunities which I had the honor to participate in. Due to the success, I decided to continue building my company and offer different services. I strive to get the official logo of Cambridge English as a prepping centre. My niche are the Business English classes!
Just to set the record straight, I also coach men but mostly women. One of my female students is an author and motivational speaker. She wrote the book “De kracht van de stem” (The power of the voice) which I was translating to English but due to lack of time, we both decided to end this collaboration.
Nonetheless, we continued working together as she decided to write another book named “Bijzondere vrouwen” (Special women) written by the one and only, Viola Talloway. Her autobiography inspired me to share my own story but anonymously. Many other women within my network also shared theirs. If you know us, you’ll discover our identity. It is a very powerful empowerment book for women. Curious, feel free to buy the book!
In my free time, I was very active in church as a youth leader. For, the past two years I focused on the teenagers (RED) and not on the young adults (WOW). Together with my RED-WOW team, we were able to establish a beautiful foundation for the future of our young generation in God’s Embassy Amsterdam. At the moment, I am taking a sabbatical from my youth ministry to rest, refuel and refocus for the new season in my life.
The above seems as if I have no private life, which I do but rarely talk about on my blog. A lot was going on behind the scenes, while working on my health I was seeking balance. I tried to still be there for family and friends. Major happenings occurred in my personal life. My parents decided to move back to Surinam which left my brother, goddaughter and myself behind. The sudden death of one of my sister friends was hard to cope with, a sister friend left our church abruptly, another one’s marriage ended drastically, while the other found true love again or became a first time mommy.
I can go on and on but it just shows life is full of shifts and transitions, which confirms my favorite scripture: ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.’ – Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV
At the age of 42, I must say that the most important lesson I have learnt is to stay close to God, fight the good fight and stay in my own lane while running the race and keeping my eyes focused on King Jesus!
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