Thursday November 10, 2016
Hello Goypet,
I went to the community store to buy some food for my cooking class. A young boy approached me. He was about thirteen tears old and in grade seven. These people are shy with strangers so he was brave to talk to me.
" Are you the cooking guy at school ?" he asked me.
"Yes" I replied.
" I am the cooking guy from school".
"Would you be interested in a recipe" he asked.
He pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture of popcorn mixed with brown caramel.
" Can uou memorize the recipe?" he asked.
" No`I replied. I am too old to memorize that, Could you write it on paper`I asked him. You could drop it at my classroom, the school kitchen, on Monday.
On Monday he dropped off the recipe written on a small piece of paper and I gave him an apple muffin.
This experience made me think that I am making a difference. That students should feel comfortable enough to approach me was a good thing. That students should be spending their time looking up recipes on the internet indicates that my cooking at school has sparked an interest in cooking among the students themselves.
This is very important because last year this school lost six students to suicide among youth. I returned to teach here because my presence seems to give students hope of a better future. The suicides stop.
I was retired and went to Thailand to help an orphanage near Buriram. I returned to Canada after helping the orphanage. Then I heard that the school where I had taught cooking the year before had lost six students to suicide.
SO I returned to teach at this school to stop the suicide problem.
It is working.
When I walk down the hallway at school students of all ages say :`Hello`to me . The little ones from grades one and two give me a silent wave as they pass in a long line following their teacher.
Students from grades three to nine will say `Thanks for the muffins` when they pass me in the hall.
Clearly students feel that school is a good place for them.
I am content. My work is done.