By Donna Allen

It’s been a bit more than a year now, since we engaged in a little social and educational experiment. A year since lockdowns and apartheid caused rifts in society and led to some serious free thinking about solutions.

I have been a teacher for 28 years, a mother of a large family for 30 years and a child of God since I was conceived in my Catholic mother’s womb. I love God, I love serving God, I love people and I love all children; with a special place in my heart for children who are struggling or have disabilities.

Government mandates showed me firsthand what it was to suffer for your beliefs, to be cast aside, treated like a leper and to be walked past, as if you weren’t there. We lost our jobs, we were not treated with kindness or dignity, we were abandoned and vilified; even by family and lifelong friends. My husband is a bloke’s bloke, but on the night he heard that I was going to lose my job, he shed tears for me because he knows me well. Separating me from teaching was like taking away all my joy.

Our experience was mirrored by that of far too many others, but as much as it hurt, in losing all we did, we were set free.

We were teachers.

Continue reading: On Eagle’s Wings | FLI