Conversations with Mentors - Charlotte

Nicole recently spoke to Oppidan mentor, Charlotte. Have a read of what they spoke about.

Charlotte! Welcome to our series of conversations with mentors. Tell us a bit about yourself?

Hello! Thank you for having me.  I am a qualified Primary Teacher who enjoys a good challenge and adventure. Over the years I have worked in America, Thailand, Kenya and recently the Maldives. Aside from teaching, I love photography, swimming, cartwheeling and wildlife – I particularly revel in the obscure facts about wildlife.  For example, did you know that scorpions glow in the dark if you shine a UV light at them? This knowledge was very useful whilst walking around bare foot at night in the African bush.

What sparked your love for teaching? Is it something you have always wanted to pursue?

As a child I always dreamt of running away with the circus. The idea of travelling around on tour and the thrill of flying through the air on a trapeze always excited me. At primary school I taught myself to ride a unicycle and to juggle, but as the years went by, I realised my self-taught skills weren’t going to make the cut, so I had to have a rethink. 

I had always enjoyed working and helping younger children and liked the prospect of a job that allowed me to be creative, active and provide the opportunity for every day to be different. 10 years of teaching and I have never looked back. I guess working as a teacher is like my own circus, juggling the different lessons, putting smiles on faces, and dealing with the class clowns!

I know you love to combine travelling and teaching and you had the opportunity to live and work in Kenya for four years. Tell me about what you did there and what was a highlight and your biggest challenge working/living there?

Oh, this is a great question and be careful asking me about this topic as I could go on for hours. I will try my best to keep my answer short.

I had an amazing opportunity to live in Kenya, a country I had never been to before. I home-schooled a small group of children in the middle of the African bush in the North of Kenya. We were surrounded by wild animals and lived next to a crocodile filled river which kept us on our toes by flooding throughout the years. I remember learning about flash floods when I was at school, but I didn’t think it was possible to happen so quickly. I now understand it only takes a few minutes. I am an expert at packing up a school full of resources in record timing.

We would regularly have visitors from animals, the warthogs enjoyed our piano lessons, the elephants liked to block our path and the giraffe liked peering over the children’s shoulders to check their work. As for the monkeys, they enjoyed anything they could get their hands on, one of which was one of my flip flops – I found it in a tree the other side of camp weeks later. 

There were so many highlights from this experience but getting to know and live with the local Samburu Warriors was magical. They taught me how to make bow and arrows, fires by rubbing sticks together and how to dance like a true Samburu Warrior. We taught each other our languages so that by the end of my time there it was more of a conversation and less of a game of charades.

Wow, what an incredible experience. I know you are writing a children’s book, ‘The Safari School Diaries’ – how exciting. I’m assuming this is inspired by your trip to Kenya – chat me through the book and the process.

Yes, it is very exciting but still a lot to complete! I had always had an idea at the back of my mind to create a children’s book based on my experiences in Kenya, but never found the time to sit down and accumulate my ideas.

My time in Kenya ended abruptly as I caught COVID whilst out there and ended up on the covid ward in Nairobi hospital. When I eventually came out, I was too weak to continue working, so I had to make the tricky decision to come back to the UK to recover and build up my strength.

Although this was a tricky time, I always try to see the positive out of every situation. I knew if I didn’t have a project whilst recovering, I would go a bit mad. So, this was the perfect time to get to work. Inspired by my journals and photography, I started creating my children’s book which I hope will inspire younger generations to explore, learn about wildlife and to enjoy life to the fullest.

You have been an Oppidan mentor for a couple of months now - what does mentoring mean to you?

Mentoring is about giving a child the confidence to reach their potential in a safe environment. As a teacher for many years, I feel I have always incorporated this approach ensuring that the child feels happy, safe, and valued. Without those aspects it will be an uphill struggle for you and the child.

Final question - what is something that you have learnt from your mentees that you have adopted in your everyday life?

I think for me, I have adopted the ability to see the magic in life. As a child you are born with creativity and curiosity, and this sadly depletes as you grow older. I have learnt to approach life with more of a child’s perspective on life. Continue to question, imagine, and create. Ask the what ifs even if they seem impossible. Start everyday with the positivity and perseverance of a child learning to read. Never give up.