“You must work as though there is always someone watching everything that you do! You never know who maybe learning from the little things done in your life…”
I worked on a medical ship in Fiji in 2007 where there were a lot of children on board. On this particular voyage in June/July there was a young 7 year old Australian girl called Zakaiya. She was such a gorgeous young girl, so full of life and happiness (we didn’t know at the time that she came from an abusive background and was now being raised by a solo parent who was home schooled when they found time) From the day we joined the ship together in Lautoka, Fiji, Zakaiya took a liking to me. Everywhere I went she would follow, everything I did she would copy, she ate what I ate, wore her hair the same as mine, sat down when I sat down and basically mimicked everything I did. At first I though that this would get a bit annoying until I realised what this Captain once told me. I started to give Zakaiya the time that she needed with being so young. I taught her how to write her name and start to read some small easy reading picture books. She was so excited that she could write: "Mummy I Love You!" and by golly her mum was defininatley excited. Zakaiya was learning from me. I would be working on the bridge doing chart corrections and she would ask to come and sit next to me and promised not to talk or distract me, she was so caring and considerate at only 7 years old. We still keep in touch today. She is now growing up to be a very bright, cheerful and confident young girl which other girsl are admiring and starting to look up to :-) So it just goes to show you that some ofthe little things that you do in your life that you think may not be that significant at all, can actually have a huge impact on someone elses life around you...
