As an educator, Meiling Lee Wohing sees first hand, many of the challenges faced by the young people with whom she interacts on a daily basis, especially in this social media era. She recently published a children’s novella, Willow the White Hummingbird, which she believes has the potential to help young readers navigate some of those challenges and hopes it can be used as a platform to launch other similar projects.
“Ironically they (young people) have ready access to all sorts of connectivity, yet they still have difficulty communicating in a true, authentic way. I believe that a product like this book can help all children to develop a greater sense of self and more importantly, self-assurance.”
Set in Maracas Valley, Trinidad, the novella takes readers on many adventures with Willow, a young white hummingbird. Lee Wohing said it is the first of a three-part series for children ages eight to 12.
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“But it speaks to the inner child of any adult who is willing to listen.”
Lee Wohing has been tutoring children of varying ages for over two decades, although she never had any intention of becoming an educator. The plan was always to become a writer and to publish a children’s book.
“I didn’t pursue teaching, teaching pursued me. My dream was actually to do journalism or (become) a writer. Willow is a dream that is 30 years old and took two months to write…A teacher once told my mother that I was ‘painfully immature’ and had ‘no talent whatsoever for writing’ so she couldn’t understand why I had written down that my dream was to write a children’s book one day. I was 13 years old and luckily, my mother ignored her and assured me that I had limitless potential.”
But, she said, life got in the way and her dream was forced to take a back seat. A former student of St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain and the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, Lee Wohing said immediately after graduating with a degree in Literature, she began tutoring children in her neighbourhood in Westmoorings – something she had been doing unofficially since she was a teenager.
[caption id="attachment_929203" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Meiling Lee Wohing's Willow the White Hummingbird. - PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]
“Over the years, I’ve honed skills that facilitate all learners at both primary and secondary level and I’ve incorporated societal and community awareness, leading my students in annual charity events. This helps them to remember that academic prowess holds little value if you lack compassion.”
She offers private English language, literature and creative writing tutoring to primary and secondary school students. “I’ve never seen the need to work in a school setting. Children learn differently and this way I get to know my students and find out exactly what they need.”
But, she said, she gave so much of her time and herself to helping her students fulfil their dreams that she forgot she once had dr
