Nationality: American

Birthday: 1948/12/01

Email: drcteachprc2000@yahoo.com

I am Dr Charles Bryant from Chicago. My Chinese name is Wang Bo, or Boshi. I am an educator and entrepreneur. In 2002, I was one of nine educators selected by the United States Senate to represent America in China.

Some of my American colleagues condemned me for leaving the Chicago educational system to come and help the Chinese students. Initially, I chose to live in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, because it is Chicago's sister city. I lived there for two years. I love Shenyang people, they were very nice to me.

I quit my well-paid job with the Chicago Public Schools that only demanded a six-hour working day. I also had life insurance, dental care, 13 paid sick days a year, eight paid holidays, two weeks of paid vacation, hospitalization and an excellent pension plan. I sold my home in America, my car, furniture and gave away most of my life possessions to come here.

I came to China to do precisely what some of my colleagues criticized me for and that is to improve the quality of education here.

In April 2003, the US government cancelled the program that was paying me 30,000 yuan per month. This was done without any prior warning or any subsequent explanation. By then China was afflicted with the SARS epidemic. Suddenly, I had lost all my sources of income. I was tormented, disillusioned and devastated. I did not know what to do.

I made a decision that I was not going to quit and go home a failure. I continued to teach seven students without receiving any money. I began eating one meal a day. There were many days when I woke up and did not know how I was going to eat.

Because of SARS, I was not able to enter the university campus to teach my regular students (graduating seniors) and they were not allowed to leave the campus. I would sit outside their campus gate and correct their graduation papers on my laptop computer.

I have taught English to over 7,000 Chinese learners from the level of kindergarten to PhD. I have also assisted over 20 Chinese students and professionals to attend some of America's leading universities.

I am a firm believer that you can get everything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want. They say you measure success not by what you have, but by what you had to sacrifice to get it.

I believe that my trials, tribulations, personal and professional sacrifices and contributions to improving the lives of thousands of others exemplify the Olympic spirit of "One World, One Dream."

Simone Melo Barddal