<B>Englishman of the islands...</B>

“Wisdom and great experiences” are benefits David Muddler has gained in teaching. As headmaster of Le Bocage International School, he intends to provide the school with added value. His students have a lot to learn from this globetrotter…

“David Muddler was born in England some 58 years ago but life has made him much more than a British citizen. He could be Australian thanks to Kim, his “wonderful Australian wife” but he is not that either. In fact, he is imbued with part of each country he has lived in since he decided to switch from biochemistry to teaching several years ago.

“I suppose I must have been predisposed to becoming a teacher one day. There was something inside me that led me to do the diploma in education. So I came back to London after a few years in Jamaica and did a one-year diploma. I felt I was running towards something but I was not sure what it was.”

Now David really enjoys his job as headmaster of Le Bocage. “I feel so lucky to be doing this job. Teaching is not the profession which will allow me to have a huge bank account but it’s such a nice feeling to know that you’ve touched in a small or even a greater way so many hearts and minds…”

As he walks through the school, students are not shy to talk to him and they even share jokes. As students of the final year are going through their first exam of the International Baccalaureate, David keeps on asking how it went and if the paper was not too tough. “I believe it is very important to have direct contact with students…” And to keep up this contact, he continues to teach in the school.

For him, knowledge is not only academic learning and teaching. “I strongly believe that knowledge can be acquired through challenge and experience. This is why I urge all students to do extra-curricular activities including community service and cultural awareness. My own experience showed me that the best way of trusting and feeling close to people was when you had to face something together. By practising sailing, I realised that and I want my students to be given the opportunity to do the same kind of thing.”

David is definitely the kind of person who needs change to move forward. “I believe change brings more impetus and energy to work and life in general.” This may be why he has not stopped moving around the world… but all the places he has lived in have something in common: they are all islands!

In fact, he doesn’t really know why but he has always felt attracted to islands… From Jamaica to Papua New Guinea and Barbados, life in an island just fascinates him. “I like the sound of the ocean,” he simply remarks. But he knows there is much more behind it. Even Denmark, where he was before coming to Mauritius two years ago, is a country of islands… And he enjoyed it very much. “I feel that every island is unique and can provide me with magical moments. Every morning, I drive to work from Grand-Bay listening to Italian singer Andrea Bocelli. I come up the hill with Bocelli’s voice and this beautiful view as I reach the school… This is one of those special moments.”

But being a citizen of the world also means he doesn’t know where his home really is… It seems it could be anywhere. “I suppose I’ll have to retire in a few years now and I don’t really know where I want to be. I love Australia… But if my wife Kim and I continue to enjoy life in Mauritius as we do at the moment and if we are given the chance to stay here, then why not?”