In August 2019, Oli had secured a job as an English teacher in Shanghai. His Visa was confirmed and he’d begun to store things away in the attic – to pack as little as possible for his next venture. He was passionate about teaching and this was his time to move his lessons offline and teach kids and adults face-to-face in China.
Sadly, he passed away just two weeks short of his trip.
Although Oli never physically reached China, we recently received an email from a very close friend of ours - Haidee Moldram - who told us an incredibly uplifting story about her friend Shawn. We thought it best you read it in her words:
A few months ago, a good friend of ours was offered an opportunity to teach English in Shanghai. He doesn’t like change and asked for my opinion, I told him to go for it. I spoke to him a few days after Oli's tribute and he told me he had, in fact, gone for it. I can only tell you how emotional that made me. I shared Oli's story and his phrase 'say yes to stuff'. Despite not knowing him or you, Oli’s story deeply affected my friend, he shared it with his new boss in Shanghai, this was her response:
In a way Oli's dream to teach English in China will be realised (this makes me feel his presence in the universe even more every time I think about it).’
As Oli said, ‘Don’t be afraid to change route’ and ‘Say yes to stuff’. Shawn made his move to China, bravely saying YES to change. And through the sharing of Oli’s words, he ‘touched the soul of a good teacher, and humanity’.
Shawn will have experiences he would have otherwise never had – for saying YES. And, Oli will now teach his lessons in China – just in a different form to how he would’ve done before.
Keep reading, learning from and sharing his work. You never know who it could help or what could happen because of it.
If you have a story like this, doing good for yourself or others through Oli’s words, we would very much like to hear from you and to share it with our wider community. You can talk to us via email (alex@themagicfuturefoundation.org) or message us via our social pages:
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