Wilson's picture. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

I spent my entire winter holiday watching videos and live broadcasts on meipai. Meipai is a live video broadcasting app. One evening, as I was browsing through the live broadcast section, I came across this foreigner who was teaching English on meipai for free and I decided to join his class.

During his class, I instantly discovered a few things about him. I discovered that he could speak Chinese. For example, whenever we did not understand something he would explain it in Chinese. I also discovered that this young man was extremely patient and kind hence, I decided to get to know him more and why he teaches us for free.

As a student of Journalism, I had to find the right way to approach him for an interview. Luckily, I found his WeChat account and the following conversation ensued.

Reporter: Good Morning Wilson, how are you doing?

Wilson: Good morning my friend. I’m doing great.

Reporter: Could you please introduce yourself?

Wilson: My name is Wilson, I’m from Nigeria. I currently work and live in Shanghai.

Reporter: What do you do for a living? Are you a teacher? Because I understand you teach English on meipai.

Wilson: No, I am not a teacher. I’m an entrepreneur currently overseeing a tech startup in Shanghai.

Reporter: You give two hours of free English lessons everyday on meipai except Wednesdays and Sundays… how do you manage that?

Wilson: It is quite challenging given that I am already busy with my job. What I do is divide the class into beginner and advance, teaching one lesson to each class.

Reporter: How did you discover meipai?

Wilson: I first heard about meipai a year ago from a good friend of mine called Mary. At that time, I had no interest and didn't care to find out what meipai was all about. About a month ago, I accidentally stumbled upon meipai again on ITunes Store while trying to download an app. Since then I've been using meipai.

Reporter: Now to the most important question, why did you decide to teach English for free on meipai?

Wilson: First I am Christian and my faith encourages me to love, be kind and help. I’ve always love helping. The main reason why I decided to teach English free of charge on meipai was because of the unfortunate incident that happened sometime last year. One day I was having a conversation with my friend Mary who works for an English language center. She told me some of her students were really struggling with their English and then asked me if I could help them. I accepted to help the students and they added me on WeChat. Every now and then I’d speak to them on WeChat , teaching them a thing or two. One day she invited one of them to my office so he could practice conversational English with me.

I tried engaging the student in a conversation but his English level was so low to the point that he could hardly put together a proper sentence. I was shocked to learn that he had been studying English for 3-4 years paying around 120,000 yuan per year as VVIP student and yet was unable to hold a simple conversation in English. I felt really bad for him and was close to tears when I heard he actually took out a loan from a bank to pay for the tuition fee. It was really bad to know that this guy will be spending many years of his hard earned salary paying to a school he never really learnt much from. I was compelled to help and when I discovered meipai I took advantage of it by helping as many students as I can. Every evening after work, I get on meipai and then give two hours of free English classes. I realized that many Chinese students love English but can’t afford such an expensive tuition. My goal is to help as many students as I can and also give them an opportunity to practice their English daily.

Reporter: What do you think of people who are rude to you, insulting and curse you on meipai?

Wilson: Haha…. I love them all. You can’t fix wrong with wrong. Only love fixes all wrongs. My faith teaches me to love just the same way Jesus did. So when people curse and insult me on meipai, I smile back at them, choosing love over hate. When you love them and treat them well, I believe they will learn from you and change their ways. I’m not really bothered by it.

Reporter: Thank you for your time Wilson and for the good work you are doing.

Wilson: It's been wonderful talking to you. Thank you and may God bless you.

Here is someone I’ve come to know for a short time, who has become my friend, teacher and a role model. He isn’t teaching us just English, he teaches something deeper than English which is love, caring for one another and contributing to the society. I learnt a great deal from him and hope myself and many more will take from him and together make our community a much better place. I believe we all have something we can give back to the society. It may be your time, your skill or wealth. Thank You Wilson for your work, you are not just a friend but a friend of China.