Author Jamil Jan Kochai and his former second grade teacher, Susan Lung, reunited after more than 20 years in a reading session of the writer’s second book, Hajji Hotak’s haunting and other stories, in Davis, California.
Jamil Jan Kochai
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Jamil Jan Kochai
Author Jamil Jan Kochai and his former second grade teacher, Susan Lung, reunited after more than 20 years in a reading session of the writer’s second book, Hajji Hotak’s haunting and other stories, in Davis, California.
Jamil Jan Kochai
Talk about a story ending.
Author Jamil Jan Kochai sought out Susan Lung, the second-grade teacher who had changed his life more than 20 years earlier for more than a decade. And on Saturday night, in one of those “life is better than fiction” relationships, the two were finally reunited at one of his reading events.
“I learned quite a bit how to read and write English thanks to her, and if it weren’t for Mrs. Lung, I don’t know what would have happened to me,” said Kochai, who still finds it difficult to call herself. former teacher her name, told NPR.
“I feel like everything that I’ve done up to this point – all the success I’ve had, the fact that I’ve become a novelist today – all started with Mrs. 1999, when I was seven years old,” he added.
Kochai is the author of 99 nights in Logar, a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. He is currently promoting his second book, Hajji Hotak’s haunting and other stories. His work has been published and praised in many of the nation’s most critically acclaimed publications. But for most of his early life, he could barely speak English.
The writer was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, and his family moved to California when he was one year old. At home, they mostly spoke Pashto and some Farsi, so by first grade, Kochai said, he was completely at a loss.
As a result, he says, “I associate school and learning with punishment and exclusion.”
He fell behind even further in the summer of 1999, when his family was in Afghanistan for a few months.
Kochai explains: “I love my parents’ home village of Logar, but almost everything that I learned in first grade, I eventually forgot when the summer ended.
Author Jamil Jan Kochai in a photo for a class assignment he did in teacher Susan Lung’s class in 1999.
Jamil Jan Kochai
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Jamil Jan Kochai
Author Jamil Jan Kochai in a photo for a class assignment he did in teacher Susan Lung’s class in 1999.
Jamil Jan Kochai
The miracle of Ms. Lung – and all the dedicated teachers out there
Then there was Mrs. Lung, who quickly realized that Kochai was struggling deeply at Alyce Norman Elementary, both academically and socially.
“I could see he was very sharp, but it was hard for him,” Lung told NPR.
“Not only did he have to deal with forgetting all the English he knew, but he also had to deal with kids who couldn’t understand him.”
Both have to go to work, meet to study one-on-one almost every day after school. At the end of the school year, Kochai said, he won reading comprehension competitions.
Thinking back on the experience, Lung said this was not a unique situation.
“There are thousands of teachers doing the same thing all over the place, and they do it out of love. Not because of any kind of kudo but because we have a passion for it,” she said.
Lung added: “It’s unbelievable to see their literacy leaps and bounds. To see when they can communicate with their little friends, which I think is part of it. importance of learning English or any other language.”
The problem with not being in front of your elementary school teachers
Lung and Kochai lost contact at the end of the year together. Kochai’s father got a job in another city and the boy moved, albeit with a new love of reading and writing. When he was in high school, Kochai’s parents encouraged him to find his old teacher to thank her. But despite his efforts, he failed to track her down.
“Part of it was because I didn’t know her name. She was always just Mrs. Lung to me, so when I called places to ask about her, they couldn’t find any records of her. there,” he said, laughing. .
But Kochai kept trying until the end of college and beyond. However, he went to empty.
Later, while promoting his first novel, he wrote an essay for Literary Hub magazine addressing the transformative impact Lung had on his life. Lung’s neurosurgeon stumbled upon it, and on a follow-up visit, he asked the now-retired educator, “Have you ever taught at Alyce Norman Elementary?”
It was Lung’s husband who eventually found Kochai. “He found me on Facebook and contacted me,” Kochai said.
They scheduled a phone call that very night.
“I finally got a chance to express to her how much I still think about her and how much she means to me,” Kochai said, adding that he also sought Call your parents. “She was exactly like Mrs. Lung. She was just as sweet, kind and warm as ever. And we were all in tears. It was a really emotional, lovely night,” he said.
It was the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and they promised to meet in person as soon as things returned to normal. But as life unfolded, Kochai said, one thing after another seemed to get in the way, and the reunion never materialized.
To be reunited and it feels so good
“Again, my husband was the one with the idea, to go read a book on Saturday,” says Lung.
Lung’s husband saw a Facebook post about Kochai’s new book and suggested they drive to a reading session in Davis, California.
“I didn’t know they were going to get there,” Kochai said, sounding absolutely delighted.
“I don’t know how I haven’t seen her before, but Mrs. Lung was in the front row. I mean, it’s been 20 to 22 years since I last saw her,” he explained.
They hug and he spits, and she asks him to sign her a copy of his first novel.
“And I had to leave a little note for her explaining how much she meant to me. And it was a really lovely evening,” Kochai added.
They exchanged numbers again, and now they made a new plan. “We’re having a big family dinner next week!” Kochai said.
In the meantime, Lung has some homework: “I got into his first book and I just received his second book in the reading session, so I’m going to read it. when I’m done.”
