I had been teaching in Korea for four years when the director of Ahil English School lured me away from a good school and great director. She seemed so kind, so generous, with promises of a higher salary and more benefits. She was quick to buy native English teachers. She deposited money in my bank account, hoping I would cancel my contract before its 12 month completion and join her school. She was short-staffed because teachers were walking out on her.

Soon after I moved to Ahil English School, I quickly got sick. Something in Ahil's environment at that time caused my immune system to attack me. Overdosing on pain killers, I continued to teach as I got sicker and weaker. I tried to get hospitalized but I would discover later that medical insurance premiums deducted from my salary were not remitted to the insurance company, so the hospital turned me away.

For years, I had covered for young teachers who were too sick or too drunk or too hung over to teach. I was always willing to work overtime and perform duties for which I was not always paid, simply to help out. I was in great shape. At Ahil, I could no longer do it. In a few weeks, I had lost over 20 lbs and was going into kidney failure. My feet were so inflamed, they couldn't stand socks. My fingers were paralyzing such that I could not even hold a pen. I begged Ahil's director to help me get admitted to hospital. She walked away from me, content to let me die on her premises. My condition reached a point where other teachers suggested that if she did not get me to a hospital, she would soon be shipping a dead body back to my family.

I was quickly dying from microscopic polyangiitis, a small vessel vasculitis.

Someone talked the director into handing over the cash to the insurance company and I was finally admitted to hospital. A team of experts was quickly mobilized, and in three weeks, I was diagnosed and treated. I began working out, determined to recover quickly and return to work as soon as possible. When I was discharged from the hospital, the owner of another school checked me out and brought me home. I reported to Ahil’s director only to discover that I had been secretly fired and replaced while on my back in the hospital.

No notice. No warning. Ahil’s director gave me two weeks to get out.

There was no urgency to find a replacement for me; she had simply jumped at the opportunity to hire an American because, in many Korean schools, Americans are favoured by the paying customers. I was well enough to teach, write and walk, but I was still recovering.

While I was employed by Ahil, the staff turnover was high, the school and rooms where teachers lived were dirty, moldy, noisy and cockroach infested. The overcrowded classes were dim, windows covered over. The curriculum was totally teacher-driven.

Most Koreans I met in my six and a half years in Korea were generous and helpful - a delight to work with. I never came across any Koreans as hostile to foreigners as Korean teachers at Ahil English School.

Quick to bribe and pay people off, Ahil’s director bought and, obviously still buys, loyalty. She hated me because she could never buy me. Those she buys (teachers moonlighting as recruiters), ruthlessly pursue anybody who comes forward with the truth. I was there. I know the truth.

Ulsan is an industrial hub where many workers from underdeveloped countries are employed, then suddenly fired and deported after five months because, after six months, their rights under Korean labour laws would come into effect. Ahil’s director was strongly supportive of the Ulsan School Association’s effort to treat native English teachers the same way.