Shamim Murji found her experiences as a classroom teacher for 25 years (KG-Gr.8) most
enjoyable as a teacher, mentor, and learner. She also had opportunities to travel as a volunteer
teacher and mentor to Liberia, Ghana, and Uganda as a participant and team leader for the
Project Overseas is a Canadian Teachers Federation and Elementary Teachers Federation
of Ontario joint venture to provide free, quality professional development to teachers in
developing countries. In 2016-2017, she was seconded by the Ontario Ministry of Education to
the Aga Khan Academy in Maputo. Her work in the summer of 2018 with “street kids” in
Jeevapur, a small village in Gujarat also confirmed to her the importance of English Literacy as a
life skill. Shamim lives with her husband in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.