A pracitcing Tauranga Hospital doctor has switched careers to take up a teaching career at RBHS. He's started work there this year.
He spent six years studying to be a doctor and six years working in a hospital. But now a proud Palestinian Kiwi has also become a teacher in Rotorua, just so he can help make a difference to young people.
Dr Abdal-Bari Al-Chanati, 30, from Tauranga has this week starteda new career as a teacher at Rotorua Boys' High School.
And while he's commuting Monday to Friday inspiring the students at the school to be good at science, he's also picking up shifts at Tauranga Hospital on the weekends to "keep his hand in".
Al-Chanati was born in the United Arab Emirates and emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was 9.
He said they had refugee status and his family wanted a better life, as the status limited their rights for things such as owning property or getting degrees.
The intention was to only stay in New Zealand a short while, but they fell in love with the country and became citizens three years later in 2002.
Dr Abdal-Bari Al-Chanati has started his teaching career at Rotorua Boys' High School. Photo / Andrew Warner
He said he fell into studying medicine because he was good at sciences at school, but after 12 years of study and work, he realised he didn't feel as fulfilled as he had hoped.
"I've always had this feeling that I should be doing something else. I enjoyed working with children in paediatrics but I wasn't sure how much of a difference I was making. I was literally the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. You fix their health problem and then send them back to their situation."
He said he was discharging children back to their homes in garages, cars and overcrowded houses in damp and mouldy conditions and it made him feel disillusioned.
"I was just patching things up and things were going back to the way they were."
He said he's now decided he could help prevent young people from being in that situation by inspiring them through education to have better lives.
Throughout summer, he studied with Ako Mātātupu - Teach First NZ, which is a programme to fast-track people to become teachers with a focus on social justice and Māori and Pacific equities, which Al-Chanati was passionate about.
He has taken a job teaching science for Years 10 and 11 students at Rotorua Boys' High School and will do two years of postgraduate study while working to become a fully qualified teacher.
Dr Abdal-Bari Al-Chanati has started his teaching career at Rotorua Boys' High School. Photo / Andrew Warner
Not one to shy away from hard work, Al-Chanati said he was also keeping his name on the roster at Tauranga Hospital for weekend shifts - which could be up to 22 hours over a Saturday and Sunday.
"I think it's nice to keep a foot in both camps so I don't waste my studies but I feel I can make more of a difference as a teacher."
When asked if he didn't mind the pay drop, Al-Chanati said the pay was secondary to his being fulfilled.
"I feel a rich person. I have a loving wife and family with a baby due any day now. I feel I can't get any richer at the moment."
His wife, who is also a doctor at Tauranga Hospital, would be taking a year off work while they raised their first child, due on February 16.
Meanwhile, Al-Chanati said he felt lucky to be working at a school such as Rotorua Boys' High School because of its strong cultural heart and awareness.
He said he was impressed with the school after a meeting with principal Chris Grinter last year and he was already feeling inspired by deputy principal Rie Morris.
"The entire ethos of the school aligns with what I believe in. I am hoping to learn at the school as much as I can teach."
