Serendipity
Although she rose to fame as an English educator, Brougham says that this was completely inadvertent. "I didn't come to Taiwan to teach English; I was originally a music teacher. But Lin Yu-tang and Wu Ping-chung kept pushing me to teach English because there was a need for English teachers in Taiwan."
Although Brougham is already 76, she has no interest in retiring.
"If I had worked in a factory, I would have retired a long time ago. But I've been involved in education, in which you are forever sharing with other people." Lately, Brougham has been reading the latest books on management from the States, writing abstracts of each and translating those abstracts into Chinese for her colleagues.
In 1997, Brougham traveled to Kazakhstan in Central Asia to visit the Uighurs there and was tempted to stay. She says, "They really loved me too. When I see someone in need, I want to help them."
According to Simon Hung, Studio Classroom's president, "She's a very curious person by nature; that curiosity has driven her personal growth her whole life." For example, Hung says that when Brougham goes out with her colleagues, she always takes a different route on the way back; she loves visiting unfamiliar places and learning new things.
Brougham, who also loves cats and spaghetti, learned to scuba dive at the age of 56, and it quickly became her favorite hobby. She still goes diving in Malaysia once or twice a year when she can get away. Brougham is also a big fan of Jackie Chan, and a colleague of hers once even used a computer to make a poster showing her in hand-to-hand combat with him.
Brougham says of her admiration for Chan, "Jackie Chan came through the school of hard knocks, which is no easy task. And his movies are funny."
A life of sharing
Brougham has sacrificed a great deal to her vocation. As a youngster, she gave up her study of music to travel overseas as a missionary. She lost both her parents while abroad, and has also declined several proposals of marriage. But Brougham continued to pursue her dream, working still harder at spreading the Gospel and teaching English in Taiwan, even after the ROC's international position began to deteriorate following its withdrawal from the United Nations and the end of formal relations with the US.
Following the Chichi Earthquake, Brougham's Overseas Radio and Television donated one million NT dollars to disaster relief funds and even sent foreign teaching staff and other employees to Puli and Tungshih to help with rescue efforts and post-disaster reconstruction.
For 50 long years, Brougham has lived in a foreign land without kith or kin, but she has no regrets because people thank her every day for her efforts.
"Of course there are times when I'm lonely, especially at Christmas. But I don't think that marriage would have made things any better; my view is that you shouldn't rely on other people for your happiness. All people have times when they are low. Maybe you feel lonely today, but the sun will come out tomorrow. Don't fret the bad days too much." Without doubt, Brougham will continue to give of herself to those places and people who need her.