Thailand has done a very good job in keeping the impact of Covid 19 to a minimum. At the time of writing, there have been 58 deaths, which is very sad, but compares well to other parts of the world. The Thai people have been very good at heeding advice regarding the wearing of masks, social distancing and hygiene, and the government introduced a 10pm curfew for over a month in order to deter too much social activity. Local government bodies monitored returning migrants, as did village elders.
Schools and universities all closed earlier and for longer than the normal academic calendar. Over 20 of our young adults returned from universities and colleges and also from closed work experience programs. Fortunately for us, we were able to quarantine them for 14 days in our two empty guest houses. None presented any symptoms and were able to rejoin their brothers and sisters at the houses. Most have gone back to university by now as the Thai education system slowly reopens. Our local grade school is operating an “every other day” policy so our kids attend five days a fortnight. The senior high schools have smaller classes so the teenagers are back every day.
We had our annual meeting with our university students in June. 15 out of our 22 students were able to attend, the others had too far to travel. Br. Keng and Brian spoke to them in groups and also individually, talking about the challenges that lay ahead, the students’ responsibilities and also to learn of any needs or concerns they themselves might have. Then they all met Fr. Mike to thank him for his support and to have a photo with him. Four young women have joined the program and are very excited to set out on the next part of their journeys. Two will be studying for Business degrees, one in Public Health and the fourth will be doing Animal Sciences. While the students were here, we arranged a talk about university life, crossing subjects, applications etc with our high school girls and boys.
We are very proud of the education project and are very grateful for all the individual sponsors for the commitment to the children’s progress, and all of the donors and foundations from the USA, UK, Switzerland and Ireland who help to fund this program.
