The School Year at Chiang Mai

Michal Dobson – Thailand
Since the tsunami last December there has been one disaster after another each causing so many lives and loves lost. My thoughts and prayers go out to those folks in the path. I am thankful for all the aide organizations, and that includes churches, which are able to help at these times. When two fighting groups are able to forget their problems and help, as they have in the Asia storm, I am encouraged.

Michal Dobson – Thailand

Since the tsunami last December there has been one disaster after another each causing so many lives and loves lost. My thoughts and prayers go out to those folks in the path. I am thankful for all the aide organizations, and that includes churches, which are able to help at these times. When two fighting groups are able to forget their problems and help, as they have in the Asia storm, I am encouraged.

Our school year has been interrupted three times due to the flooding of the Ping River here. The school is just a block (?) away from the river and is on low ground. Fortunately water got into only two lower rooms plus the cafeteria and the auditorium. But cleaning up three times was a lot of hard work for our workers. A total of nine days were missed so now decisions are being made about make-up days. All the roads in the area were flooded and my apartment was surrounded by water so I was stuck at home. I live across the street from the school. Electricity, always delicate here, went out and the septic tank was covered so it was a camp-out feel. There were people in simple homes near the river who lost everything the first time it flooded. The government helped with the clean-up as well as providing food and water to those most affected. I have a friend whose house was flooded the three times. First Thai Church is just across the street from the river and the grounds and lower buildings were flooded each time. They too received help from the government. Through all of this, folks continued to smile. We felt very lucky for the mildness of our troubles. The rainy season is coming to a close and the cool season will soon begin. I am more thankful for any dry stretch than I ever was.

The addition of seventeen new teachers from Great Britain, Australia, and the USA this year has gone pretty well. Our new counselor did not work out and resigned early this month but the others are settling in just fine. All but one had previous teaching experiences. They seem to all enjoy living in Thailand and love the food as well as the work at hand. It takesawhile for all of us to get to know each other but little by little as we work together it happens. Keep us in your prayers.

My teaching assignment changed this year from half-day kindergarten to a full-day program. It was up to me to set it up and then make it work. I got on line to find all I could absorb on the subject and talked to a lot of parents and a few kindergarten teachers then was able to do what I felt was best for our five year olds. I am pleased to report that all seems to be going well. I have a mature class ready to cooperate and that is a great help. I will meet with parents after this fall break and will hear how they are feeling about it. This year’s class of seventeen includes students from Japan,Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Thailand and America. Five are children of mission workers. Two have no English and several have very little. Among the group is my granddaughter, Siree – and that’s fun.

Bird Flu seems to be the big issue here right now. I am hoping that we in Thailand can stay calm and trustthe researchers and scientists to come up with what is needed to deal with this.

Thanks for your continued support.
Peace to you and yours,

Michal Dobson

Michal Dobson is a missionary with the Church of Christ in Thailand, assigned to the Chiang Mai International School. She serves as an elementary teacher and also assists in the development of curriculum.