Mingalaba, Sawadee, and Kia Ora,

We are both students in Wellington, New Zealand, and at the completion of our degrees last year we had a desire to travel and see a bit of the world from a different point of view to a textbook! We both went to Marist secondary schools, and as we knew Damian was working in South East Asia we contacted him to see if we could be involved for a while. It was one of the best decisions we ever made.

Living in Ranong was certainly immensely different to our lives in Wellington. Aside from the climate and the pungent fishy odour, lifestyles and perspectives on life were about as big a contrast as was possible. In New Zealand, people expect to be treated fairly and earn in excess of their day-to-day needs. In Ranong, many families are lucky to have clean drinking water and enough to eat. Yet, despite this, Thailand, known as ‘The Land of Smiles’, certainly shows it true flavour among the Thai, the Burmese, the Filipinos and the many other cultures we encountered during our stay. We were made to feel very welcome and at home during our month’s stay, and looking at our photos now we feel homesick for Ranong and hope to return someday!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time teaching both Thai and Burmese children, and as we are both teaching in New Zealand now we can really appreciate how attentive and eager to learn our students were, not to mention how quick they were to grasp new ideas. Conditions for learning are less than ideal, but the various learning centres create a strong loyalty in their respective students. We were made to feel very welcome by both staff and students, and must say an especially big thank you to Teacher Alice who was always so supportive!

At the Chanel Centre we had still more fun, testing out our abysmal Burmese with some of the regulars, playing games of dominos and especially enjoying the beautiful singing of Sunday Mass. Within the Marist Community there was similarly much prayerful music, albeit contrasted with distinctive karaoke styles! We partook in many a feast, especially due to the chef skills of Toni and Thata which will always be remembered, and learnt all sorts of things about Filipino cuisine… some best to be heard when not eating. Other striking memories include the upbringing of puppies which incorporated the survival of the fittest, and improving our motorcycle skills, especially at riding pillion while loaded down with market bags.

MMR has a very distinctive Marist flavour to it, and is a community of generous hospitality and genuine warmth. Our teaching was only a very small part of what was going on while we were there, and we learnt far more both from our students and the others we met than we were ever able to teach. Thank you so much to everyone who gave us the opportunity to be involved for a time and who made us so welcome, particularly Fr John, Fr Damian, and Alice. May God continue to bless you and your work.

Love,

Naomi and Tom

Naomi and Tom with the Students

Having a community dinner with Noami and Tom

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