A Letter from Annette George in Thailand
March 2012
Dear Friends,
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Ae with her husband
There is a story in Thailand of a maid who asked a friend to work in her place for an hour. Her employers were attending work and school. When the maid returned to their house, she found her friend and neighbors cringing on the far side of the property. She learned her friend had been startled by a furry object on the table that had suddenly begun to speak in English. Neighbors had been called, and all were convinced that an evil spirit had entered the stuffed toy. They were terrified, but the regular maid was not. She blithely entered the house, telling all, "This family is Christian; their home is totally protected from evil spirits." She was not a Christian herself, but she believed in the strength of the family's faith. She picked up the toy, showing all that electronics, not spirits, had caused the vocalizations. May we all have a faith so strong that it inspires confidence in those around us.
My housekeeper (Ae) is a Christian. She works part time, two jobs, and then on weekends works as many hours for her church as she does for me. However, her fears run deep in certain areas where her non-Christian family taught her that spirits roam. Like many Thai, Ae is frightened after dark in the woods, and she has an extreme fear of tokays (foot-long lizards that cry out loudly at night). Hospitals, in her mind, are the domain of bad spirits. Recently her doctor insisted she needs a tonsillectomy. She is very frightened, but her one comfort is the fact that her hospital is Christian (established in mid-1800s by Presbyterian missionaries). Thai fear that using anything once touched by someone who has died is extremely bad luck. This belief extends to cars and houses, and of course hospital rooms. To avoid spirits, she insists she will stay in the common ward, where beds are only a meter apart and the air will be sweltering (in April, the hottest month of the year) because she fears being alone. I'm sure she will not be alone; family, friends, church folk, and two employers will be there for her, even overnight, as this is what the hospital allows. I have offered to pay the extra money for a private room, but I doubt that she will accept that. She would not want to put me out in any way—another cultural attitude (called kreingjai) that is firmly ingrained: "Work like a slave and do any favor for your employer (teacher, older relative, benefactor, person with higher social standing), but never ask them to go to any trouble for you." This attitude affects many of my students also. They are almost incapable of saying "no" if I ask for help, even if that means that they will miss another appointment or cause some inconvenience, but they are extremely shy about letting me know when they need assistance or encouragement.
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Ae giving gifts to my dog
College of Music students will give an outdoor pop concert next week, the same time that Ae is in the hospital. I want to help them, especially this year, as they will use the profits to send a group of students to the United States for the World Choir Games. The pop concert is an annual event full of ear-popping effects. Usually I am distressed that students are missing too many classes in all their preparations and that they are destroying our eardrums, but this year they scheduled this during Thai "summer," and I will go visit Ae in the hospital when the volume exceeds the capacity of my earplugs. No doubt we will hear the performance from her hospital room, just across the street from the campus where I live and work. I'm not sure whether students will let me help in the preparations. I could paint scenery, but even if I show up in my grubbiest clothes, they may not think it right to allow their teacher to get dirty. One suggestion was to bake cookies to sell at the refreshment stands, but I know that homemade cookies cannot make a profit in Thailand. Ingredients are too expensive. Besides, April, with temperatures at least in the 90s day and night, is an abominable time to be running the oven while working in an un-air-conditioned kitchen. So, April will be full of blessings and adventures. After the tonsillectomy and pop concert it will be time to think of Easter and then the Songkran holiday.
May your Lenten and Easter observations be full of meaning and blessings from our Living Lord.
Truly,
Annette George
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 183
