Br Mario’s update from Thailand

Brother Mario Zammit provides an update on events in his Community in Thailand where the school and the Brothers have had to deal with the challenges of Covid.

Greetings from Thailand.

I have been in my new Community now for nearly two months; from the far west in Sangkhlaburi I was transferred to the east of the country in Chantaburi. I have exchanged the nearly-complete isolation of the Bamboo School for a ‘normal’ school of 1100 kids on the outskirts of a fairly big town.

The five of us, Brothers, and the staff were leisurely preparing for the start of the school semester when one of us did not feel too well and tested positive for Covid-19. The very next day we were all tested and three of us ended up immediately in hospital. One returned to the house after two weeks and another has just joined us again after three weeks and has been ordered to isolate himself in his room for another week.

The third one, Br. Director, a 78-year-old Spaniard who has been in the country for over 50 years, is still under intensive care in hospital. Luckily, myself and the fifth Brother have tested negative twice and officially bound ourselves to quarantine separately at home for two weeks. Now, we wait to be vaccinated but not quite sure when that will happen.

In the meantime, after two postponements, the school year is due to start on June 14th, a full month after the normal start of the year. We look forward to the return of school life, with its human warmth,  noise and business, to our beautiful property which has been so silent and introspective for too long.

The readers’ prayers are solicited for the swift and complete recovery of our Br. Director and for the long-term safety of everyone connected with our School.

-          Br. Mario