Church mission to Thailand

She travelled in a 12-strong Church Mission Society team on an expedition to Bangkok, Khorat and Banchang in the summer.

Asked to raise £1,250 she in fact collected £3,240 with a series of fundraising activities. Here in a series of e-mail diary excerpts the Painswick resident gives us a glimpse behind the land of smiles.

Sunday, August 1

Sawa dee ka! (Hello in Thai)

I thought I'd send an email before I leave for Thailand on Monday.

I can't believe it has come around already. I'm sure it will be a rewarding and challenging experience.

There are 12 people in my team aged 19-28 years old, seven men and five women. I met them all for the first time at a training weekend in London in April and they are lovely.

I've had to raise £1,250 to fund this project and am absolutely thrilled to say that I've raised £3,239.87. Everyone has been so kind - thank you all for helping.

I've used some of the surplus money to buy gifts for the children, such as crayons, activity books, bottles of blowing bubbles, storybooks, toys etc.

The rucksack is bulging at the sides with crayons and toys. I must remember to weigh it before Monday to make sure it's not over the limit.

Wednesday, August 4 - Arrival

We arrived safely in Thailand.

We are staying in a Christian guesthouse in the centre of Bangkok. Christ Church Bangkok is about ten minutes walk away and we went there this afternoon to meet the staff.

We also heard from a social worker who works in the slums and heard how some children don't have parents as they are in prison or died from AIDS. We are starting teaching at Rainbowland Child Development Centre (RCDS) tomorrow.

They start with assembly where they all sing the national anthem. Royal family are really respected here.

There are 130 children in RCDS and I will be helping teach the six to seven-year-olds. We are also visiting slum families tomorrow.

They live in tents on a field so I think it will be really hard. I'm having an amazing time so far.

The food is interesting - just a case of pointing to something and smiling and hoping it's edible. Learnt a bit of Thai but we will have lots of time to practise.

Saturday, August 7 - Slum fire

It is Mothers' Day in Thailand on August 12 so the Rainbowland centre had their Mothers' Day events yesterday.

The children have so much respect for their parents.

They all sang in an assembly for them and then the mothers returned to the classroom with the children and they did a craft activity together. The children then gave their mother presents and cards they had made for them.

The mothers were sitting down and the children went to them on their knees as a sign of respect. They also "waied" their mothers (a bow with their palms together).

It was moving and some of the mothers were crying. We visited the slums in Bangkok on Thursday.

Even though I had tried to mentally prepare myself for this, it was a difficult time for all of us.

The community centre and some houses in the slums burnt down in April and so the church has provided them with temporary accommodation on a football field. The families live in small shacks with plastic over the top in cramped conditions.

The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was horrible. We played with the slum children and they had such fun. I really feel we made a difference that day as they had a great time.

Yesterday we visited terminally ill children in hospital.

They had cancer and leukaemia. It was desperately sad to see them but we had to stay strong for the children.

We used the jigsaws somebody donated, colouring books and crayons, juggled, played music, sang to them and used the bottles of bubbles.

Friday, August 13 - Orphan boy

We are near the end of our stay in Khorat and have had a really busy time. On Monday we met a teacher from Boonwattana School where we taught on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Their understanding of English is good but they do not have any opportunities to hear English being spoken apart from with a Thai accent.

I really enjoyed the teaching, even though the classes had about 40 to 50 children in them.

The children were really polite and well behaved. A pleasure to teach as they have so much respect for teachers compared to back home.

Yesterday was the hottest day so far - at least in the late 30s. We visited an orphanage run by the church.

There are about 35 children there and they come from difficult backgrounds. Their parents are too poor to look after them, their mother fell pregnant at 13 or 14 or their parent(s) have died.

One little boy's parents are refugees from Burma so they are in Thailand illegally. They have no rights with regards to getting a job or any kind of benefits so they are unable to look after him.

He was such a dear little boy with a solemn face - it must be so hard for him, as he doesn't know if and when he will see his parents again.

The orphanage is really basic and the boys and girls sleep on the floor in separate rooms.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a small church... Christians are a minority religion in Thailand so it will be good to meet them.

Friday, August 20 - Struck down

Well, after a very long and tiring journey we arrived in Banchang. It is a much smaller town than Khorat.

Our hotel is really basic and we found a huge cockroach in one of the rooms and lots of geckos.

However, we are lucky that it is fairly clean and realise we were spoilt a bit in Bangkok and Khorat.

My roommate Rachel and I have been quite poorly this week with a sickness bug and high temperatures.

Rachel ended up in hospital on a drip over night and we haven't really been eating. We missed Monday - Wednesday with the team and stayed in the hotel resting and sleeping.

We were really dehydrated, as we couldn't even keep water down. Thankfully we are both better now and did a half day yesterday and a full day today. We have been teaching in schools again this week.

Saturday, August 21 -

We did an English Day Camp at a secondary school on Thursday and Friday. We sang lots of songs and taught some English.

There was also a beauty contest where lots of girls dressed up and we judged them on confidence in spoken English, 'special ability' where they all did a dance - one played the recorder - and appearance.

It was so funny - we had to try not to laugh as they take it really seriously. They were really sad to see us leave yesterday and we had a special presentation where we were presented with certificates and a Thailand T-shirt.

The boys and girls then descended on us asking for our autographs and email addresses. We felt like celebrities.

The girls in particular were swamping the boys wanting their email addresses. We are taking a couple of days out to enjoy Koh Samet, which is a small island with lots of beaches.

I can't believe that we only have a week left. Everyone is so friendly, smiley and have made us feel so welcome.

Wednesday, September 1 - Homeward bound

After a very long flight (16 hours) we arrived back in the UK on Saturday afternoon.

After a couple of days on the island for relaxation and reflection, we had a few busy days in Bangkok. We visited the hospital again and spent time in the ward for chronically ill children.

We played games and sang songs with the children. We all thought the mission went really well and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have decided to donate half the money I raised to the orphanage in Khorat and half the money to the slums project in Bangkok.