Mrs Laing's and Murray's 'guardian angel' from previous visits was at hand again today - walking Murray, what seemed like miles, around Mae Sot between schools, in the hot sunshine!
Every child at Hle Bee School received a card from Forthview today - the older ones having had theirs yesterday - and these were poured over by the wee ones who all tried to pronounce the 'strange sounding' names of their new Scottish pals.
While Murray was there, there were two very different visits to the school from Thai officials: a mobile health van from the local Thai Ministry of Health Office arrived to give each child a polio vaccine - in the middle of a slide-show on Murray's laptop about Forthview and BEST's recent activities; the second was from two policemen who were chasing a man who had used the school's back entrance as a gettaway route...
We never found out what the man was running away from, but the policemen were very friendly and gave up the chase... it was too hot and they were sweating heavily!
Teachers gave them a glass of water and one went of to try to start the chase once more, but the other, noticing all the cards and the writing in English, Thai and Burmese on the blackboards, stopped to chat to the teachers and was fascinated to hear about Hle Bee's link with Scotland. He asked if he could come back - in his own time - to give some additional Thai language support as a volunteer! WHAT A SURPRISE!!!
Later, after a delicious lunch of spicy tofu salad (Mrs Laing wouldn't have liked it) Murray went to Sat Ar Nay School again and talked more about their potential link with Pirniehall Primary, whilst meanwhile, Hlee Bee pupils worked on their reply letters to Scotland,
Lots more walking and tuk-tuk journeys between Borderline gallery and the schools; getting the Partnership Agreement signed for the next stage of our exchange - and lots of discussions about practical arrangements about the "Our Lives" exhibition of etchings and stories of Burmese and Scottish pupils...
Back at Hle Bee School, letters and handmade envelopes were carefully sorted into age-groups and packed into a BIG bag to be transported back to Scotland by Murray - then a short break for a nap, before tea.
Tea tonight was with another Burmese BEST friend of Forthview - the politician Aung Zaw Moe - who had been part of Forthview's deputation to Edinburgh's City Chambers and the Scottish Parliament back in October. Coincidentially he was visiting Mae Sot at the same as Murray, so they were able to meet up and go out as a group for dinner.
Aung Zaw Moe remains hopeful that change will still come in Burma and talked about how important is is to keep the public's eyes focussed on Burma and not to forget the people or monks! Since his visit, Aung Zaw Moe has told people from all over the border and beyond about his Scottish visit and how Forthview pupils and groups in Scotland, were helping keep the flame of hope alive...
Hle Bee teachers are going to work together on a Healthy Hands project where we encourage our children in both schools to wash their hands to reduce infections. In the pictures you can see P4 set to go, the fastes
t boy who was in P3/4 and P3 shouting HLE BEE!
John Loughton is a former pupil of Inchview, one of the 2 schools that merged to become Forthview. His little brother, Christopher, is in P6/7 and has a pen pal in Hle Bee School. As Chair of Scotland's Youth Parliament, John has always supported Christopher and Forthview's interest in supporting Burmese children.
Murray has been in both Mae Sot and Chiang Mai, negotiating places to hold the joint exhibition of “Our Lives” etchings and stories linking our two communities in Edinburgh and along the Burma border.
