Stories of Kindness from Around the World

My husband and I were serving in Peace Corps in a remote village in northern Thailand. There were many challenges and difficulties, particularly around our housing.

We moved into our house this past June. Shortly thereafter, while we were away at a Peace Corps training, the owner ripped out all the surrounding banana groves and the lush undergrowth in order to raise the ground level--she had planned on tearing down our house and building a new one after we left.
 
She brought in literally tons of dirt. This left our house in a kind of moat, and when the heavy rains came, our house flooded. This, needless to say, was upsetting, but it turned into a blessing, because when he became aware of it, the principal at my school got my eighth-grade class to come help clean up.

The boys dug into the moat to drain the water, and built a concrete path out to the street, while the girls mopped up the water inside, spread newspapers to dry it and cleaned up. Before the problem was truly solved however, we had another flood. This turned into a party, with teachers and students again helping clean up, and our host mother bringing lunch for everyone.

Another time, my husband suddenly got very sick--a rather small infection in his leg spread, and he was slipping into septic shock. Good Samaritans along the highway brought him and his bike home while I rode home on my bike as fast as I could.

It was going to take the ambulance two hours to reach our house, but my co-teacher arranged for a truck from the government office to take us to meet it--this truly saved his life by cutting two hours off the ride. 

There were countless other less dramatic instances of care and generosity. This community is dear to our hearts, and there is no way we can ever repay them. I plan to pay it forward as best I can, by consciously looking for people in need of some kind of help, remembering how kind and compassionate my Thai community has been.