Snakes, Scorpions In Missionary’s Garden

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30725, 14 April 1965, Page 2

Snakes, Scorpions In Missionary’s Garden

Finding that the children could not safely play in the garden because of the snakes, scorpions and hook-worms that would be encountered there, Mrs Alexandra Collins had to make another major adjustment to life when she and her missionary husband were stationed at Chiengmai, Northern Thailand, for 14 months.

It had been a worry at first, coping with a young family in such a completely different way of life, but it was surprising how soon one accepted the changes, carried out the various precautions necessary, such as boiling all the water, and stopped worrying, Mrs Collins said in Christchurch yesterday.

three-year-old son, David, and daughter, Rebecca, aged 20 months, are at present staying in Christchurch with Mr Collins’s parents in Galway avenue.

The couple have been almost three years in Thailand, and recently have been based in Bangkok, to which they will return in July. There they will continue their work with the Slavic and Oriental Mission, which is translating, printing and distributing evangelistic literature in Thailand.

Mainly Australian and New Zealanders work at the mission, which, though it retained its full title, was now concentrated in the Orient rather than the Slavic countries, Mrs Collins explained. 3,000,000 Copies

Since the couple have been in Thailand the mission has distributed some three million pieces of literature. But there were still many of the more remote areas which had not

yet heard of Christianity, and she was looking forward to returning to Thailand to continue the work, said Mrs Collins.

Although she and her husband speak Thai, the translating was done by teams of nationals, to ensure it was into idiomatic Thai, Mrs Collins said. “And much of the translation is done from Chinese. Being also oriental, this is less different in its way of thought and writing than English literature.” Even little David has ; learned Thai. “He speaks Thai! to Thai people, and English! to us. He had just learned there were two languages before we came away—but he still sometimes uses Thai and English in one sentence,” she said. Thai Problems The Thais were an easygoing and care-free people, and always ready to smile: “But when you work among them, you do find a lot of real needs.” Many women with babies and young children were deserted by their husbands. “There are marriage laws, but they are not very strict, and a lot of people do not bother to go through the legal ceremony." Many of these women returned with their children to their parents homes. “Thais live a peat deal in family communities, with different generations living together. “Another big problem in Thailand is drug addiction,” Mrs Collins said. She noticed this particularly when living at Chengmai. “Heroin is grown illegally by the tribal people up in the mountains,” she said. Growing Concern So far, Thailand had been free of the unrest and trouble of surrounding Asian countries, but recently a little more concern had been growing that Thailand might become involved, Mrs Collins said. There had always been Communist underground activities, quickly put down, but since the new year a lot of Communist literature had come into the country and been distributed, she said. Born in England, Mrs Collins went to Australia with her family as a schoolgirl. Before coming to New Zealand from Thailand she spent four weeks with her family in Sydney.

She and her Christchurchborn husband, the Rev. P.