Buhr blog: Chiang Mai Thailand-ICEC and Cultural Show By Garth

Last week I had the opportunity to attend an Christian Educator's Conference from November 22 to 24th. There were two highlights from that Conference. The first one was Dr. Tim Stuart, who is a Principal of the Singapore American School. I found his story very interesting because of my background in Special Education. Tim for the first 12 years of his life did not speak English and was educated in France, where he lived with his parents. In his Grade 8 year, his parents moved back to the United States. At his new school in the United States, Tim was given an IQ test, but it was English. The results showed that he was categorized as Educationally Mentally Retarded. Presently we say the more politically correct term Mild Intellectual Disability. Tim talked about the stigma and also over coming the adversity of being in Special Education for his Grade 8 year, while he tried to learn the English language. The main point of his talk was how adversity can build character in us. The second highlight was Tom Thompson, who attended Dalat International School. He talked about his life story. His parents were missionaries in Vietnam, and were killed during the Tet Offensive. At that time, Tom was a boarding student at Dalat. Not surprisingly, his parents' death had a profound impact on his life. After he finished school, he ending up abusing drugs and alcohol. After he went through rehab, he then tried to make enough money so he could have "everything". But his life still felt empty and he became a Christian in 2004. The rest of his story was him and his siblings trying to convince the Vietnam government to visit the grave site of his parents. Finally, in 2009 the Vietnam government gave permission for him and his family to visit the grave site. While in Vietnam, Tom was also able to visit many churches that were started as a result of his parents reaching out to the Hmong tribes in Vietnam.

I also had the opportunity to go to a cultural show one evening at the Old Chiangmai Cultural Center. I ended up going with Scott Jones the Director of Black Forest Academy in Germany. It was an excellent show.