Chawalit’s adventure

By Glenn Harty
September/October 2009

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Chawalit the tree climber (in red) and his friend Bunmee, students at Nuchanat Anusorn School, Thailand.

Looking north down the walkway from Nuchanat Anusorn School, on the left directly opposite the statue of Mary, is a monument to Fr. Komkrit Anamnat and a memorial garden housing many of Fr. Komkrit’s favorite plants. I am grateful for the honour of having been asked to design and oversee the construction of these areas. A large tamarind tree laden with fruit stands between the statue and the monument. In the foreground is the priests’ rectory, and the boys’ dormitory is to the right.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning during the month of February, a time for harvesting, visiting, gardening, and above all a time for giving thanks for being alive. My wife Anne and I were on our knees in the garden, which had been designed to enhance the beauty of this Catholic Mission in Wiang Pa Pao. It had been several months since the garden had been groomed and we knew that in a short time the school would be celebrating the birthday of our deceased and much loved Fr. Komkrit, director of Nuchanat School up until his death in 2007 as a result of a car accident.

Scarboro missioners Glenn and Anne Harty with their advanced English students, the elective class, which is called The English Club. Nuchanat Anusorn School, Chiang Rai Province, about 635 kilometres north of Bangkok. The school provides education to Grade 12 for rural students.

Because it was a Saturday, the 1,600 or so students who attended the school from Monday through Friday were absent, leaving only about 150 boarding students on the property. Today, these students were busy doing their laundry, housekeeping, or gardening chores, or studying. However, one of the youngest boarders, eight-year-old Chawalit, by some stroke of luck found the time to do some tree climbing and fill his stomach with the savored tamarind fruit.

We stopped our gardening to marvel at how swiftly this barefooted child moved in and out of the branches of the tall tree in his search for some of the largest and the ripest fruit. Soon Chawalit was precariously stranded midway above the walkway while at the same time Sr. Benedetta Carnovali appeared. Sr. Bene is one of the Sisters of Charity of Milan, Italy, who run the school. She was her usual chatty self and always a pleasure to be around.

A pleasure for us that is, but the lad up in the tree felt differently—if Sr. Bene had discovered him perched high above her in this tree there would have been trouble. The risk of his falling and hurting himself was the greatest concern and because the Sisters treat all of the boarders as their own children the last thing they want is for one of them to get hurt. Anne and I were aware of the situation and therefore attempted to speed Sister along, back to her office. As soon as Sr. Bene had left, little Chawalit bounced quickly from the tree with his shirt bulging full of fruit.

The school’s monument to Fr. Komkrit.

Thankful that he did not get caught, he started on his way. Or so he thought. “Wait! Not so fast,” we said, pointing out the mess of leaves and twigs that he caused on the walkway while getting his stash. I went and found a broom and pointed to the garbage can. He got the idea and in no time at all his trail became invisible. We thanked him as he too gave us a nod of thanks.

Before leaving and heading to the boys’ dormitory, Chawalit decided to place all the fruit into his many pockets. While disappearing down the walkway, he quickly bowed his head at Fr. Komkrit’s monument and on reaching the statue of Mary he came to a complete stop, raised his palms together, thumbs at his chin, and gave a reverent bow. Then while he skipped on his way I couldn’t help wondering that he may have thanked Mary for the fruit.

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