{"id":50,"date":"2026-01-31T03:25:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T03:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/?p=50"},"modified":"2026-01-31T03:25:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T03:25:40","slug":"closing-our-chapter-in-bang-khla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/2026\/01\/31\/closing-our-chapter-in-bang-khla\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing our Chapter in Bang Khla"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

As our time in Bang Khla came to a close, I was reminded that endings are often layered with gratitude, joy, and a quiet sense of loss all at once.

One of our final projects in Bang Khla was serving at the after-school Summit Club in Plengyao. This program offers middle and high school students a place to gather after school to connect, have fun, build English skills, and learn about the Bible in a welcoming environment. When the leaders asked if I could share a short health lesson during English class, it felt like a perfect way to integrate education, play, and service.

With the help of Emery, my teaching assistant, we used Glo Germ to teach about how infections spread. We paired the lesson with a simple English greeting: \u201cHi, my name is ________. Nice to meet you.<\/em>\u201d Each handshake passed along a generous amount of \u201cgerms,\u201d and before long, everyone was thoroughly contaminated. Using black-light flashlights, the students could see how easily germs spread from person to person and they giggled at how much or how little each person had picked up.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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Teaching about how Germs are spread<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
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First Inspection after shaking hands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

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We then moved to the sinks to practice proper handwashing–good scrubbing for 20 seconds. Two students proudly took on the role of \u201cgerm police,\u201d inspecting everyone’s hands under the black light to see who had successfully washed away the contamination. The room was filled with laughter, curiosity, and excitement. The students had fun being \u201cinfected,\u201d and the lesson landed in a way that was memorable and engaging. Watching Emery assist with the demonstration and hand-shaking with conficence was a very special way to end the kids time in Thailand.<\/p>\r\n

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Handwashing Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
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“Germ Police” inspecting freshly washed hands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

As this chapter drew to a close, the kindness of the clinic staff continued to astonish me. They showered us with gifts and food, they gave many hugs and bows and graciously allowed me time to travel to Bangkok with my mother and children as they prepared to head home. Their flexibility and care reflected the same generosity they show daily in their work and relationships.

My final days included one more clinic day and one final CPR class where we had many laughs and built confidence as we put all of our skills together in three BLS scenarios. And then, just like that, my time at Bang Khla Baptist Clinic came to an end.

I am grateful for the remarkable staff, for the lessons learned in the clinic and through cultural immersion, and most of all for their willingness to host not just me, but my family. Their hospitality was abundant and sincere. Once my mom and kids left for Bangkok, our apartment felt eerily quiet during my remaining clinic days allowing for reflection and gratitude.

Serving in Bang Khla has been a gift. It has shaped me as a clinician, a learner, and a person of faith, and though the experience was much different than my experience in Nalerigu 13 years ago, the lessons I am walking away with as a seasoned provider entering into a new season of work beyond developing clinical skills, it was a beautiful space for reflection and refinement for me personally. I will carry their wisdom, hospitality, and beautiful kindness into the next phase of my Thailand journey, grateful to have been able to carve out a space for learning here.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As our time in Bang Khla came to a close, I was reminded that endings are often layered with gratitude, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/dianepetrie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}