Moving Sanklaburi

Some of the people I worked with in Sanklaburi

 On the afternoon of March 31, 1984 I found myself on the overnight train heading out of Chiang Mai and destined for Bangkok. Arriving Sunday morning on April Fool’s day (which is not a thing in Thailand), I met up with some of the Bangkok based missionaries, went to the International Church service and then had lunch at an A & W Root Beer. At the time, A & W and Pizza Hut were about the only western food outlets and even in Bangkok, there weren’t many locations to choose from.

After a night in the Bangkok Christian Guest House, I was up early Monday morning and on a bus headed to Sanklaburi. Unfortunately, the bus broke down which made me late for a connection in the small town of Thong Pha Phum. Fortunately, I could hire a pick up truck for 500 Baht (about $20), hop in the back, eat some dust, bounce around for a while and complete the final leg of the journey. Arriving in the new town of Sanklaburi around 5:00 pm, I met up with Ben and Doris Dickerson and was taken to their still unfinished house where I would be staying for the next several weeks. Marcia was tied up in Chiang Mai, so she would be following me in another week.

Prying up floor boards in the old hostel. Guys at
floor level are pulling out the nails.

Why Sanklaburi? Near the town of Thong Pha Phum (where I had just missed the bus connection) a new dam was under construction that would soon flood the current town of Sanklaburi as well as all the property of the Kwai River Christian Hospital, the
associated, school, church, staff housing, missionary housing, student hostels, etc. Missionaries Ben and Doris Dickerson had been assigned to oversee the dismantling and salvaging of the building materials of the current mission properties, transport the materials to the new locations, and then rebuild everything. It was a big job and the Dickersons had teams of local people to help.

Prep work for a new house. The striped look
of houses in the background are a sure sign
of used lumber.

I’m not sure just why Marcia and I were asked to go and help but someone must have decided our brains needed a rest from language study and being newbies, we weren’t yet firmly established in our project work. So, whether that was the reason or not, we were asked to go and help so off we went to Sanklaburi for most of the month of April. It was a good change of pace, we did enjoy the time we were there and hopefully, we were of some help.

Part of the new school under construction. Ben
Dickerson was proud of his Power Wagon
seen in the picture and was happy to extoll
it's virtues at the slightest opportunity.

The main project I worked on was working with a team of mostly Karen workers dismantling a student hostel building. We’d take pry bars and pry up the floor boards taking care not to split the wood, nails would be removed, then they’d be stacked up, ready for transport to the new location. Floor joists, and other structural lumber would likewise be dismantled, nails removed and stacked up. Marcia worked in the hospital, mostly helping out in the pharmacy.