I was sent out to Thailand to tutor a bright boy from a poor family who had been awarded a scholarship to one of the best schools in Thailand.

Prawit was a dear boy of 11 who felt thoroughly out of place in his school. He came from a poor, but delightful, family and the school, who had awarded him a bursary to go to the school, paid for a tutor to spend the summer holidays with him and his family to try to remedy the situation, because his school work had suffered so much. 

I lived with the family for two months; they were sweet, simple people, who spoke almost no English, but they were very kind to me and looked after me very well. Prawit spoke very good English as he had been at an English-speaking primary school before going to this very prestigious English-speaking secondary school. 

The problem was that although he was as bright as the other boys, he felt ashamed that he came from such a poor family, whereas the other boys all came from rich families. He felt thoroughly out of place, although the other boys were very nice to him. His work had suffered and unless something were done he would have to leave the school. The school decided to give Prawit a chance and pay for a private tutor for the summer holidays and I was sent out there. 

I immediately got on very well with Prawit and found him intelligent and easy to teach; I very soon helped him to catch up with all the school work that he had fallen behind on due to his depression at school. By this time he had grown accustomed to me. I took him on day trips to Bangkok and other cities and tried to familiarise him with sophistication that he had never encountered before he went to his secondary school. I took him into luxury shops – without buying anything! – and generally tried to familiarise him with sophisticated life, so that he felt at ease walking into expensive shops and hotels. Prawit’s eyes were on stalks as he saw all the magnificent displays. Learning the names and brands of this new world he was exposed to helped him to overcome his shyness and perceived inferiority.

I then explained to him that he was not beneath the other boys in the school; he was different in the same way that the few boys at the school from Cambodia were; there was nothing to be ashamed of – in fact he had plenty to be proud as he was the first boy to have been selected for a bursary to the school, which meant that his parents had no school fees to pay. Prawit became very attached to me and gained enormously in confidence while I was staying with his family; I heard from him afterwards that when he went back to school the next term he felt confident enough to make friends with the other boys and settled into the school, doing well scholastically. HN