DALAT

Many Christians, especially those in the C&MA know about the Dalat School which has served the children of International Workers for 80 years. Presently the School is located in Penang, Malaysia. Bob and Karen Thorne minister at the International Church that serves most of those now involved with the Dalat School. The school has been in Penang for over 40 years.

However it was originally located in Dalat, Vietnam from where it gets its name. Franklin, mentioned in an earlier post, was one of the original 7 students. Travelling with us right now are a couple who went through all of their education at Dalat; later after attending separate universities, they were married. While in university in the USA, the husband's father was killed in Vietnam. He was one of a nineteen International Workers in Vietnam who lost their lives prior to 1975; invested for the sake of the Gospel.

One of the couples with us was married at the Dalat school. Others lived there while doing their initial Vietnamese language study. 

For so many of them, visiting the site of the original Dalat School was a trip highlight. Most had not been back since 1975 or much earlier. In spite of the decades and the changes in Dalat, warm memories and emotions surged among our travelling companions.

The school building and grounds now are occupied by a government university. The former houses (chalets) that once housed IW's visiting on vacation, visiting their children or doing language study have been knocked down. Lovely new chalets have been built in their place.

During the three hours following our visit, as we rode down from Dalat to the coast, one after another veteran IW shared memories of their experiences in Dalat. Others shared a variety of memories around their years of service here. I wish I could could share with you all that we heard. Jan and I found it a rich and very moving time of hearing testimonies from people who loved and served Vietnam, some of them at great sacrifice.