The Annual Meeting of the Scandinavian Church in Bangkok on the evening of Wednesday 15 March elected three new people to the Board of the Church: Marion Nygaard and Mia Hallenborg from Sweden, and Anne Britt Hatleskog from Norway.
Remaining on the board or re-elected to the board are Lennart Hamark, Jonas Hafstrom – who was re-elected the Chairman of the Board for the coming year, Trygve Gundtvedt, Majbritt Madsboll, Tina Zalimee, Gregers Moller, Robert Kronberg, Sune Larsson and Catharina Bjorlin Hansen. Together they represent a mix of Swedes, Danes and Norwegians and the local Scandinavian Church is in that sense truly Scandinavian, although supported only by the Svenska Kyrkan i Utlandet.
The new board members are all three frequent participants in Church services on Sundays and otherwise already involved in other tasks and activities at the Church.
Norwegian Marion Nygaard – who describes herself as a “senior” – came to Thailand in June last year. She is here with her husband Bent Nygaard, who is working with Findus. They have two children – none of whom have moved here with them – and their grandchildren. She is already active in the bazaar group
Swedish Mia Hallenborg moved from Laos to Thailand in August last year. She is 36-years-old and married to Johan Hallenborg. The couple have two children, one 3 and one 5, both attending NIST school. She is active in the children’s group every Tuesday, as well as helping Lis Hamark run the shop at the church.
Norwegian Ann Brit Hatlskog came to Thailand two and a half year ago. She is working with the Norwegian Missionary Society. She is married to Arne Hustrulid and the couple have two daughters, one three-year-old and one nine months old. She is also frequently at the church on Tuesdays during the children’s activities.
The meeting further approved the report of the past year’s activities presented by Vicar Lennart Hamark and the financial report presented by auditor Jan Cederwall.
The past year of activities revealed an impressively high level of activity at the Scandinavian Church. A busy weekly program of children’s activities, choir practising, services, film shows, bazaar planning and much more was complemented by monthly events like the ladies’ dinner, the boys’ night, and other similar events.
Invisible to the community are the many visits to people who are ill and hospitalised, in prison, comforting conversations with relatives of deceased Scandinavians in Thailand, or people otherwise in need of special and confidential care.
On the happy side are an increasing number of blessings of marriages and baptisms.
After the financial report was approved, the budget for the coming year was presented. It showed that the annual support fee of 1500 baht per grown-up which was in place a few years ago, will now be reintroduced this year. Also support from Scandinavian companies present in Thailand will be sought more actively than has previously been the case.
The companies are budgeted as carrying 350,000 baht of the expenses this year, while the membership support from the individual congregation members are expected to amount to 150,000 baht. In total, the expected income is 2,125 million baht from activities and donations, which – with the support from the Svenska Kyrken in Utlandet back in Sweden of 1,565 million baht – amounts to 3,690,000 baht.
Only fourteen members of the congregation attended the meeting – with about half of them being old or new members of the board. Still – or maybe actually because of this – the evening turned out to be a nice opportunity for the people interested in the Church to discuss in detail the current operation of the Scandinavian Church and its future direction.
