A memoir awash with emotion
When Trevor and Heather Smith arrived in Thailand in 1969 to support the medical care and rehabilitation of nearly 1,000 leprosy patients at McKean Centre in Chiang Mai, it was the beginning of a new and exciting era in treating leprosy worldwide. For the missionary couple from Australia, it was also the beginning of the repeated challenge of coping with the misery, mud and mess of floods.
The McKean Centre is located on an island in the middle of a river. When the river flooded, as it frequently did after heavy rain, the floodwaters swept away the fish from the ponds and left the roads around the compound in a terrible state. Many people had to live in the upper parts of their homes as the flood water inundated the ground floor, and after the water receded, there was the smelly task of cleaning up the mud.
Year after year, the annual floods at McKean created havoc and hardships for staff and patients. The centre could be flooded three or four times during the rainy season – June to October.
In 1973, when Chiang Mai was hit by the worst floods in memory, Heather “sat helplessly on the stairs at 4 am as she sadly watched a heavy old iron-framed piano disappear under the rising water in their living room. Later, wading back to the house after work, she met some of their belongings floating out on the tide and rescued them, till there were too many to hold. After the floods receded, Trevor took the wheelbarrow to rescue their big gas tank which had come to rest in some trees 100 meters away.
This October, 55 years after they arrived in Chiang Mai, Heather had to cope with a dire flood situation alone. Her husband had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer while in Australia in April, and chose to “Go home, to Thailand,” where he passed away on July 4, 2024, surrounded by loving colleagues, friends and family.
So in the midst of her grief and while preparing to travel to Australia for the launch of a new book about their legacy in Thailand, When Hope Came, Heather again joined in a mud removal job around McKean Hospital.
“Never before flooded areas of Chiang Mai are awash,” she wrote to her supporters.
“The river is cascading over its banks all through town. Downstream, McKean is underwater again. The bridges crossing the river near us have river running over them … We have refugees camping in all our buildings.”
As houses around McKean went underwater, the centre of McKean filled up slowly from run-offs. Marooned but dry inside her sandbagged home, Heather made new friends.
“At 11 p.m., I sat in the dark and rain, sharing a bag of cookies with the team of guys delivering sandbags to block road drain covers. People were helping each other but getting increasingly weary.”
As the flood peaked, Heather resignedly began moving all floor-level belongings up higher. “At noon, word came that the water level south of us had gone down and our village was beginning to release water. Phew!! Our roads are still flooded but the homes are not.
“The dams are full and need to release water before the next deluge hits, and it is predicted to be a long wet season still to come. So the threat remains but the immediate crisis is relieved. We won’t be lowering all our raised belongings for quite a while to come but we will be scrubbing mud out and surveying damages as water recedes.”
‘When Hope Came’, which is being launched in Geelong on October 19 and November 9 in Sydney, tells the remarkable story of the Smith’s half-century of work in Northern Thailand.
In it, author Janet Walmsley relates how Trevor was still a teenager when he felt God calling him to mission work overseas. With that goal in mind, he studied medicine and, after graduation, chose to work in small hospitals away from the big cities to get hands-on experience in a wide variety of medicine.
Heather, a schoolteacher, also felt called to overseas mission but they were initially unsure about the opportunity to modernize treatment at a large leprosy colony on an island near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. A few months later, they came to believe, quite independently, that that’s where God wanted them to be. This strong assurance, which came to them separately, helped them when things got very hard in Chiang Mai.
They also had the assurance that it was a faith mission. About five years after they arrived in Thailand, Heather discovered that the director of The Leprosy Mission Australia had told the team in Chiang Mai in April that Dr Smith would be arriving in October—but the Smiths didn’t formally apply until June!
The book chronicles the tremendous work the McKean team did in de-emphasising isolation and institutionalisation of patients and emphasising cure, treatment, and rehabilitation. Trevor coordinated a team of social workers and agriculturalists to help patients return to community life.
But there were many obstacles. Trevor made great efforts to re-educate and change the attitudes of medical professionals in Thailand and correct the community’s misunderstanding of leprosy. Trevor taught medical students, nurses, and other medical professionals to touch and connect with leprosy patients, which had never been tried before.
Over the past 55 years, the couple’s Christian faith and dedication to McKean’s mission have left a profound legacy, both in the medical treatment of leprosy and in breaking down social stigmas. Their efforts contributed to a significant shift in how leprosy patients were treated, integrated into society, and empowered through education and vocational training.
At Trevor’s memorial service at the Chiang Mai Community Church on 9 July, he was remembered as a person whose whole life was a sermon. It was a life of service in which his love for God and his people showed in everything.
Trevor’s parents were involved in a free breakfast ministry in the poor inner suburbs of Melbourne, which instilled in him the determination never to let the absence of funding prevent a needy person from receiving help.
“They heard the word, and they saw how this humble man lived, and the gospel spread, and so many lives were changed in so many ways. The life that he lived will continue to bless and reach many generations to come,” said one mourner.
Grandson Jordan was impressed from a very young age when he realised how much Grandad loved the Lord.
He was a great reflection of Christ and an incredible role model,” said Jordan, representing the five grandchildren.
Rosalie, one of the four children of Trevor and Heather, recalled: “He was a true example of the love described in 1 Corinthians 13. He was patient and kind. He was humble, gentle and forgiving,” she said.
“He was a quiet man who didn’t necessarily say much but his love for us was unconditional, and we knew it.
“We admired his commitment and how he was faithful to his calling. He and Mum shared a deep bond built on love, respect and faith.
“They complemented each other and built an inspiring partnership not just in our family but in their work and communities.”
Rosalie and Jordan both celebrated Trevor’s amazing sense of fun and competitiveness.
“Grandad was incredibly gifted at making up games and getting us to play them. He would also seem to think of something to make it more fun,” said Jordan.
Added Rosalie: “Dad was amazing with games and creativity. He was so much fun. He used to create all sorts of scavenger hunts, logic puzzles and activities for us as kids.
“We spent our childhood outdoors playing all kinds of games and sports.”
‘When Hope Came’, is now available to purchase from The Leprosy Mission Online Shop: https://shop.leprosymission.org.au/products/when-hope-came-thailand-leprosy-and-a-legacy-of-caring-book
