I am in Phuket and I love living here. I adore the lovely school I work at and I genuinely feel blessed every day when I can work. The problem is that schools are closed again - for the 4th time - despite Phuket opening to the world with the Sandbox scheme. It is becoming impossible to survive as a teacher. I don’t want to go home but if I have to because of the lack of work, it will be the ultimate defeat and one I will not cope at all well with. I want to stay here.

Online teaching is not an option sadly. I am a kindergarten teacher and working for an agency at a government school. Many families do not have a wifi connection or a suitable laptop for this to be a possibility. The agency refuse to pay teacher salaries during lockdown, despite me having worked loyally for them for two years. This is particularly frustrating as the school is valiantly paying all their own workers, caretakers, teachers, cooks and Burmese builders - and the other agency supplying teachers to our school are also paying their teachers during this lockdown period.

I have also had my social media posts copied and sent to me by post by the agency - with a threat that anything I say is potentially libellous. This is despite never mentioning the agency by name or directly referencing them. I have simply pointed out it is a depressing time and one with little hope. I have therefore had to change my name and profile and picture on social media and even writing this post is a worry for me. I hope things will get better. It feels like a long road sometimes and one filled with much worry.

Jasmine