From akha@loxinfo.co.th Sun Dec 5 22:21:50 1999 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id WAA43832 for ; Sun, 5 Dec 1999 22:21:49 -0800 Received: from chmai.loxinfo.co.th (root@chmai.loxinfo.co.th [203.146.0.65]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.08) with ESMTP id WAA17856; Sun, 5 Dec 1999 22:21:46 -0800 Received: from loxinfo.co.th (p5-criHS1.N.loxinfo.net.th [203.146.34.5]) by chmai.loxinfo.co.th (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA20095; Mon, 6 Dec 1999 12:58:13 +0700 Message-ID: <384B51CA.87C26B25@loxinfo.co.th> Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 13:03:58 +0700 From: Matthew McDaniel Reply-To: akha@chmai.loxinfo.co.th X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.6 (Macintosh; I; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: akha@loxinfo.co.th, Endangered Languages Linguist list Subject: Akha Weekly Update, Dec6,1999 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Friends: The group from Singapore has just left, another one is coming in 7 days, and we have gotten a lot done. In two weeks we put a new well into one village, completely removing and replacing an existing collapsed well, it was quite an exhausting job, requires the utmost of care and attention to the matters at hand. I couldn't see the students, they had too much mud on them, would have made some sureal shots, late at night heaving on ropes pulling buckets of mud and slop up out of what you couldn't call much other than a very big deep hole. We also got 800 meters of pipe run from an existing spring, then the Akha put in numerous cisterns to catch all the new water. This village was very important because the bad water they were drinking was causing continuous illness. And at the cultural center we initiated the work on a set of five holding tanks for raising 20,000 fish for assistance to distressed mountain villages. The block work on the tanks is not done yet, but with help from the students from Singapore the 22 meter concrete slab is down and the block work was just beginning when they left and should be done in about five more days, light rains giving us some days off. This is one set of ponds in an area that will hold a total of 7 sets of ponds, enough area for more than 140,000 fish in our work to increase the protein in the diets of villages from which the government has taken their land. If you are interested in sponsoring a set of ponds, the cost is approximately $3000 for one set including fish. I am also announcing the forming up of "Akha Working Expiditions". These are hard, no fringes, working groups that we will be forming up to come to Thailand and assist in the villages. Lodging is free at the cultural center, each individual must cover their own food costs, and transport between sites, which really is minimal. The Akha Cultural center is set in a beautiful pastoral scene as part of a traditional Akha village that we work with very closely, and accomidation is the Akha Long House. Group size is 25 to 30, people from all walks of life encouraged to come, groups will be brought over as soon as enough people are found to work together, not necessarily from the same country. Cost is $800 for two weeks. This must be prepaid, cost of ticket, health insurance and the taking of malaria medication and all vacines including for typhoid are the responsibility of the volunteer. We hope to be doing one of these groups per month. The goal of the groups is NOT village development, but village SECURITY. We do projects in villages that guarantee quality water, and access to warm clothes and health care. Volunteers may donate to the project in addition or bring needed items. Many items very much needed in the villages can be bought here such as blankets, jackets and so forth. I forgot to mention that the group from Singapore also sewed together some 500 baby blankets of flannel that I began delivering to the villages last night along with more than 80 blankets and numerous bags of medical supplies. The arrangement for construction materials and supplies before each group's arrival will rapidly speed up the projects such that volunteers are able to see the real time results of the assistance that they contribute to. I traveled out to the village where we laid the pipe last night and the water was running full in all the cisterns, new pipes being added for huts, and smaller cisterns being planned to catch all the water, the spirit and rev in the village was thick enough to walk on, it was misting lightly, and all the children gathered around and asked when I would get them a generator and a bunch of outhouses. The rocky ground had made this difficult to date and someone had used all the block for a church instead so they had no place to take care of their bodily functions in a decent manner. I assured them that with the way in which they had kicked in gear and hewed out 800 meters of trench for the pipe in the morning I would do my best to find both generator and all the materials for all the outhouses they needed, plus more blankets. Well, jackets too. Then myself, along with Blane, who is a friend come from the US, who happens to be the one who brought the long armed hi lift jack to get the truck out of the mud a time or two, well the two of us headed up for a mountain top with fifty of those blankets and got them in there within an hour and a half of spine pounding eye ball jumping throttle, off loaded the blankets, apologized for not more time cause the fog and droplets were coming down and making the road more nasty than rain does, and we were gone, total of over 3 hours to get in and out off the main road, including going off the road sideways while crawling down into the village, nearly leaning the truck into the hill while we tried to crawl back up out of an erosion rut. Well dragged the door a little I suppose. Course, I got memories coming up when I saw a windshield on the road, yep, had to be a truck in the bottom. We stopped going up and got out and sure enough a white toyota way down in the trees like I had been but a smoothe run down it looked, maybe one flip. Just couldn't figure out how he got off the straight road, though it was narrow. He had a load of rice on, couldn't make out for sure if he was going up or down the grade when he went off, but no scuffs or tracks or nothin. Anyway, they had some road to build to get him out. Fifty meters at least, down in the bamboo. Steeper than what you could easily walk or climb. It was decided that it is time for a hummer here, and so we have embarked on this adventure, this long financial trip of buying one from the US. I for one, did 40,000 miles of these mountain roads last year and don't want to do that in a solid axle tippy toyota again and further more I think I will be doing 80,000 this coming year, so no way, but that isn't going to get me one. I told Blane I would drive faster if it would help ideas gel. Actually, maybe it is because I hold onto the steering wheel, but he really seems to move around a lot while I am driving. Glad he's got his seat belt on. Made him get out of the truck yesterday when we got over on the door on my side, cause I told him the ten kilo of potato going on by was bad enough and with the window open I wouldn't be able to get my head pulled out of the mud fast enough to breath if we went on over and that cheap toyota seat belt gave out. He consented, not offended, knowing his full value on the end of the drill, packing cement, and just as one of the best hearted encouragements I know of since he is one of a few of my friends (do have a couple left) who has come over here and matter of fact glutton for punishment he came over twice. Well last week we went down in that hole because it was too dangerous for the Akhas, I wouldn't let them, body size pieces of mud fallin down on me, and Blane he sort of spooked me when up there seven meters above me he couldn't get over the rim and I had no where to go and there wasn't a big enough Akha up there to grab him and drag him over it, well good nature must have carried through, hell, he ain't big, but he's bigger than me. Well, I dug the hole out to seven meter and then we packed big rocks in the bottom and went up 16 concrete rings, filled gravel on the outside and now they have a well, solid one. Ok, so hummer, that's what we are going to do. $86,000 start price, and then tools, a host of spare parts, and modifications, all that sort of thing, then get it over here, shouldn't take much, and then figure 80,000 miles, well sort of cheap, about a $1 a mile to buy a hummer to deliver emergency round the clock road thrashin med services to 70,000 Akhas in Thailand alone, and we got 200,000 more in Burma now that the door is open again, so you see, that ain't much. Heck, that's only a few less people than we got in Salem Oregon and that is one service vehicle, no library, no hospitals, no schools to speak of, heck these Akha sure are not a service drain compared to the wealth you could find in Salem and all the public assistance and freebees for those folks that come from the feds. Yeah, funny how we sort of make the indigenous jump higher before we give em a fraction of what we got. One church in salem runs $3 million these days it seems, so I figured I'd get a hummer to keep me in the villages just all that much more for sure. course with the repair record on those things, might need two of em. Ok, now the big banana. For this year, all services provided and all work accomplished, we are still short $12,000 US dollars for the end of the year. So get out your checkbooks, don't be shy, and write a check, lets get this paid off, and clear the decks for the new millenium. All Akha Villages are now Y2K ready by the way. Now if writing a check isn't enough for you, add on $600 and come on over here and we will give you the ride of your life, hell for leather in the villages, puttin smiles on faces and giving back a fraction of what we've eaten already in the west to a great bunch of people who are a lot different than us in many ways and make this world so wonderful by bein them and bein here. Rest of December is going to be high water work time, just way too much to do, camera crews coming, another group, and so much to catch up on that I don't know if I will get another one of these out this month. By the way, if you don't like checks, then go to the secure site listed at the bottom of this email and use your visa card, I won't tell your dad, mine said it was easier to get forgiveness than permission, so if he complains, just add him to our email list, that should take care of it. And don't forget about the hummer, no kiddin, cause if you don't believe me just ask Blane, or let me strap you in over on that side and show you what I do with a toyota. By the way, the other reason that I'm sort of gonna phase this thing out, is that the box is gone, the front fenders are gone, the unibody has a crack run down six inches BEHIND the battery, good back up vehicle though. Saved just more than a few lives this year. Matthew -- Matthew McDaniel The Akha Heritage Foundation 386/3 Sailom Joi Rd Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130 Thailand Mobile Phone Number: Sometimes hard to reach while in Mountains. 66-01-881-9288 US Address: Donations by check or money order may be sent to: The Akha Heritage Foundation PO BOX 6073 Salem OR 97304 USA By Visa Card Secure Site: https://www.givetocharity.com/cgi-bin/give.pl?CODE=10956 Donations by direct banking can be transferred to: (Preferred) Wells Fargo Bank Akha Heritage Foundation Acc. # 0081-889693 Keizer Branch # 1842 04 4990 N. River Road. Keizer, Oregon, 97303 USA ABA # 121000248 Or In Thailand: Matthew Duncan McDaniel Acc. # 3980240778 Bangkok Bank Ltd. Maesai Branch Thailand Web Site: http://www.akha.com mailto:akha@loxinfo.co.th Discussion Groups: akha@onelist.com indigenousworld@onelist.com .