From akha@loxinfo.co.th Thu Feb 3 03:21:16 2000 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id DAA21582 for ; Thu, 3 Feb 2000 03:21:15 -0800 Received: from chmai.loxinfo.co.th (root@chmai.loxinfo.co.th [203.146.0.65]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id DAA05917; Thu, 3 Feb 2000 03:21:12 -0800 Received: from loxinfo.co.th (p9-criHS1.N.loxinfo.net.th [203.146.34.9]) by chmai.loxinfo.co.th (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA14494; Thu, 3 Feb 2000 16:44:57 +0700 Message-ID: <38994F07.EF43EC16@loxinfo.co.th> Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 16:48:59 +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 Subject: Akha Weekly Update Feb 3, 2000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Weekly Update Update of the situation at Huai Maak Akha Village Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand ***** Numerous people replied to multiple calls for assistance and arrived in northern Thailand to be in and around Huai Maak Akha village for the scheduled eviction. A meeting was held with the Thai Army for the Therd Thai Region and it was agreed on that the village would be requested to express their wishes once again by a vote. A number of people from outside the region came to Huai Maak to witness that vote and make sure that the conditions in the village were without pressure. Upon the completion of the vote 35 Akha and Lisaw families stated that they would choose to remain at Huai Maak while 12 Lisaw families said that they would leave. Col. Sawat of the Thai Army met us at his office in Therd Thai and accepted the signed statement for the record and appeared to agree that the village would be allowed to remain where it was. I can not say that I trust the situation for a number of reasons although the intended moving date has been passed. Currently Huai Maak is in continued discussions with the Thai Army because now it is said that there are not enough people to move to the new location so no one will be allowed to move, not that this should trouble anyone, but I am just curious what the new strategy is? Secondly, the policy of the Forestry Department is so blatantly disregarding of the health and well being of the villagers in so many villages that this has to be an issue that does not go away. In discussions with numerous other villages in the last few days it becomes clear that the Thai Forestry Department continues to treat the Akha as aliens in Thailand by policy, telling them as much and that wether they have enough land to farm for food is not the problem of forestry. This guise is used as justification to continue to plant large amounts of pine, thousands of acres of pine, planting more all the time. Any field that is left unused is moved in on with pine sapplings. Areas that have grown up with pine already show what a dead forest it is. The Akha meanwhile are being paid small wages to plant these trees on the land they farm as a kind of consolation prize or mockery at best. Many villages no longer have enough land, and many more are loosing crucial amounts of land this year. Reduced quantities of land force the Akha to plant the same land over and over with decreasing rice yields and the collapse of these soils which then can not be rotated. Without hard numbers to draw just how dark the picture is it can only be said that an overview of the situation shows the Akha to be in a crisis of survival because of lack of land. The alternatives is that they move little by little, dispersed by the hardship, the villages breaking up. I will be studying how this situation can be addressed as a collective issue for all the villages, not just Huai Maak and will be reporting on that as soon as possible. A second gathering place has now been completed in Mae Chan Luong Akha Village just outside of Doi Maesalong. This village is being split by the Chinese Baptists against the wishes and request of the elders and head man. The Chinese Baptists involved have said that since they are doing it for Jesus they can do what they want. We choose to differ. Matthew McDaniel -- 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 .