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Dear Friends:
<p>1. Swing Festival
<p>One of the most vigorous swing festivals I can remember with extra strong
swings this year, made of large bamboo poles, with stout braided ropes
made of bark. All of the fathers went out and got small bamboo poles
to build small swings for their children at each hut.
<p>Swinging on the swing is welcome to everyone. It is a rigorous
sport. First off you put you take hold of the large braided rope
and walk backwards till you have to put you left leg high to get your foot
into it. Upon doing this you must then grab the rope a short ways
above that but intentionally not too high and leap into the air.
Keeping your body from rotating is the trick, as you swing out you throw
your right foot as high as possible leaning back and down as you pull severely
hard backwards on the rope. Then as you swing back you quickly bend
your left knee and drop your right leg low, slacking your pull on the rope,
then again, right leg high, left leg straight, and pulling as hard on the
rope as you lean far backward your head pointing down the higher you swing.
The Akha men, even old men are able to do this till they have catapulted
themselves so high that their heads are pointed nearly straight down.
A very tough workout on the forearms. Akha women sit in the large
loop of the rope and with a rope tied to this, several other women pull
them to great swinging height.
<p>Now the Akha Swing Festival is over. Conducted in traditional
villages only, and sad to say the kind loving Christians have forbid it
in a record number of villages this year.
<br>
<p>2. Boarding School Report
<p>Two Irish Volunteers Report on the Maesai Baptist Boarding School Prison
Camp.
<br><a href="http://www.akha.org/boardingschool.htm">http://www.akha.org/boardingschool.htm</a>
<br>
<p>3. Hilltribe Arrest and Forced Expulsion delayed till Aug 29, 2002
<p>A deadline for a proposed arrest and deportation of hilltribe people
without ID cards was extended for a year. The proposal will be fought
over the next year.
<br>
<p>4. Pah Nmm Akha experiences 13ths infant death.
<p>A family in Pah Nmm Akha which was removed an hour and a half
from its fields by the Thai Army has experienced its 13 miscarriage or
death immediately following delivery in 2 1/2 years.
<br>
<p>5. Mountain Exodus
<p>With extreme pressure on the villages, it is little wonder that many
Akha are seeking any improved income outside of the mountains where they
are highly restricted now that they have been given ID cards. Was
this the goal of the granting of ID cards?
<br>
<p>6. Death of Ah Pah, new details
<p>Ah Pah was beaten and died at Mae Salep Akha. We find that he
is survived by a daughter and two young sons. However his wife is
no longer able to keep up with the work in the fields by herself and there
is no income to feed her sons. Her daughter is married to a man from
Germany and they are expecting a child who will not have a grandfather.
<p>According to the German man, when he viewed the body of her father at
the hospital there was no indication of any injury from a road accident
which is what the police claimed killed Ah Pah. A fracture of the
base of the skull is the autopsy report of death.
<p>The family received only 30,000 baht ($680) from the police, not the
previously reported 40,000.
<p>Any Westerners married to Akha women are encouraged to contact us to
join the formation of a committee regarding Akha Human Rights in Thailand.
<br>
<p>7. Harassment of Akha Women by both Thai Yai and Wa Armies on Thai Side
of the border
<p>Soldiers of both the Wa and Thai Yai armies, stationed along the Thai
border with Chiangrai's province have been harassing, grabbing, attacking,
beating and raping Akha women who are farming in these border regions in
their fields on the Thai side.
<p>The incidents are increasingly frequent.
<p>Women from numerous villages have been raped. One was severely
beaten. As well a number of local men have been killed in near border
incidents.
<p>*******
<p>Your donation can make a difference in this project and in the lives
of the Akha people. Please make a small donation today.
<br>
<p>Matthew McDaniel
<br>The Akha Heritage Foundation
<br>Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand
<p>Join The Growing International Effort To Protect The Akha
<br>Sign The Petition To The Thai Government
<br>On Line At:
<br><a href="http://www.PetitionOnline.com/AkhaZauh/petition.html">http://www.PetitionOnline.com/AkhaZauh/petition.html</a>
<br>
<br>
<p><a href="http://www.akha.org">http://www.akha.org</a>
<p>Donations:
<br>PayPal: <a href="https://www.paypal.com/refer/pal=akha%40loxinfo.co.th">https://www.paypal.com/refer/pal=akha%40loxinfo.co.th</a>
<p>Credit Card Donation Site:
<br><a href="http://www.drugwar.com/store/proddetail.cfm?ItemID=12&CategoryID=6">http://www.drugwar.com/store/proddetail.cfm?ItemID=12&CategoryID=6</a>
<p>Your donation goes to infant care, vitamins, medical supplies, wells,
bread and fish for the villages.
<p>Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
<br>The Akha Heritage Foundation
<br>PO BOX 6073
<br>Salem OR 97304 USA
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