A JOURNAL:
1997
THE AKHA
JOURNAL OF THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

MAESAI NOTES:

Semi - Daily notes of events here in Maesai.

Topic: Recovering a malnurished child, whose parents died, and a blind man was using him for a beggar.

I get no less than great delight in relaying to you the following tale. Because Ah Dteeh once lived at our school but the blind man stole him away about a month ago and he is half as big now a month later.

As follows.

This morning the woman married to the blind man came and told me that she had left him and that she was very concerned for the health of Ah Dtee, that he might die.

I went over onto the Burma side and went to the far end of the road and up one hill in a very dirty opium village and there I found our poor Ah Dtee starved down to far less than a dying monkey. I asked them to give him to me but in stout pig headed fashion they would not, so I told them I would go get the police, not knowing if I really could or if they would even help. But I found the one long haired Burmese man who was my friend and he helped explain it to one officer with a photo that I had of Ah Dtee near the railing upstairs. (He looks nothing like that now.)

The officer understood full well, and to those who bad mouth Burma they should take note. He went with me to the village, and the hut was locked and abandoned. He knew more than I so he went behind and there in a hut one old woman was busy dying for too much opium and lack of what she should have been doing like eating. Weepingly she begged me not to let her die.

I told her she had to be willing to get up and go to Maesai where I could help her.

The policeman asked where Ah Dtee had gone to? He asked the man get out and show him which he did. We found Ah Dtee, a bunch of scoffing Akhas sitting around laughing and saying they weren't going to let him go with me. Ah Dtee sat squatted there wisely on his haunches.

The policeman changed all that, told them they could all go take a hike and I picked Ah Dtee up and carried him down the hill.

The policeman took me to a Government office, I registered my Maesai name and address for where I was taking him, went to Immigration and registered there again, where they were all more than appreciative and kind and then I took him back to our school where Meeh Daw began plying him with food and icecream. He is about half his weight from before, but ours once again, and if you ever have any doubts about what can be helped or accomplish here just come and see for yourself. Volunteer.

On another note, the bridge scene appears to have deteriorated with the increasing heat to a very highly organized mafia of sorts. Yesterday three or more girls ganged up on one girl and proceeded to beat and strangle her over a money dispute of some trifling baht. Two of those involved really surprised me as they were well behaved students at our school briefly in the past.

One smaller girl was the ringleader, egging the bigger girls on like a small yapping terrier. I drug the girls apart, got the one free, her face styfled and red, and then they turned on me but I was rescued by one Thai man and one man who rushed over from Customs and shooed them all home. The bigger girls all hurling abuses from the bridge for interupting the throttling of the other girl.

The whole village is down there. All these kids come to get quick money for their parents opium habits and it brings out the worst in human character.

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Today we got some sort of happy official visit from an Akha and some Thai government people. They were very glad to see what was happening and took photos and the grand tour, posing with all the children. Since I wasn't there (over getting Ah Dtee) they said they would come back tomorrow.

Apparently they wanted to help me get registered. Because of our past experience I was very concerned, but the girls assured me that they got nothing but a good feeling from the people.

Then as I typed this the bloke of a blind man showed up with the little sister and the opium wench to get back Ah Dtee for the purpose of begging, wether he died or not, so I promptly summoned the Maesai Police who showed up enmasse and asked him to leave.

The little boy and his sister had no father or mother and this blind man had somehow seized upon them to guide him for begging and fed the little boy nothing it would seem. We confirmed this from numerous neighbors.

In the end, Ah Dtee did go home, months later, and contracted parasites, and passed away.