Dear Friends:

The woman taken to the hospital has cancer.

Due to lack of funding, our ability to take her into a private hospital was obstructed for three months and now we still do not have enough.

However, this gave time for what turned out to be cancer to spread rapidly from her stomach to her liver and small intestine.

From a large incision, the Surgeon removed as much as he could but said that since she was fairly young the cancer had spread very rapidly and that he could not get it all.

He does not feel that her prognosis is good, but said that he felt she should undergo six months of once a month, five day chemo therapy sessions at the cost of $300 per month.

I do not think this is affordable even though much cheaper than in the west, but especially since we currently have a bill now of $1350 of which $385 has been donated.

But that is the situation and much thanks to many who wrote in regarding this matter.

I have advised the woman of the facts and that she should try and relax and spend as much of her time with her children as possible over the time she has left.

Mae Chan Luang Akha Village is being divided by the efforts of Taiwanese Fundamentalist who we would call insurgents for lack of a better term.

Papers from the village head man were filed with the Ampour's Office, and the Army that the elders of the village do not want their village divided or converted.

The Mae Fah Luang Ampour's office nor the Army appear to be willing to do anything about it.

We are drafting a petition to the UN body complaining that the Thai government is failing to defend the human rights of the Akha people from attacks by these western financed missions. In should be finished within the next month.

Meanwhile the army has stripped this village of at least fifty percent of its rice growing land, and with the assistance of an un-identified foreigner, have planted the entire region of confiscated lands behind the village in pine.

We do have an email now that you can contact about village relocations and also about village splitting activities.

Write a short simple message.

If it quotes all this email or is too long they will not read it, English is their second language.

1. Stop the relocation of Akha villages
2. Stop taking Akha farm lands and planting pine
3. Stop the western missionaries from splitting Akha traditional villages and destroying their traditional culture.

Please use both emails.The Emails are:

consrdiv@tat.or.th
mhinchey@mail.house.gov

Please send them an incredible load. Thankyou.

Please write me if you want to know more about what this is about and would like to assist in some specific way.

The saving of Huuh Mah Akha has apparently continued to be a mistery to the Thai Army as to how their efforts were so effectively blocked. Apparently someone is not taking this sitting down (wonder what took them so long). I visited the village yesterday, the villagers told me that the Army visited the village in a truck and told them to chop down trees so that four army and forestry helicpters could land on the second or third day of May, for a pow wow. One helicopter above the village, three below.

"Please have fifty tea cups ready and please have the girls dress nice for us"

There is a german fundamentalist insurgent visiting this village trying to split it also.

We found this interesting, because over the weekend we met this German Missionary from Huai Krai at the German embassy in Bangkok trying to get the visas for numerous transvestites who he is sponsoring to work in restaurants in Germany for a fee of course. Amazing what missionaries are up to in their spare time. I wonder does he sponsor Akha girls for a different kind of job?

International police have been asking questions about one NGO in Thailand that apparently spirited between 200 to 300 girls from their prostitution prevention program sponsored by westerners, to Japan. Wonder what the girls are doing there? Why are the international police interested?

The truck is broke just a little bit, I took it to one shop and had them do some welding on it, took the corncobs out of the battery and fixed some holes, kicked it a few times just because it looks like hell, and got it on the road.

A kind gentleman brought me a fire ax from the US, which came in handy last night, chopping a mighty tree that fell across the road.

Rice is being planted already.

We are ready with an independent ID card system but lack only the computers and programs to make it go, the idea has been approved by those who have need for it.

Another baby spontaneously aborted in Huuh Yoh Pah Soh village, 8 months plus, mother was vaccinated with Tetanus Toxoid during pregnancy. Baby was born dead.

Thank you WHO.

Have a good day.

Matthew
"Akha Land"