28 June, Death of Meeh Sah
Sun, 28 Jun 1998 00:04:56 +0700
“I tied you to my back and carried you from the village
I took you to two hospitals on my motorbike
I gave you my own blood and that of six other people
And still there was not enough time
So tonight I had to say good-bye to you dear friend
I laid you softly in the forgiving cool earth
Deep in the heart of the mountain jungle
Between young trees and vines as you were young
And none of it was good enough
To justify needing to say good-bye
Good-bye my friend Meeh Sah
I knew you only for a year
And it will never be long enough”
It is with indescribable sorrow that I must tell you that this morning at 5:30 am the Akha girl
Meeh Sah died at the hospital ICU in Chiangrai. Malaria had completely destroyed her blood.
She was just 20. Her child died with her. I knew her a year. I lost a friend who I didn't
get to teach how to read in her own langauge, I think that is how this all started,
working on language.
Her husband lost a wife. I had to bury her tonight in a very wet jungle.
It is almost midnight now. She delivered a still born child just before dying and I had to dig two
graves in-between trees up on the mountain. How small us humans are.
In the great forest it was like standing down at the feet of great elders and
laying a friend at their feet, them looking down from the mist and the darkness as we
say our good-byes. This was first about language, endangered language,
but life is not kind to these people.
