Visiting Basaat for Thanksgiving

Last weekend I went with some of the villagers for a thanksgiving celebration. After an extremely bumpy and long ride to this village we arrived. The roads to this particular village are inaccessible during rainy season because they are easily washed out and very steep at different parts of them, but an adventure all the while. I wish I could describe to you the beauty of the landscape as you drive higher and higher into the mountains and farther from the conveniences of the lowland.

Upon arriving we had breakfast at the headman's house which consisted of fried pork, rice wrapped in banana leaves, soup, peanuts, and coke. Following eating we walked up to the church which was decorated with crops they had brought in from their fields (tomatoes, garlic, ginger, melons, squash, peppers, onions..etc) as well as a few chickens. Following the service we all ate another big meal together standing around tables covered with banana leaves and an assortment of food. The specialty of the day was raw pork. I was very impressed with the generosity of these villagers who had welcomed their neighboring Lisu village to join them for the service and for the meal. Though their own resources were limited, they generously shared what they had with their guests.

Learning more about Akha medicine...

Yesterday Rusty and I each took turns speaking at the yearly training Luka holds for villagers who hold some sort of leadership position in their villages. We had around 25 people come for this 3 day training. Rusty spoke for two hours on leading with a servants heart, and I spoke for 2 hours on preventative healthcare measures (boils, cavities, parasites, worms, high blood pressure, lice, bed bugs, dehydration, goiters...etc). 

Prior to speaking, I shared with them my interest in learning more about traditional Akha medicine and the methods they are already using in the villages. I shared with them that I will be teaching on western remedies and methods, but that doesn't mean these are always better then their traditional treatments. I had a lot of fun teaching the session, and learning about the different treatment methods the villagers have been using. There was a lot of laughing from them as they watched my reaction to some of their home-made remedies. Luke kindly translated both of the sessions for Rusty and I.

The villagers asked if we can start a monthly training session for 1-2 representatives from each of the 12 villages we are working in about basic health care. We are excited to start this project once Libby arrives next month, and to begin visiting the villages on a regular basis.

The pictures below are a few of the ones I used for my power point presentation that I thought you might enjoy, or that might make you a bit sick to your stomach. All of these images came from google images.

1. For the treatment of lice: One villager said he buys medicine for lice at the pharmacy, while others admitted to using pesticide spray (the same spray they use on their crops) on their children to kill the lice!
2. For the treatment of boils: Some villagers use a special leaf in the village that they burn a little and apply to the boil (they said the boil will come to a head in about 24 hours). Another method was to chew up soybean, and apply it to the boil. One man said he puts warm rice on the boil and then lets the chickens peck it open...OUCH! And the last method shared was to sharpen a piece of bamboo, poke the boil open, and then put opium on it.
   
3. For the treatment of eye pain: One villager informed me that he puts his very first pee in the morning in a small glass and pours it over his eye! I asked if this hurts at all and he said only for a little. This method that he shared got quite a chuckle from the other villagers, so I am assuming this is not the normal treatment, but his own personal method.
4. If the villagers have no tooth paste they will often just rub their teeth with salt, or charcoal. These are two methods that are recommended in one of my books "Where There is No Doctor," except it suggests adding a mixture of 50% baking soda and 50% salt.
5. When a villager gets a goiter, it is believed to be because that person was selfish and always eats before others. The villagers I was speaking with had never heard before the importance of buying salt with iodine in it to prevent non-toxic goiters.
6. For tooth pain, many Akha villagers will chew on bitternut (spelling?). This nut causes their teeth to turn black (which is considered beautiful), but also relieves tooth pain, and bad breath. They also use a few different plant saps to put on sore gums that act as numbing agents.
7. On special occasions in the villages they will eat raw pork, mixed with garlic, hot pepper, and salt. After I showed various pictures of worms, many of them told me they had seen these kind of worms come out of people in the villages. There is one type of worm (ascaris) that when the carrier has a fever, the worm will try to escape the host through the nose, mouth, or rectum.  They said they had seen this happen in people with fevers before. Tapeworms can grow to be up to 5 meters long. They said when someone has a tapeworm coming out of their rectum they will twirl it around a stick until it stops coming out. I asked what they do with the worms after they come out of the people and they throw them out and the chickens usually eat them.

Life these days...

Every day we head into town (by truck or motorbike) to study Thai at AUA Language School. Rusty and I have decided to each study with a private tutor separately since are learning styles are so different. Language study always has its ups and downs, but despite the frustrating times we realize the importance of it. One of the difficulties with learning Thai is that where we live most of the children and staff speak Akha. If they do speak Thai they will switch back and forth between speaking Akha and Thai numerous times within the same sentence. So as you might imagine, this makes studying Thai a bit more challenging. Because so much of our time is spent with Akha people we would rather focus on studying Akha, but we have been encouraged by Luka to focus on studying Thai for the first year and after that begin to study Akha.

Rusty has been making trips to various tea factories learning about the different steps of processing tea, and options available for packaging the tea here in Thailand. Lately his time has also been filled with taking the kids who live at the Akha Youth Development Center home to their villages because now they have a 2-week break from school.

My time has been filled with working on the sponsorship program, organizing medications that have been donated by past teams, and studying language.

From the 14th-16th Luka will hold a three day training for the pastors and evangelists working under the foundation here. Rusty will be speaking for two hours on servant leadership, and I will be speaking for one hour on preventative healthcare for the villages. 

In other news, for those of you who know Ahti and Ahmee (who used to live with Luka and Ghan), she gave birth to an adorable little boy named Sila after needing a c-section. Pictures will come later....

We really appreciate the e-mails and efforts of those of you at home to keep in touch. It means so much.

Rusty and I with our lovely little Thai teacher named Kroo Jan.

Eating thai-style barbeque for our friend Ae's 

birthday in the village.

And last but not least, the sweet sticker we found on our truck when we returned to Thailand that our friend Kee placed over the dent he had made while we were gone...just our style : >)