We think that the goal oriented approach of western missionaries to convert the Akha to Christianity, whether they like it or not, is extremely arrogant and not at all in the spirit of the teachings of Jesus Christ.  If an individual or group with time and money "lay siege" to an impoverished Akha village to "convert it" does this village have a choice?  We think not, but this practice has been going on in Akha villages for years.

Sects pick and choose Bible texts to justify their behavior, yet seem completely closed off to discussion of the issue or reflection on how their position is perceived.

We do not think, from an theological standpoint, that the teachings of Jesus Christ focused on the changing of people's culture.  However we do think he had the utmost to say about corrupted religious agendas and religious leaders who loaded burdens on people which they were unable to bear.  People who made the propagation of religion a business which completely missed the real needs of the people for compassion, understanding and help with their daily physical needs.

We believe that in many situations missionaries are one of the chief causes of the marginalization of tribal cultures and the ENDANGERMENT OF MINORITY LANGUAGES.

We can readily show proof of this to any visitor who would like to come and research this subject.

We would suggest that those who belong to the Endangered Languages effort stand up and loudly protest these practices.

We think that the practices of the western mission groups which INSIST on the abandonment of complete traditions, the imposition of concrete church buildings in bamboo mountain top villages and the insistence of the removal of Akha Gates are Human Rights Abuses according to the UN Draft on Indigenous Rights.  We realize also that these activities are "winked at" in the west.

Majority populations expand, land bases shrink, governments ignore but we see no other single focused effort so consistently in name and agenda do all it can which by its very nature will eliminate tribal identity and force assimilation.  And if history is any record, after "assimilation" comes extinction of the race as can be readily seen in the United States among no longer existing tribal groups.

We might ask here, why, if western religious systems are so right, why do they so quickly condemn tribal people's cultures while those very same western countries took all the tribal lands as they saw fit, and to this day continue to patent tribal plants and tribal human genetics? Just who is corrupt in this picture?  Just who is in need of converting?  Just when are the right Americans going to come back and pick up all their unexploded bombs in Laos? We find it appalling that this double standard continues to this day.

"Do as we say, not as we are very busy doing.

"Take this aid, the price is Jesus."

What a horrible way to get to know anybody.

In March of 1999 three teachers and ten students flew from Denmark to Thailand to assist in the building of a school at Hua Mae Kom village, northwest of Haen Taek in Chiangrai Province, a traditional Akha village at that time.

I had worked with this village for seven years.  It was stoutly traditional Akha though it lacked some elders and part of an adjoinging village had left to the Huai Krai area.

The lower part of Hua Mae Kom had been converted to Protestant by a group related to the American Baptists, a particularly Racist and unsavory group which opperated Akha Christian Training and Development and Agriculture Project for Akha, a front for more evangelization in the villages against Akha Traditional Culture.

The students and teachers stayed at the headman's house in Hua Mae Kom Akha village, and ordered the construction material for the village, some $600 worth of lumber.

The lumber was trucked from Mae Chan some 60 kilometers away, twisting mountain roads.

Construction was planned for that next day.

But on that evening, two young men, seminary students, from the Maesai Baptist Church Seminary in Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand, came into the village and specifically told the Akha in the village in front of us, that this was going to be a "christian village area" and "don't build", that they would request the Lisaw regional headman to not allow the construction.  They were also Lisaw, not Akha.

If the project was disputed, for whatever reason, the villagers knew that once it was appealed to the regional head man it would have to be heard out, so concerned with this new development, they asked that the school not be built now.

Since the group from Holland could not extend their time for this matter to be resolved they would not be able to do the construction as planned.

The boards were left at the headman's house in the village at Hua Mae Kom.

The following day the entire group left for Maesai and went directly to Maesai Baptist Church to inquire as to what right the church had to interfere with a project that was costing close to $10,000 US so far?

The Maesai Baptist Church denied that the incident was caused by their people, these men were not from their church.  However, while we were talking, the two offenders walked out of the seminary.

At this point the entire group claimed they could not speak english.
If we had a problem we should go and talk to the Maesai Police.

We did and returned with the Maesai Police at which point all of the people, the head of the seminary included, could suddenly speak fluent english. (Liars?)

The Teachers from Denmark asked that the Maesai Baptist Church compensate them for their loss, at least that of the cost of the lumber.

Of course they would not.

The police did inform them they could not interfere with others projects.

The Maesai Baptist Church continued with the plans for the pushed conversion of Hua Mae Kom village, against the will of the headman, taking over house by house till only the headman was left and finally the entire village was converted.  Mysteriously, shortly after that a large addition was made to the headman's house and grounds.

The traditional Nyeeh Pah in the village, Meeh Shuuh, said that she could no longer practice healing as she had done for 26 years because the new converts forbid her to.

Immediately the church began removing young women from the village for indoctrination.

The lumber was removed from Hua Mae Kom village and the school was built in Pah Nmm Akha Village instead.