Dear Friends: Well it is nearly two months and Ms. Sudarat Sereewat at F.A.C.E. http://www.un.or.th/TraffickingProject/FACE/face_home.html has NOT released the official report that is urgently needed in Singapore to assist the legal case of Ms. Meitinee Wongsa, an Akha woman in prison there. Numerous people and agencies have repeatedly asked Ms. Sudarat Sereewat for the official report which could have been released after a week or so from the time Ms. Wongsa made her statements at the prison meeting in Singapore last year. We are not completely surprised because in our dealings with Thai organizations having a big face was USUALLY more important than getting anything done. Certainly the case when lots of promises were made by Thai officials of this or that investigation, this or that correction of an injustice against an Akha. In this case a THAI brothel owner tricked Ms. Wongsa into working at their brothel in Hatyai, then trafficked her once to Singapore, where she didn't "work out", and then made her pay back $2500 or more as a penalty for that fact. Ms. Sudarat Sereewat made lots of gestures about getting back pay for Ms. Wongsa even, only to tell her fiance later that there was nothing more that she could do for her. Maybe someone like the Thai mafia told her to shut up, or other people in polite THAI society. As we mentioned to Ms. Sudarat Sereewat, a lot of Akha women would not find themselves in this position if land seizures such as the seizure of Hooh Yoh's land by the Queen, was not busy going on all the time. Some good things going on for the project, we now have a good digital camera for gathering pics of events. One down, more to go. Here is a short list. PC computer Apple Computer. Two Rebuilt presses. We are going to start up a quarterly to ship around the world, as a way of highlighting the situation of the Akha. A video camera. Now there is a great new way to help out. You can set your own fundraising goal. You can log in at www.firstgiving.com and set up your own page, and list the fundraising goal you have, and then introduce your friends to your site, what it is that you are trying to do, and help benefit this great project. In the part where you pick your organization type "Akha Heritage Foundation". We are listing for free ads for Akha run businesses now on the website, should have some banners soon. Lots going on, and we need volunteers and your help. Some volunteers have come and stayed in one of our spare rooms here in Mesa, outside of Phoenix, and that has been a lot of fun and progress. Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage Foundation. http://www.akha.org Akha Heritage Site. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Akhaweeklyjournal Discussion http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akha Donate Via Credit Card Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=akha%40akha.org PO Box 6073 Salem, OR. 97304 USA. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
