---------- Forwarded messages ----------
From: Matthew McDaniel <akhalife@...>
Date: Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 7:53 PM
Subject: [AkhaWeeklyJournal] Akha Journal: Bus Balance, Second Horse for "Ride for Freedom"
To: akhaweeklyjournal@yahoogroups.com

Dear Friends:

 

Despite the fact that I was injured in an auto accident damaging five discs in my back, the horse trip is still on. We have paid the bus down to $4650 plus many other costs we have been able to cover so far to line everything up for this trip.

 

We have also found the second horse that will be trained for Michu and the kids to ride.

Now we have the two horses we wanted for this trip.

I picked the new horse up on monday night north of Aurora, Oregon and walked her close to thirty miles of back roads down to Salem, a great way to get going with a horse. A quarterhorse Percheron cross, she was pretty hard to find, not so common of a breed.

 

As soon as the bus is paid off we will be leaving on this trip. Route will be according to the weather and timing.

 

The main themes of the trip continue to be "Nets for Laos", "Human Rights Network" in Thailand, stopping the seizure of Akha lands, and stopping the removal of Akha children.

 

We are seeing some progress at the congressional level in getting an investigation into US involvement in Thailand during the drug war of 2003, the supplying of military weapons and police training, the vetting of individuals who commit human rights violations, functions of the DEA in Chiangmai during that time, monitoring of end use on weapons and equipment, and funding for the Chai Pattana Foundation, which has been responsible for seizing Akha lands. More updates on this as this investigation develops.

 

Just to let you know, the US Embassy in Bangkok stated that they had no record of any seizures of Akha lands of late in Thailand. Apparently they are not very well informed.

 

Thank you for your interest and support.

 

www.akha.org has been down for a couple of days, should have that fixed in a couple of hours.

 

Matthew McDaniel

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