The Vernon Shutter

The Satterfield Dream Wing and an Akha Doctor

2007-07-16T07:38:00.000+07:00

Last Saturday AOF had a monumental celebration to dedicate the new classroom / future radio studio building as well as to recognize Aje for the completion of his Doctorate. Over a thousand Akha from around Northern Thailand, Christian and non-Christian alike, came to join in the festivities; and all the Satterfield girls were here for four days to celebrate with us as well.

The event was so much fun (I'm serious, we had a blast!) that I only snapped a few shots at the very beginning and during the "formal picture taking time", but here are a couple of moments captured throughout the day:

We had a great evening, too, but I'll leave that story for Lori to share that with you in our Baby Notes.

Tags:

Unless the Lord Builds the House

2007-06-29T07:59:00.000+07:00

A team from Faith Bible Chapel has come out for a short-term missions trip. They are a great group and we have enjoyed spending some time with them.

Last week we went with a number of them to an Akha church here in Chiang Rai and at the beginning of this week we brought them down for a construction project in Wiangpapao (about 1.5 hours southwest of Chiang Rai). They were great workers and, partnering with the Akha from the village, were able to pour the foundation footers and floor for the new church in two days!

Lori was obviously not allowed to do any work, so we stationed her at the Akha Clinic and behind the camera. Here are some of the moments she captured:

Tags:

The Akha Wedding

2007-05-01T14:30:00.000+07:00

The Akha Wedding ceremony is a long process, beginning in the wife's family village and ending in the husband's family village. The big "wedding" event occurs in the husband's village with the "Wife Celebration".

There is a lot to be told about this event, and for Lori and I there is still a lot to be learned about this event, but today I just want to share some pictures of a young Akha bride and groom from a wedding ceremony in our village. Specifically, I want you all to see the long, involved process that is the donning of the traditional Akha headdress and attire.

Beautiful, is it not? We were honored to take pictures for two weddings in our village just before Lori became sick, and promised to put together a video slide show of the pictures for both couples' families. We are planning to head back to the village this weekend to give out the finished videos.

It is a strange world the Akha live in today - they sit on dirt floors in their bamboo huts and watch family wedding videos on their televisions. Talk about an ancient-future experience.

Tags:

2007 Graduation Gallery

2007-03-25T13:41:00.000+07:00

This has certainly been an exciting month for us. Between visa problems, guests, graduations and a new computer (hurray!) we have put a lot of miles on poor little Suzi with three trips each to Mae Salong, Mae Sai and Chiang Mai this month. It's our belief that God wanted us to have these 33 hours of driving together as a lasting memory of "how things were" before we have kids.

I had promised some pictures of the ABI graduation and have also added some pictures of the graduation of our pastor from Phayao Bible College.

As you can see below, Dr. Paul Lewis was in Chiang Rai for the graduation. As the original transcriber of the Akha language and the original translator of the Akha Bible, he receives and incredible outpouring of love and respect from the Akha people. What was most incredible to us, however, was his flawless Akha. His accent is flawless, he truly speaks like a native Akha, as we are so often reminded by our Akha friends. Oh well, maybe in 50 years we'll speak that well too.

As we have come to expect, the graduation at House of Joy was a spectacular event. Approximately 1,000 Akha from all over the region came down and enjoyed hearing from Dr. Lewis and Dean Fraise, watching choreographed dances, and listening to the spectacular choir led by Salama Bu-Zi. The graduation in Phayao was also a lot of fun for us, especially because six of our friends from our village came down to celebrate the graduation of the Mae Salong pastor.

The celebrations continue as this month three pastors will be sent out as missionaries to reach the Akha who have never heard the gospel. Please hold these men up in prayer as they represent the beginning of an exciting new era in the Akha Church.

Tags:

The Akha Rice Festival

2006-10-25T14:15:00.000+07:00

It is time for the rice harvest in Thailand, and to the Akha that means the celebration of the Haw Shui Dza (New Rice Festival). This celebration goes much further than the celebration of Rice, the staple element of the Akha diet, for they celebrate all of their harvest. Coffee, tea, corn, tomatoes, vegetables and fruits are part of the celebration. The harvest is a time of plenty, and though every year has its difficulties for the Akha, this is joyful time.

Yesterday we received a special treat and were able to go to Lawca Akha (Elephant Mountain Village) for their new rice celebration. This is the largest Akha village in all of Thailand and one of the most traditional Akha villages in Thailand, and we were honored to be invited to celebrate with them.

It's a rough road to Lawca, but it was worth it as we enjoyed singing, dancing, playing on the Akha Swing and - of course - the traditional Akha celebration meal of minced spicy pork (sa bieh), salsa (sa pi), soups, vegetables and new rice.

Tags:

Flowers of Northern Thailand

2006-10-20T20:59:00.000+07:00

We have been spending some wonderful time with Jan and Gary as they have come out to visit. Because the Akha New Rice Festival season is around the corner we have been doing the tourist things this week and will spend all of next week going to festivals in villages.

You may have noticed our previous post where we complained about problems we had been having with our camera. Well, our friends, partners and former neighbors - the Scheyers - gave us a beautiful new (to us) digital camera and we've been having so much fun with it. Thanks Hal!

We've especially enjoyed the scenery as we've travelled around Northern Thailand. We miss the snow and the winters in America, but you just don't get flowers like this in October over there!

We hope you enjoy these images of some of the spectacular flowers in Thailand.

Tags:

An Akha Village at Dusk

2006-09-19T18:02:00.000+07:00

Lately I've been on a photo kick; something in me is just yearning to be creative! So, despite our less than cooperative camera, I've been snapping pictures more often than usual.

A couple weeks ago, everything in the village just seemed especially beautiful, so I set out to capture all the little things that I love about the village.

Of course, it's just not an Akha village without multitudes of children about! And since I'm trying to show you the "all little things I love about the village", it seems appropriate to introduce you to a few of the munchkins in our village. The first picture is baby Ma-li who was born last December; hasn't she grown?! Next is sweet little A-nm carrying her babydoll strapped to her back, Akha style. Next is A-paw, A-ga and Sopida climbing a tree like the three little monkeys they are! Finally, a herd of toddlers chasing a grasshopper.

Tags:

Akha Village :: Dentistry and Clinic Pictures

2006-09-16T12:11:00.000+07:00

For the past week a dental team from America has been visiting Akha Outreach Foundation doing the annual check-ups and cleanings for all the orphans. While this is quite a large task in itself, they still made time to haul all thier equipment up to a village for a day to pull some teeth. Preventative dental care is a fairly new concept in Akha villages, so although most of the children and young adults brush thier teeth, many of the older adults have never brushed thier teeth and live in constant pain. It is very common for adults to chew betel nut which helps to numb the pain temporarily (and makes for the blackish-red teeth that are so often seen among the Akha), but in the long run it causes much damage to the mouth & gums. You can imagine that Dr. Luce and his two dental assistants had their hands full that day! They saw over 40 patients and pulled over 100 teeth in just 6 hours! Good work, guys!

The village they visited was about 20 miles east of the village we live in, so we drove over to help out if we could. We certainly weren't much help in pulling teeth, but we were able to set up a mobile clinic and treat some minor non-dental ailments. The open-air school room we were in felt like a three-ring circus at times, with everyone in the village either straining to watch in sympathetic agony as the dentist pulled teeth, or curiously crowding around to see the two white people "who speak Akha" give out medicine.

Here are a few pictures of the day, courtesy of Joe Rutledge.

Tags:

Northern Thailand Countryside

2006-09-11T17:31:00.000+07:00

I count myself lucky to live in such a green country! I'm constantly amazed by the beauty all around us! This month we've seen quite a bit of countryside as we've travelled around the North to Chiang Mai, Fang, Thaton and of course Mae Salong. Right now the ricefields are especially breathtaking; they cover the all valleys with a patchwork of fresh green growth!

Tags:

Moon over Mae Salong

2006-09-11T13:14:00.000+07:00

I know it's been a while since we posted some pictures, we've been having problems with our Olympus camera and one out of every three or four pictures we take is ruined. This, of course, has really frustrated us and so we have been relying heavily on our phones for day to day pictures.

The other day, however, Lori decided to just force the issue and use our camera whether it ruins pictures or not because she wanted to capture some of the Northern Thailand rice fields before they are harvested later this year. She will post some of the pictures she has taken when she gets a chance, but for now I want to share a few of the pictures I've taken recently, and I am even posting a video!

We've had a lot of cloudy, misty days up in Mae Salong and the full moon this last week just made for some spectacular views of the Akha Swing in our village. Unfortunately, we missed the swing festival this year (we were at a wonderful conference in Chiang Mai), but these pictures are still pretty cool ::

Here are a few pictures from last July when my parents were here and when the Foursquare Team from California came to our village to do an outreach project. You can see the Akha women scraping bark for the savory Akha Minced Pork, the Akha women playing "Dress Up the Pala" with my mother (note the fake hair sewn into the Akha Headdresses), and an elder from our village giving out snacks that the team brought for the kids ::

We are also leaping (ok, stumbling) into the 21st century with a video post. It's not much, just an incredible rainstorm... everyone in the village holes up at home when storms like this come. You can see our waterfall, our moat and a real cutie waving hello.

This is a DivX encoded file, if you have problems viewing it I recommend downloading the BSPlayer (it's the best media player for all your video needs).

Right click on the picture and choose "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer Users) or "Save Link As" (Firefox Users) to view the movie ::

*** Update. Just click on the image link and then click play ***

Tags:

Akha Fishing

2006-05-11T12:46:00.000+07:00

The reason we haven't been updating The Vernon Shutter recently is because we've had troubles with our Olympus Camedia C-60 camera these past few months. For a while we had Card Error messages popping up, then our pictures would only show up halfway, now the camera says it can only take one picture (on an empty 512MB card). All this to say we are a little frustrated with our camera situation right now so we haven't been updating this page.

However, after yesterday, we had to show you some pictures - even though they were taken from our phone. They aren't the best pictures we've ever taken, but they are from one of the funnest days we have ever had.

Since it is summer break for all the Thai schools. About fourteen of our Akha friends came to visit our village. They showed up without food, but rather than burden the village with feeding them they decided to go catch their meals. You can read more about our adventure fishing with the Akha from Lori's article in our Journey Notes blog. (The first picture is from our broom-making days which Lori also wrote about.)

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Tags:

A Good Hair Day

2005-10-11T12:43:00.000+07:00

This last month has been school break for many of the schools in Thailand. It's always fun for us to have all the kids around. During this break all the teenagers went to a camp run by Akha Christian Youth (ACY). When most of the adults had left for the fields we found ourselves with a large group of 8-12 year old kids. So all day long, while Paul played various games (mostly soccer and football) Lori took on the incredible effort of "doing hair" for all of the girls in our village.

Akha women are amazing, they are incredibly strong and their daughters learn quickly how to work hard. But on this one occasion we were able to give them a chance to feel beautiful. Half way through all the hair-dos one little girl came up to the group. She is a particularly tough case, and lives in a difficult home in our village. We never see her smile and although she is intrigued by us "pa la" she usually observes us from a distance. Like many children in Akha villages she has very short hair (lice & scabies). She was watching all the girls and their fancy hair braids and was just stoic in her observations. Our hearts were broken and we knew we had to do something for her. Lori remembered she had a handkerchief in our house that she might be able to use. We pulled her aside and made a big deal out of her new "hair". Once it sunk in that we really thought she was a beautiful little girl, she ran off. When she came back she had cleaned herself all up and had put on a dress! This little girl who never smiled was grinning from ear to ear for days - knowing that she truly is lovely.

In the end, all the girls took their new hair-dos and made them Akha. Picking flowers from all around our village they made themselves laurels and - of course - wanted their pictures taken.

Tags:

Some More Sights

2005-09-11T12:37:00.000+07:00

We wanted you all to have a little chance to see some more of our world in the village. Especially when it rains - which it has done a lot in the last few months! We also have some pictures of when Lori's parents came up to spend a few days in the village with us, as well as a couple of pictures from the swing festival (an Akha celebration related to rice planting). Everyone in our village decided it was time to dress us in Akha clothing.

We've been really busy running around lately and haven't been in the village as much as we would like. Posting these pictures makes us miss our village home a bit, but we will be heading back tomorrow with A Wa and another girl from our village who are on their school break.

Tags:

A Little of What We See

2005-07-11T12:33:00.000+07:00

We wish you all could be here to see the faces and lives that have been blessed by your support and encouragement. We took a day recently and set out to capture some of the sights we see.

Since our language is basically the equivalent to that of a three-year old (only we don't pronounce things as well as a three-year old) most of our friends are kids... so here are some pictures of our beautiful friends...

Tags:

A Little of What We Do

2005-07-11T12:28:00.000+07:00

Here's a little peek into our activities. Kids are a big part of our lives, and much of our ministry has been to them. The school semester just started in Thailand and we have specifically helped two Akha kids with their education. The first was a girl named Bu-Deu who has three years of school left who we are sponsoring. The second is our little friend A-Ju from our village. A pastor friend of ours got him accepted into a school for the deaf in Chiang Mai and we took him to his school. He was a big hit, showing up with Americans, and we think he will do very well in the school (see the picture below). Please keep him and his family in your prayers as they make this life adjustment.

Our village life has changed lately as the intern pastor has come to live with us. He is a tremendous blessing and the answer to prayer for a language helper. He also knows when our minds are full and we need to just work... the other day Pastor ATu and Paul went to cut down bamboo and build a new table for our home while Lori did the laundry and dishes for the day (no small task when everything is done by hand and you have to walk to water).

Finally we have a picture of our Lo or truck. Many have asked so here it is. It is old and rusty but climbs mountains well and gets us where we need to go. It's really quite a blessing.

Enjoy!

Tags:

Our Little Mountain Village

2005-05-11T12:25:00.000+07:00

Dama Gojo Jo Ley means "I live in Dama Gojo". And that we do, our little Akha mountain village is called Dama Gojo and has begun to feel a little like home to us. We wanted to share a few still shots from our slow paced (yet exhausting... read our most recent newsletter for more info) life in an Akha village.

The first shot is A-Ju (nicknamed A-WA). He is mostly deaf, but has adopted us as his project. He has shown us around Mae Salong, shown us how to get water and because of his hearing loss he is a great communicator without the use of words, a large blessing to us. The next still is our first meal cooked by Bu-Cheu and Lori in our home. Then we have Lori with the women elders of the surrounding villages. The dark shot is our view, and two of Paul's language friends A-Go and Law-Pi. Lori's chaw (friend) Mi-Pa is helping us prepare some fish and bugs (again, see our most recent newsletter) for dinner. Finally the most common sight in an Akha village - a baby sleeping in a sarong tied to his mother's (or, in this case, grandmother's) back.

Tags:

Hut Sweet Home

2005-03-20T12:00:00.000+07:00

Through an amazing series of events we are moving up to Doi Mae Salong (a Chinese town about 90 km from Chiang Rai) on March 22nd. We first went to Mae Salong early in March and when the villagers heard we were looking for a place to learn Akha they all skipped work in the tea fields and built us a beautiful home. We will first be up there for two weeks at which point we will return to Chiang Rai for a kids camp. We are likely to be traveling between Chiang Rai and Mae Salong frequently, but we willbe doing most of our language learning, therefore spending much of our first year, in Mae Salong. You can read more of our updates on our online journal journey notes.

Tags:

A Look at the Graduation

2005-03-13T11:59:00.000+07:00

We wanted to let you all in on a few moments of the graduation on March 12th. It was a great celebration of twelve young men and women who are moving into their internships. Please remember them in your prayers as they have a large task ahead.

The children sang worship songs in Akha waving banners brought by the Pearson's from Colorado. Akha leaders came down from their villages to show their support and to celebrate the first graduation, and American pastors and support team pray for the graduates.

Tags:

pictures
AOF