1500 Kilometers Later

For all of you Yanks (which is about 95% of our readers), that's over 900 miles that we put on our truck in this last week. We want to thank you all for your prayers, as we were able to have the energy needed to not only make all the trips, but to interact and connect while in Chiang Mai, Mae Chan and Mae Salong.

Unfortunately, because we were so overbooked last week, we were not able to enjoy any one event in its entirety, and we did not attend the missionary retreat in Chiang Mai at all.

In the abbreviated times we had, however, we were able to connect with a number of people whose relationships we value. We saw most of the Thailand Foursquare missionaries at the Foursquare National Convention in Chiang Mai. We were also able to connect with an Akha / Foursquare pastor while at the convention who we hope to work with more in the future.

The staff retreat for AOF in Mae Chan was a great time, and we were reminded again how we are surrounded by a superstar group of young Akha leaders. It is truly a privilege to work at Akha Outreach Foundation.

Finally, the New Rice Festival in Mae Salong was wonderful, as always. Pastor Ajoe and his wife Miba and sons Mose and Chalom were up from Bangkok and we had a good time with them. Remember those names, as we have some exciting visions for the future with he and his family - we'll be sharing those with you at Christmas!

We have a few days in the city before we are on the road again, this time working on some videos for AOF, helping out with a sponsor team that is visiting from Colorado, another trip to Chiang Mai to get Misa back into the handicapped school and welcoming Johnny Burroughs (who now goes by "John", but old habits... ) who will be spending the rest of November with us.

We'll try to keep in touch as best as we can during that time, keep your eye on our site!

Tags:

• ministry
• travel

Super Scary Scolopendra

As usual, while in the village we had to use the Akha Ambulance to take two women down to the hospital in Mae Chan.

One of the women has been having stomach discomfort for some time, and since the antacids she has been taking have not helped, she needed a more qualified opinion. She is now on a stronger antacid and will return again later this month for further evaluation.

The second woman, however, had a much scarier experience.

Early in the morning, while walking into the jungle to collect her firewood for the day, this woman stepped on something that stung her foot. As her foot began to swell, the men from the village came to explain to me what had happened and that she needed medical help. They kept telling me the name of the animal that stung her, but I was unfamiliar with the word in Akha.

Then they all remembered that one of the Akha boys, Asalo, had captured one of these animals that morning and had put it in a bottle. They ran off to his house and came back with the meanest looking bug I have ever seen. An 8"-long centipede with a body as thick as a quarter, bright red hind legs and inch-long stingers.

This is footage of the Scolopendra centipede of Thailand that I found on YouTube.
Notice the coloring in the legs and those nasty stingers.
These things are monsters!

Armed now with the general knowledge of what we were dealing with, we rushed her down to the Emergency Room in Mae Chan. After some translation help from an Akha friend we were able to communicate to the Thai nurses what had bit her so they could administer the appropriate treatment.

Since then, we have learned more about the Scolopendra: Giant Centipede of Thailand:
Though their stings are poisonous, they are not deadly if there is no allergic reaction.
The sting is terribly painful because of the depth of the puncture and the amount of poison. A painkiller, such as Paracetamol, should be administered quickly.
There is no specific antidote for the poison, but an antihistamine should be administered as quickly as possible to keep the reaction and swelling down and the person who has been stung should go to the hospital for further treatment.

The woman is now home recovering, as it is several days to weeks before the swelling and pain are completely gone, and we now have one more little bit of knowledge in our arsenal as we try to care for the physical well-being of our Akha friends.

Tags:

• Akha
• village
• animals
• medical