The White Akha
Here is the famous white Akha! On a visit to an Akha hilltribe village we entered the home of a Christian woman, a very industrious mother. She had her daughter make a fire to heat some water for tea and we tried to talk as best we could through gestures and sometime through an interpreter.
After a while she looked at Julia, then jumped up excitedly and reached under her bundle of special stuff and produced an entire Akha costume. She sat julia down like a girl playing dress-up and began the hour long process of getting the many pieces of the head-dress and body costume to connect on her body. At the end she was so proud of how Julia looked and they took her outside to show her to the village. Everyone thought it was hilarious.
The children, of course, were drawn to her now that she was “just like them.” Our kids have had a special upbringing and have been blessed with many warm days like this one where we shared such community with those we hardly knew.
