What of the 30,000 Akha of Laos?
An Akha evangelist explained,
“I’ve been thrown out of this village 3 times now for trying to
share my faith and nearly killed by the neighboring village. But
today these Akha villagers invited me back saying they wanted to
follow Jesus.”
I watched as he shared the gospel
and then we went round 7 families leading each of them in a
prayer of repentance and faith. We prayed for their protection
and then took down all things associated with spirit worship. It
was wonderful to watch a 78-year-old woman cut off the strings
around her wrists and ankles to protect her from spirits. And
then to see a woman in the last stages of dying from AIDS trust
in the Lord.
There are about 1.8 million Akha,
of which 40,000 are in Thailand. The Gospel first came to Akha
in Thailand in the 1950s and there has been a huge response. The
village I visited was 1 of only 9 that now have no Christians.
There are 3 Akha Bible schools, one of which does everything in
the Akha language. The Christian villages even look different –
they seemed so much cleaner than the Akha villages in Laos. Some
even had cobbled streets, flowers and hedges around the houses.
There are about 7000 Akha Christians in Burma, but few in China
or Vietnam and no confirmed reports of Akha Christians in Laos.
The Akha are some of the most
spiritually oppressed groups in the region and are socially
looked down on by the Thai, Lao and many other tribal groups.
Their main religion is animism combined with ancestor worship.
The Akha have the highest incidence of AIDS of all the tribal
groups in Thailand because of their very immoral lifestyles and
high rates of prostitution. In Laos the average death rate is in
the mid-40s because the Akha live in such geographically
isolated areas with little access to health care. Furthermore,
making sacrifices to spirits keeps them very poor and encourages
unhealthy lifestyles (e.g. infrequent washing). So it’s not
surprising that they’ve been so responsive to the Gospel in
Thailand.
The trip confirmed my suspicions
that up to now the 30,000(?) Akha in Laos have been basically
off the map in that Christians have not been specifically
targeting them. Initially Thai Akha Bible students didn’t even
believe my descriptions of Akha in Laos. Akha radio broadcasts
are still using taped programs made years ago because there is
no programmer and unless one is found soon, the Akha slot will
be given to another people group. There’s been no detailed
survey in Laos of how many Akha there really are, where they
live, or precisely which sub-groups they are. So it’s difficult
to know whether all Akha in Laos can communicate with the Akha
in neighboring countries. This has implications for whether Akha
Christian materials produced in Thailand would be of much use in
Laos.
However, as the evangelist said
quoting 2 Cor. 6:2, “This seems to be the day of the Lord’s
salvation for the Lao Akha.” In the weeks before we went to the
village together, others had talked to him about the Lao Akha,
he’d started praying about the situation and is asking whether
his family should move to Laos.
Pray for
Workers! As well as the evangelist, another Thai Akha man who recently prayed through Akha areas in Laos senses that God is calling him to long-term ministry in Laos.
The production & distribution of Christian materials & radio appropriate for use amongst the mainly illiterate Akha of Laos.
God’s blessing over a Khmu house church in reaching out cross-culturally to the Akha.
