Afang is an outspoken, feisty and gracefully poised 22 year-old woman from Dong Matun Village in the Mae Jun Province of Northern Thailand. While many Akha villagers, especially women, tend to be quiet, soft-spoken and very shy people around foreigners, Afang is just the opposite. She asks direct questions, she shares herself and she is proud of her Akha heritage.

We lived together for a month as I visited the Mirror Art Foundation to learn and volunteer. We laughed until tears as we struggled to communicate through gesticulations and broken translations from our other roommates. Afang speaks virtually no English and I speak no Thai. We have taught each other some language but more than anything, Afang has taught me about her culture, she has shared her life with me, generously. She volunteered information about herself, her family and her village to me. Though I would like to believe she shared this information with me because she wanted me personally to know it, I believe Afang is more deliberate than that. She knew that I was assembling the English language Thai Citizenship Project website and she wanted a thorough and accurate representation of the issue.

Afang is articulate and though I don't understand Thai, I can see that she chooses her words carefully and answers my questions very thoughtfully. When I first asked her if I could formally interview her for this website she eagerly agreed. And when several days passed without me being able to do so (lack of a translator) she pursued me wanting to know when we were going to do the interview. She is eager to speak and share her story.

I ask Afang for her full name and she waves her hand with disgust and begins to speak very rapidly. Afang's name is Mie Bonya but according to her government issued ID card she is Mie Chermu. She explains that when she went to register for an ID card at the district office the officer could not spell Bonya in Thai. Chermu is a common Akha surname and the government official put this on her ID card instead of trying to spell Bonya. In his eyes, like many local government officials, all Akha people are the same.

Afang grew up with her father and her mother in Dong Matun Village near Thailand's border with Myanmar. While it is not uncommon for Akha men to have multiple wives, her father has only her mother as a wife. Her mother had six children, three of which are still alive. One died as a baby; two died as young children of an unknown disease. Access to health care for hilltribe people is extremely difficult, for non-citizens it is non-existent. Afang is the eldest of three now.

She lives at the Mirror Art Group so that she can work on the Thai Citizenship Project but eagerly travels home every weekend to spend time in her village with her family. Though she has not been at the organization very long she is certainly not new to the issues that the organization addresses. She was recruited to work on the Thai Citizenship Project after its director was impressed with Afang's work at community forums and meetings where she advocates for her people and her village.

Afang has not been formally schooled which I was surprised to learn after living with her for nearly a month. She speaks the Thai language fluently, in fact our Thai housemate says that if Afang had not told her she was Akha she would not be able to tell by her speech alone. She has mastered the language and has taught herself to read and write, all since the age of 14 when she left her village to work in the city. This knowledge of Thai is what has enabled her to speak on her village's behalf, communicating their needs and their demands for the many that can only speak Akha.

When I ask her why she is so dedicated to the cause of Thai citizenship she looks at me as if she doesn't understand, as if it's a non-question. She starts by saying that she is not a citizen but she quickly goes on to say her involvement in this work goes far beyond her own personal status. This is an issue that faces thousands of ethnic minorities in Thailand and she says that if she is to fight for her own citizenship she must fight for the citizenship of all her Akha people as well as for all hilltribe people who inhabit this country without the benefits of citizen-status.

Afang's grandparents converted to Christianity many years ago because they felt it helped them to lead a more humanitarian life. Her grandparents strongly disagreed with the Akha practice of killing twins when they are born and banishing the mother from the village for a year. Afang gets very agitated as she describes this part of her heritage with which she too strongly disagrees. I ask Afang about missionaries and how Christianity has affected her culture and traditions. She does not believe that her Christianity conflicts with her ability to be Akha and preserve her culture. She says that many missionaries who come to hilltribe villages manipulate and lie to them. She places her trust and confidence only in those who she sees and feels live their lives according to the word of the Bible, those who she does not trust she disregards. She goes on to explain that her Christianity has taught her to care about the world and people around her. As a young teenager she was apathetic to issues in her village and community but through her faith she has developed a strong sense of social justice and desire to work towards change.

When I ask Afang why she has such pride in Akha people and Akha culture when so many of her young contemporaries are ashamed and embarrassed of it she nods and smiles knowingly. She returns my question with a question. How can she not be proud? This embarrassment and shame is learned. It is taught to them by a society that leaves them in the shadows and denies them the rights and dignity afforded others in the country. She says this is her culture and she is proud. Her food is delicious. Her traditions can be traced back for generations. This is her way and she will protect it.