The air around me is filled with a sweet clove-like smoke. It is a heavy air, thick with humidity and a slight drizzle of rain outside the cover of the thatched roof. I am surrounded by the sounds of Thai voices crooning softly to the strings of a guitar. Crickets and other unknown creatures sound their voices in the night air, while the roll of Thai krrup ' s and kaa ' s mix with throaty Akha words from the huts around where I sit. Children ' s voices rise above the others, along with their laughter.

Beside me, sitting quietly, content to smoke her elegant thin pipe, and elderly woman sits in full traditional Akha dress. ‘Udutamat' I say, and wai respectfully to her. She wai i's back with a toothless grin and a twinkle in her eyes. The wrinkles on her face hold stories I can't begin to imagine…

I spent 4 days in this akha village on a volunteer teacher programme. I experienced sleeping with a family in their small hut, above the pigs and chickens that are kept underneath the raised stilts of their home. I helped with cooking meals over an open fire on a clay floor, and shared in eating from communal dishes, as is common in most homes in Thailand. As a groups we were shown some of the day to day work that the Akha people must undertake to earn enough to feed themselves….hiking through dense jungle to dig fresh bamboo shoots- which are then eaten for dinner or sold at market. To learn how this community utilises the foods that the forest can provide, if you know where to look for it, is a lesson I will take with me… have you ever tasted a pineapple freshly picked from the jungle?

Despite the language barrier between English and Akha, it is important not to underestimate how much can be shared and learned through gestures, body language and laughter. As an English speaker, I went with no expectations of being able to ‘teach' anything, but more as a learning experience for myself, a cultural immersion of sorts. The trip was immesureably rewarding, and I came away from the trip feeling as though I had managed to be a part of life in this village for a few short days, and not as a complete outsider. The community was very welcoming, and happy to share elements of their culture with those of us so very unfamiliar with it. I left with a sense that this is a village that can be proud of its cultural identity, and that its people had welcomed us in to be a part of their lives for a few short days…