Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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Rumored widely for many years witnesses have now stepped forward who claim that the American Baptist Missionary Paul Lewis sterilized more than 20,000 Akha Hill Tribe women in Burma's Eastern Shan State alone, running his operation on trust that he had built as a missionary and student of their culture.

This project was done secretly without the approval of the Burmese Government by requiring the women to come into Thailand for the procedure, using many people in the Baptist Church hierarchy to organize the movement of the trusting women, who now claim they had little education as to what the long term effect on their lives would be.

Government leaders in this region of Burma now know about the project and say that it was illegal in that it did not have Burmese government approval or proper documentation that the rights of the women were not being violated.

Although Burma is much maligned for human rights violations, activities of western organizations such as this appear to be disregarded by the same agencies which make the human rights reports.

In addition witnesses now verify the rumor that blood was simultaneously stolen from these women for resale.

Taken during the sterilization procedure blood was collected in amounts of 200 and 300 ml. Attending family members or friends of the women were witness to this as well. Women who received local anesthesia only saw for themselves that the blood was being taken. They did not know why the blood was being taken out of their arm at the same time as the rather unrelated surgery.

The women were only paid for the cost of the truck to come down to the clinic where they would be sterilized just south of the border in Thailand.

There was no follow up care and even to this day in this region of Burma medical care is very difficult to come by for the poor.

Of the more than 20,000 who witnesses say were sterilized in Burma alone, they say that more than 3,000 women died. Many developed a weakened condition, began loosing weight, the pain related to the surgery did not subside and in the end they died. These deaths ranged from a period of time ranging in two months after the surgery to three years.

In a past video interview Paul Lewis claimed that any pain related to the surgery was simply psychosomatic and that the sterilizations were the right thing to do and "should be done".

Now the children of many women have died and they are unable to have more children. Many women also experience weight gain problems that they can not control.

More research is needed into the number of women sterilized in the Paul Lewis project and the number of those who have since died. Witness accounts seem to confirm that the number who died is extremely high as might be associated with any other kind of surgery. This same scene was repeated in Thailand. There appeared to be a lot of money connected with this project.

Even now the witnesses are afraid to speak out against Paul Lewis publicly, stating that he is a very powerful man and that they fear people who continue to get money under the table from his Baptist related organizations will retaliate against them.

According to the Akha Traditional Culture system five people serve as the government in one village. This multi-person leadership system in villages was eliminated by many missionaries and replaced by single pastors who rule the villages with an iron fist, allowing no dissent or return to traditional ways.

These pastors also ensure that the women do not speak of the difficulties they have experienced and the pastors continue to receive money from western missions.

Paul Lewis, now safely in retirement in Claremont, California, could not be reached for comment.