Shirley Francona for Kennebec7 (#9) What are Little Girls Made of?

Shirley Francona for Kennebec7 (#9)

What are Little Girls Made of?

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice,

And all that's nice;

That's what little girls are made of.

                                                             Old English Nursery Rhyme

Artist: Paolo Sergio

Sangduen (“Lek”) Chailert is my friend. I am so proud to call her that. We have quite a few mutual friends, among whom are the many elephants I’ve been telling you about in these blogs. First, there are Mimi and Bop, mother and son pachyderms that I rescued, aided by Lek’s courageous spirit and her undaunted belief in equity for elephants.

          There is Jokia, the blind, tormented elephant whom Lek rescued from illegal loggers in 1999. If you’ve been following this blog the past week, you know that Jokia has finally found happiness in this sanctuary of Lek’s called the Elephant Nature Park.

          Hope is another elephant we all love. “The audacity of Hope” (to borrow from the book title of another famous leader), I like to say about this young orphaned elephant who thinks he is King of the Park,. Hope was rescued by my friend Jodi Thomas and Leonor Gonzo in 2002 when he was just one-and-a-half years old. These days as he approaches the age of ten, he enjoys hanging out with his ‘aunties,’ Mae Perm, Jokia and Somboon.

          A born mischief-maker, Hope is always guaranteed to make you smile. I actually saw him attack a tractor working in his field in a bit of a turf war. Fat, sassy and cartoon-cute, Hope is at least the clown prince of the Park.

          How does a little girl born in the northern hills of Thailand, a member of the remote Khamu hill tribe, become a Lek Chailert, winner of many international and Thai awards and honors?

          The child’s story begins with a special relationship with her grandfather.

          Kennebec Entertainment, who sponsors my blogs and who hopes to make a movie about my adventures with Mimi and Bop and Lek (named ‘Mintra’ in the screenplay), is currently writing a series of children’s books to answer the question of Lek’s beginnings. The series is called Mubu, the little Animal Doctor.

        Lek was born in 1961 in a remote mountain village populated by Khamu hill tribe people. She has six brothers and sisters. Her grandfather, Noom, was the shaman of the tribe. He soon recognized something unique in his tiny granddaughter. When he went into the forest to search for and collect healing herbs, he carried three-year-old Lek on his back.

          Noom introduced Lek to nature. He showed the child the leaves of the trees. For one year, when Lek traveled with her grandfather in the forest she collected one leaf from every different tree. He helped her save them in the pages of a large book. (Book of Leaves: Mubu; Book One). Grandfather Noom wrote the names of the trees on the pages of Lek’s first book.

          He showed her the nuts and fruit that grew on the trees and bushes. He taught Lek which ones were safe to eat and which were not. The little girl watched as ants of different colors and sizes climbed up and down the trees in a businesslike manner.

          Noom told Lek about Ghost Creek (The Ghosts & the Tiger: Mubu; Book Two), a place where other villagers were discouraged to visit. At Ghost Creek a special mystery unfolded for the little girl when she was five.

          Lek became a skillful tree climber. Her grandfather gave her a special secret name, befitting her acrobatics in the trees. He called her ‘Mubu,’ which means ‘little monkey.”

          One day when Mubu was six, Noom emerged from the forest carrying a very young gibbon who had badly injured his hand in a trap. He built a special bamboo house where the gibbon could gradually try to heal. “You can take care of him,” Noom instructed Mubu. “You are my little animal doctor.” Indeed, Mubu dedicated herself to the gibbon’s recovery and named him Mu-Mu. A couple months later, Mubu returned the healthy gibbon to his family in the forest. (Mubu & Mu-Mu; the little animal doctor. Mubu; Book Three).

          The next year Noom brought his granddaughter a snowy owl baby with a damaged wing. Lek nursed him back to health, naming him Hoot. They slept together; then Hoot built his own nest in her bedroom; and watched TV with the family once that device became available in their village. Eventually, Hoot was able to fly away, returning to nature, but occasionally coming back to Mubu to sing outside her window. (Mubu & Hoot: Mubu; Book Four)

          Lek also developed a fondness for farm animals. She had her special friends, Chaba the chicken, Santi the cow and Saba the pig. When she learned that grownups killed these animals for food, Lek became a vegetarian for life. She would not eat “my friends.” (Mubu; Book Five)

          Then a life-changing event occurred for Lek. Grandfather Noom helped save a man’s life with his special knowledge of healing. In payment to Noom, the man gave him an elephant. Lek named her Goldie.

          As Lek has since related to many audiences, “I found this creature to be truly amazing. She was kind and gentle. We became friends at our very first meeting. I loved my new elephant so much and rode her everywhere I went in the forest.” The full story of Lek and her first elephant is told in the sixth Mubu book, Mubu and Goldie.

          Lek has said that her favorite trait among elephants is “the way they love and care for each other.” This is an attribute that Lek has instilled in herself, and leads in almost a straight line to her daring rescues of abused elephants and to the creation of the Elephant Nature Park where some 35 elephants currently find a harmonious and safe home.

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        So you don’t necessarily have to urge your daughters or your granddaughters to become doctors or lawyers or nurses, as necessary as those professions are. The ecosystem of our planet is in dire condition. Without elephants and the many less observed creatures and plants also in danger of extinction, ultimately there will be no us. We, too, can gradually dwindle and fade away once there is no ecosystem to support life.

          Like Grandfather Noom, why not teach your children to be healers of the earth. You have seen the example: One old man and one little girl existing, unseen and unknown by the masses, living in a small rural village without even electricity. Visit Elephant Nature Park. Meet Lek. Feed Jokia and Hope with your own hands. See for yourselves what that old shaman and his granddaughter have wrought.

There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

WASHINGTON IRVING, the Sketch Book

                                                   Lek’s Award’s

HERO OF PLANET from FORD FOUNDATION AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 
(Earth Pulse Project (2001)in Malaysia
The Humane Society The United States  Genesis awards   on 15 March 2003
Hero of Asia from Times Magazine  2005
Earth Day Award from SOS Singapore 2006

The Honorary Degree Doctor of Science (Animal Husbandry) from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University 2006

Outstanding Woman Award, Gender and Development Research Institute, Thailand 2008
Shining World  Compassion Award from Supreme Master International, August  2009

Readers Digest Asian of the Year 2010 (shared award)

Shirley Francona

Santa Fe, New Mexico

06/01/2010