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Arrived: Apr 2001
Blindness Elephant from along Myanmar Border
Jokia is a female elephant who born at a Karen village along the Burmese border. During her younger days the Karen family used her to work in the logging trade in order to make money to support their family. During this time she was with them she was treated like a member of their family. In 1989, the government announced a ban on logging. Jokia, and all the other timer elephants, suddenly found themselves unemployed.
A year passed and Jokia's owners had no choice but to sell her. At the time she was two months pregnant but later lost her baby in an accident.Jokia went on to a number of different places to work that ended up with her blinded in both eyes.
Lek met Jokia during a 'jumbo express' visit. Tears fell from Jokia's eyes as she walked towards her. Lek left that day with a great pain in her heart, and she couldn't stop thinking about Jokia. She returned several times offering to buy her, but the price was always set at far too high a price. Lek could not afford to buy her but was still determined to free her. Lek prayed and prayed for an angel to come and save Jokia, and a few months later, her prayers were answered. Amanda de Normanville and her friends in America helped to bring Jokia a new life.
At Elephant Nature Park, Jokia was clearly delighted when she found that she there is a big river to bathe in everyday. The first time she went in for a swim she seemed to know that something good had happened to change her life. To this day Jokia lives a free life in the Elephant Nature Park. She has a mahout who watches over her and assists with anything she needs help with. She loves the large homeland free of chains, hooks and arduous menial work.Her friend Mae Perm acts as her eyes as she leads Jokia around the park and forests. It is a wonderful sight for those of us lucky to witness it and Jokia's beautiful demeanour is a lesson to us all in dealing with the hard lessons of life.
Jokia now has hope. Though she will always be living in a dark world her new friend helps guide her through her jungle home
