Congratulations, Susan Allsbrook! Susan won the Free Trip for 2 in Thailand from Intrepid Travel.

The Trip: Northern Thailand is among the greatest adventure destinations on the planet and this journey reveals why: hiking among hill tribes, sailing its rivers, and calling into friendly and colorful villages along the way. This 15-day journey will take her from the chaotic streets of Bangkok to the serene countryside and offer a glimpse into this fascinating country. Plus, during her adventure, Susan will visit the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Hospital and meet Motala and Mosha, two of the elephants featured in “The Eyes of Thailand” documentary.

As promised, ALL DONORS WHO SELECTED THIS PERK WILL GET TO CHOOSE BETWEEN AN “EYES OF THAILAND” POSTER, T-SHIRT OR WATER BOTTLE. You will receive an email within the week to select your preference.
(more…)

“The Eyes of Thailand” has contracted Animator Tahnee Gehm to help bring certain stories within the film to life. Examples include Motala’s and Mosha’s trips to FAE’s Elephant Hospital after being injured and Soraida’s inspiration to found FAE, among others.

Tahnee is currently a student at the California Institute of the Arts, studying Character Animation. Creating a handful of internationally-screened animated short films in as many diverse styles as possible, she hopes to one day start her own animation studio. While art and animation have been life-long passions, she also enjoys playing violin and piano, along with tinkering with technology.

We’re thrilled to have Tahnee on board and look forward to unveiling a sneak peek to some animation stills soon. Stay tuned!

Motala and Mosha each received newly designed elephant-sized prostheses on November 9, 2011. (Photo credit: Soraida Salwala).

LAMPANG, THAILAND–On November 9, 2011, Mosha celebrated her sixth birthday at the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Hospital, and to mark the occasion, the staff of the Prostheses Foundation presented Mosha with her seventh prosthesis.

Dr. Therdchai Jivacite of the Prostheses Foundation presents Mosha's seventh prosthesis to Soraida Salwala, FAE's founder. (Photo credit: Soraida Salwala).

Mosha enjoyed her Birthday treats of tamarind, sticky rice, and bananas before test-driving her new leg in her pen.

Mosha test-drives her new prosthesis. (Photo credit: Soraida Salwala).

“Auntie” Motala, joined the festivities, too, when Dr. Jivacite presented her with her fourth prostheses. She walked over to Mosha’s pen to wish her a Happy Birthday.

Motala, wearing her fourth prosthesis, visits Mosha, a.k.a. the "Birthday Girl". (Photo credit: Soraida Salwala).

Mosha and Motala are both elephant landmine survivors and permanent residents of FAE’s Elephant Hospital. Mosha stepped on a landmine in 2006 when she was only 7-months old. In 2008, she received the world’s first elephant prosthetic, designed by Dr. Jivacite. A decade earlier, Motala stepped on a landmine; she received her first prosthesis in 2009. All of their prostheses have been designed by Dr. Jivacite and donated to FAE by the Prostheses Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Mosha’s and Motala’s journey is featured in the upcoming documentary, “The Eyes of Thailand“, directed and produced by Windy Borman and produced by Tim VandeSteeg. For more information on the film, visit: http://eyesofthailand.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

While most of the United States was busy marking the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, half a world away, an endangered Asian Elephant suffered a brutal reminder of the ongoing war raging in Burma (Myanmar).

San Francisco, CA – September 13, 2011 – On Sunday, September 11, 2011, the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Hospital, the World’s First Elephant Hospital, located in Lampang, Thailand, received word that PaHaePo, a Thai male elephant, stepped on a landmine across the border in Burma.

After being stranded by high tides and stuck behind fallen trees from heavy rains, PaHaePo arrived at FAE late at night on September 12, 2011. He joins four other elephant landmine victims being treated at FAE’s Elephant Hospital. All five sustained their injuries in August or September, when heavy rainfall encourages low-lying greenery to take over mountainous trails used for logging and transport between villages–and rebel camps. Burma is the only country actively using landmines in its on-going civil war and no one knows whether government or rebel forces planted the landmines.

Soraida Salwala estimates that over 90 elephants have stepped on landmines since she opened FAE in 1993. Many died before they could receive treatment, and FAE has treated 15, rehabilitating four to date. Motala and Mosha, who stepped on landmines in 1999 and 2006, respectively, are permanent residents at FAE and walk with the assistance of the world’s first elephant-sized prostheses. These amazing feats of perseverance and ingenuity are documented in the feature-length documentary, “The Eyes of Thailand” <http://eyesofthailand.com>, Directed and Produced by Windy Borman and Produced by award-winning producer Tim VandeSteeg. “The Eyes of Thailand” is currently in the Post-production phase and scheduled to premiere in early 2012.

While filming “The Eyes of Thailand” in 2010, two new elephant landmine victims arrived at FAE. After 12 months, Boonmee’s foot is still not fully healed, but Maekapae’s has healed enough that her owner checked her out of the hospital the day after PaHaePo arrived.

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/eyesofthailand

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eyesofthailand

Website: http://www.eyesofthailand.com

Photos: http://twitter.com/SoraidaSalwala

Contact: Windy Borman | windy@dvaproductions.com

Director & Producer, “The Eyes of Thailand”

Today (April 4, 2011) is International Landmine Awareness Day and I wish I could report good news, such as 10 of the remaining 39 countries signed and ratified the Mine Ban Treaty.  But instead I get to report that while humans held Mine Awareness events across the globe, two new elephants in Sri Lanka have stepped on landmines. Experts estimate that up to 10 wild Asian Elephants have been injured by landmines since the government moved its conservation area to a former war zone. This was precisely our fear when we heard of the relocation in January 2011 and sadly it’s come true.If you’d like to watch a news clip of the elephants, you can view it here.

According to the wildlife officer in charge of the zone, the two elephants (aged 25-30 years old) probably sustained the landmine injuries a week ago. Veterinarian Dr. Chandana Jayasinghe treated them yesterday and treatment continues today. Soraida Salwala, the founder of FAE’s Elephant Hospital and featured in The Eyes of Thailand documentary, said via Twitter that she would reach out to wildlife NGOs in Sri Lanka. Hopefully they will be open to input from Soraida and Dr. Therdchai Jivacite, Assoc. Professor of Thailand’s Prostheses Foundation, who designed the prostheses for elephant landmine survivors Mosha and Motala.

We’ll post updates on Facebook and Twitter, so please join the conversations there.

Sincerely,

Windy Borman

Director/Producer, The Eyes of Thailand

Happy Elephant Day, elephant fans! In honor of everything we love about elephants, we’ve released the new trailer for “The Eyes of Thailand“.

Thanks to a gracious donation by Remedy Editorial in San Francisco, CA, we have a dramatic, thrilling new trailer featuring footage from the 2010 documentary production trip to Thailand and Laos, including interviews with Soraida Salwala (FAE), Dr. Therchai Jivacite (Prostheses Foundation), Richard Lair (TECC), Galen Garwood, Paul Hannon (Mines Action Canada) and Reth Tun (ICBL).

Special thanks to: Jeffrey Boyette and Scott Compton (Remedy Editorial), Ayumi Ashley (Color Correction), Marc Pittman (Sound Mix), and Amie Penwell (Music).

Next steps:
“The Eyes of Thailand” is currently in post-production and on March 14, 2011, Director/Producer Windy Borman heads to Los Angeles, CA to supervise the edit of the feature-length film. We hope to have a complete film ready for film festival submissions in September. You can help us by:

1. Inviting your friends to “Like” the Facebook page.
2. Following us on Twitter.
3. Making a tax-deductible donation to the film, via our fiscal sponsor (the San Francisco Film Society), by clicking the Donate link on our website.
4. Contacting Director/Producer Windy Borman if you have leads to foundations, corporate sponsors or wish to inquire about investment details.

Thank you for joining our quest to save Asian Elephants and educate the world about the on-going threat of landmines. Enjoy the trailer!

-Windy Borman
Director/Producer, “The Eyes of Thailand”

More info about the film:
D.V.A. Productions, in Association with Indiewood Pictures, is proud to present the powerful and hard-hitting feature documentary “The Eyes of Thailand”.

“The Eyes of Thailand” is the inspirational story of one woman’s quest to help two elephant landmine survivors–Motala and Baby Mosha–walk on their own four legs. Treating their wounds was only part of the journey; building elephant-sized prostheses was another. Directed and Produced by Windy Borman. Produced by Tim VandeSteeg.

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/eyesofthailand
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eyesofthailand
Website: http://www.eyesofthailand.com/

Mark your calendars! On Sunday, March 13, 2011, we will release the newly edited trailer for “The Eyes of Thailand” elephant documentary.

We gave our 1,200+ Facebook Fans an opportunity to attend an Online Sneak Peek of the newly edited film trailer on February 28, 2010. This weekend we will unveil a dramatic, thrilling, new trailer that features footage from the 2010 documentary production trip to Thailand and Laos, including interviews with Soraida Salwala (FAE), Dr. Therchai Jivacite (Prostheses Foundation), Richard Lair (TECC), Galen Garwood, Paul Hannon (Mines Action Canada) and Reth Tun (ICBL).

Be sure to check back in three days!

-Windy Borman

Director/Producer, “The Eyes of Thailand”

Yesterday, we gave our 1,200+ Facebook Fans an opportunity to attend an Online Sneak Peek of the newly edited film trailer for “The Eyes of Thailand“. Thanks to Remedy Editorial in San Francisco, CA, we unveiled a dramatic, thrilling new trailer that featured footage from the 2010 documentary production trip to Thailand and Laos. It featured Soraida Salwala (FAE), Dr. Therchai Jivacite (Prostheses Foundation), Richard Lair (TECC), Galen Garwood, Paul Hannon (Mines Action Canada) and Reth Tun (ICBL).

Special thanks to: Jeffrey Boyette and Scott Compton (Remedy Editorial), Ayumi Ashley (Color Correction), Marc Pittman (Sound Mix), and Amie Penwell (Music).

Next steps:
“The Eyes of Thailand” is currently in post-production and we hope to have a complete film ready for film festival submissions in September. You can help us by:

1. Inviting your friends to “Like” the Facebook page.
2. Following us on Twitter.
3. Making a tax-deductible donation to the film, via our fiscal sponsor (the San Francisco Film Society), by clicking the Donate link on our website.
4. Contacting Director/Producer Windy Borman if you have leads to foundations, corporate sponsors or wish to inquire about investment details.

If you missed the Sneak Peek, have no fear. The trailer goes live across the internet on March 13th for Thailand’s National Elephant Day.

Thanks for joining us and stay tuned for more exclusive updates!

-Windy Borman
Director/Producer, “The Eyes of Thailand”

More info:
D.V.A. Productions, in Association with Indiewood Pictures, is proud to present the powerful and hard-hitting feature documentary “The Eyes of Thailand”.

“The Eyes of Thailand” is the inspirational story of one woman’s quest to help two elephant landmine survivors–Motala and Baby Mosha–walk on their own four legs. Treating their wounds was only part of the journey; building elephant-sized prostheses was another. Directed and Produced by Windy Borman. Produced by Tim VandeSteeg.

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/eyesofthailand
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eyesofthailand
Website: http://www.eyesofthailand.com/

The red dots indicate the location where the U.S. dropped cluster bombs in Laos during its 8-year war with Vietnam.

According to The Irrawaddy, during the U.S.-Vietnam War, the conflict spilled over into Laos, which led to U.S. warplanes dropping more than two million tons of bombs (or 270 million explosives) over Laos. This, according to UN data, is more than all the explosives dropped in Europe during World War II.

These air strikes, which saw U.S. planes launch nearly half a million bombing missions from 1964 to 1973, targeted the destruction of the North Vietnamese troops’ supply route called the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which also passed through eastern Laos. Most of these explosives were cluster munitions, better known in Laos as “bombies”. After being dropped from larger bombs that contained 300 to 600 cluster bombs, these bombies fanned out across a wide area on undulating terrain (see map above). Close to 30 percent of these bombies failed to detonate and “approximately 80 million bombies remained in Laos after the war,” according to the National Regulatory Authority for Unexploded Ordnance/ Mine Action in Laos.

Consequently, four decades later, U.S.-made cluster munitions continue to exact a heavy price on civilians in Laos.  Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents between 1968 and 2008, states the UXO regulatory body.

Today I visited COPE, which stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise. COPE is the only provider of prosthetic, orthotic and rehabilitation services in Laos and provides prosthetics and mobility devices for those people who require them, free of charge if they cannot afford to pay for them.

I highly recommend visiting COPE’s Visitor Center when you are in Laos to get a sense of the personal stories behind the above statistics. My favorite elements were the hanging displays of “bombies” and home-made prosthetic limbs survivors have made prior to being fitted with a COPE prosthesis. I also learned that a growing child may a new prosthesis every 4-6 months, whereas an adult may need a new one every 1-2 years. This made me feel better about Mosha’s and Motala’s prostheses. These two elephant landmine survivors at FAE’s Elephant Hospital have received multiple prostheses from the Prostheses Foundation in Thailand since 2008 and 2009, respectively.

I’m glad to hear there are multiple NGOs (Non-government Organizations) assisting survivors of landmine and cluster munitions, but I can’t shake the fact that if all countries signed the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which require them to destroy their stockpiles and remove all mines and UXO from their lands, we wouldn’t need to treat new victims every year.

To find out if your country has signed the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, click here.

Sincerely,

Windy Borman

Director/Producer, The Eyes of Thailand

Soraida encourages Motala, a 49-year old elephant landmine survivor, to put her weight on her prosthesis at FAE's Elephant Hospital.

Today the Prostheses Foundation returned with the new “tester” prosthesis for Motala.  Initially it looked like the shank of the limb was too short because Motala was swinging her leg without putting any weight on it. After Soraida Salwala (FAE’s Founder) spoke to her, she began to relax her elbow and put some weight on the prosthesis.  The leg was then long enough to reach the ground, so it appears she was avoiding it because it was uncomfortable.

As Dr. Preecha said, “If she was a person we could ask, ‘How does that feel?’ But she’s not, so we have to watch her behavior. If she was in pain, she wouldn’t move at all; but this shows us that the prosthesis is just uncomfortable”. Soraida believes that the leg could still be inflamed and the “tester” is too tight. So, the prosthesis is on its way back to Chiang Mai for more adjustments…

Dr. Kay cleans Boonmee's wound at FAE. Boonmee stepped on a landmine on September 11, 2010.

In other news, yesterday we saw a huge improvement in Boonmee.  While her wound looked better, by the end of the day her trunk was too weak to pick up her bananas to feed herself. Soraida tearfully explained that she has seen this before and is very worried that Boonmee may simply give up and decide to pass away.  Dr. Preecha explained that last month Mae Ka Pae’s leg looked as bad as Boonmee’s does now, so if she can stay alive, he’s optimistic her leg will heal, too. As we left for the evening, Soraida said, “I’m hoping for a miracle”.

I drove back to Chiang Mai with mixed emotions. On the one hand, Boonmee can decide whether she wants to fight and continue to live, or she can decide it’s too much and pass on. As humans, we like to think we have control over everything—the environment, other beings, our lives—but that argument is thrown out for me in light of these elephant landmine tragedies. They didn’t decide to step on a landmine. Boonmee, Motala, Mosha and Mae Ka Pae were in the forests because of human greed and the landmines were in the ground because of human fear and ego. They didn’t ask to be mutilated, we [humans] did this. So perhaps the most humane choice we can give them is whether they want to stay and fight or, as the Buddhist believe, leave and come back with a different life circumstance.

It will be interesting to see what Boonmee decides tonight…

-Windy Borman

Director/Producer, The Eyes of Thailand

A tear drips down Boonmee's cheek.