Braille Without Borders : Tibet

Stuart Williams is 50 in 2015, and to mark the year he is taking on this incredible cycle challenge - and raising money for a new BWB project. BWB is one of LVCF's favourite charities and we have provided funds for them over the years, most recently for their toilet/bathroom facilities. Stuart has visited Tibet on a Redspokes tour in the past and wanted to do something special for BWB - they came up with a new project to create a bakery where blind adults will train to bake French bread. This is  part of BWB's philosophy to help the students become independent and self-sustainable - it is not possible to adapt the entire world to the students, therefore the students need to learn to adapt to the world.

In Stuart's own words...

Since 1998, BWB has provided hope, taught braille and given practical skills to blind people in very poor parts of the world. In a Tibetan town called Shigatse, there is a plan to open a training bakery that could be self-supporting through its sales. A shop has been gifted to the project, but it needs financial help to get off the ground. Tibet is not an expensive place, which means the relatively small amount of money needed to start the project will make a huge difference to BWB students’ life chances.  £2000 will get this much needed project started by enabling renovations to the shop and the purchase of an oven and mixing equipment. Anything that can be raised above this figure will help immensely with running costs and more equipment, which will support more student places.

I have travelled through Tibet several times and have seen first-hand what a challenging place it can be. Growing up there with blindness and securing a future must be doubly hard…  This is a great cause and will make a BIG difference!

Crossing the Atacama Desert in northern Chile will involve pedalling over 1100 miles with a total ascent of 18000 metres. To make it that little bit more ‘special’, I’m camping, riding solo and have no support! However, sleeping in the desert under stars twinkling in the darkest imaginable skies should make it worth it!

Every penny you donate will go straight to the bakery project. So, please help make this happen!

To donate to this appeal, please click on the 'donate now' button.

LVCF's last BWB appeal

LVCF's appeal for funds to improve BWB's toilet facilities has now closed - all the money was raised, and the toilets are now complete and working - a great improvement on the previous arrangements.

.....Recently BWB has asked us if we could provide funding for a project to improve its toilet facilities which have recently been failing -

Paul Kronenberg, co-founder of BWB  asked us - “Currently BWB have one project that is coming up and which needs some urgent attention. Our toilets in our project in Lhasa have not been working very well and as this is usually not talked much about, it is a very important part of any project!

We want to renovate the entire toilets so not only will the toilets function well, we want to use proper tiles all around so the toilets can be kept hygienically clean too. (This would include a new sewage system, 2 toilets, sanitation, partitions, electricity, new tiles on floor and walls, a new ceiling, new window and ventilation system.)

Only if the toilets are hygienic and working well, the health of all students and staff will be better off. Pls do let us know if this would be something that you would consider supporting.’’

We are pleased to respond positively to BWB’s request, and would be grateful for any contributions. Braille Without Borders was established by Sabriye Tenberken, blind herself, who travelled to Tibet in 1997 to investigate the possibility of providing training for Tibetan blind and visually impaired people. Sabriye realised there were no programmmes educating and rehabilitating blind people within the country.

She then took the initiative to found the present project. Along with her partner Paul Kronenberg they established a school for the blind and helped alter the traditional attitude towards blind people, who for centuries have been viewed as cursed and treated as lepers or worse…..see their website -

http://www.braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/index_bwb.html

Dear Red Spokes,

In the name of our students and staff we want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all the support you and your groups have given us over the past few years!

 

"We have used the donations for new shoes. These are needed about twice a year... (We do buy the best quality but unfortunately these don't make it too long in Tibet!) We appreciate your support very much and for us to be able to give more blind students a chance to receive education funds stay very necessary and are therefore very welcome"

 

All students, staff, Jyila. Sabriye and Paul 03/06/07 

"We will use the money for running costs. To give you an idea, last year we had 50 students, 11 people staff in the Lhasa projects: Braille book printing house, preparatory school, medical massage training and the self-integration project. The monthly running costs which include salaries for all staff members, food, school materials and all other operational costs were 2,369.80 Euro (£1,610). Hope this gives an idea what can be done with small sums of money. Please find attached a thank you note for the travellers"

 

Paul and Sabriye 30/10/06 

Per WHO statistics, 161 million persons live with a disabling visual impairment, of whom 37 million are blind and 124 million are persons with low vision. About 90% of them live in developing countries. 9 out of 10 blind children in these countries have no access to education. It is the lack of education and understanding of the sighted society that blind children don't have equal chances in comparison to their sighted peers. Only if blind people themselves speak out, can attitudes to blindness change.

More details about Braille Without Borders and their work can be found at www.braillewithoutborders.org.

If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile charity please contact Paul Kronenberg at [email protected]