Bucharest, Easter 2008
Over Easter I will be in Bucharest (that's in Romania in case some of you are not familiar with the name) to help out blind children and teach cane -and some kitchen- skills to volunteers (as no one does my job there).
A few months ago, whilst working at RNIB ("Royal National Institute of the Blind"), I was approached by a charity ('Light into Europe') to see if I could help them out in their wonderful venture. Their goal is to help rehabilitate deaf and blind children and young adults so that they can lead more fulfilling lives in the Eastern Block. They badly need skilled workers but with no school to train volunteers in the first place, and no manuals available in Romanian to even learn about the kind of job that I do, the task ahead is immense... but pretty exciting too. The local government will also need to be approached to discuss what can be done to improve accessibility, etc. I think they also want to introduce me to the British Ambassador to that purpose.
It will be more like work than a holiday but I hope I can raise above the challenges! Believe you me, it is one thing to teach mobility in England where you can stop traffic by pressing a push button and hear a ‘beep’ to tell you it’s safe to cross (there’s even tactile feedback when the ‘green man’ symbol comes on for people who are deafblind), it’s quite another to tackle road crossings in a country where there is almost no consideration for disabled people's needs... I will have to rely on my practical mind to use their other senses in a more effective way.
I've never been to Romania but I can't think of a greater way to discover their capital city than with a couple who have dedicated their lives to improving the future of vulnerable children. I have no doubt they will continue to be a wonderful inspiration.... I am personally moved by all their efforts.
The day before I was due to book my flight ticket BA dropped their prices, quite unexpectedly, by £50... I was astounded. I thought 'wow. What a great omen'. I want to believe that it was divine intervention ! :) May God keep on blessing them and increase their riches... :)
Over Easter I will be in Bucharest (that's in Romania in case some of you are not familiar with the name) to help out blind children and teach cane -and some kitchen- skills to volunteers (as no one does my job there).
A few months ago, whilst working at RNIB ("Royal National Institute of the Blind"), I was approached by a charity ('Light into Europe') to see if I could help them out in their wonderful venture. Their goal is to help rehabilitate deaf and blind children and young adults so that they can lead more fulfilling lives in the Eastern Block. They badly need skilled workers but with no school to train volunteers in the first place, and no manuals available in Romanian to even learn about the kind of job that I do, the task ahead is immense... but pretty exciting too. The local government will also need to be approached to discuss what can be done to improve accessibility, etc. I think they also want to introduce me to the British Ambassador to that purpose.
It will be more like work than a holiday but I hope I can raise above the challenges! Believe you me, it is one thing to teach mobility in England where you can stop traffic by pressing a push button and hear a ‘beep’ to tell you it’s safe to cross (there’s even tactile feedback when the ‘green man’ symbol comes on for people who are deafblind), it’s quite another to tackle road crossings in a country where there is almost no consideration for disabled people's needs... I will have to rely on my practical mind to use their other senses in a more effective way.
I've never been to Romania but I can't think of a greater way to discover their capital city than with a couple who have dedicated their lives to improving the future of vulnerable children. I have no doubt they will continue to be a wonderful inspiration.... I am personally moved by all their efforts.
The day before I was due to book my flight ticket BA dropped their prices, quite unexpectedly, by £50... I was astounded. I thought 'wow. What a great omen'. I want to believe that it was divine intervention ! :) May God keep on blessing them and increase their riches... :)
posted by Sylvie at 10:50 PM
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