Romania project - Easter 2008
I'm a bit late in updating my blog - sorry- but every time I get back to London in between trips, I have no life left.
Bucharest itself was ok-ish, but not the kind of city where I'd particularly want to go back to as it's not visually pretty (by my standards). They do have a few Parisian styles type of architecture but it's only because some of their architects went to study in Paris, I understand. Outside that, the vast majority of the town is made of blocks that look like English council flats and that don't have any appeal to them whatsoever. I hardly took any photos.
The roads are very wide too, to allow for the tram lines, and the zebra crossing points are almost all washed out, so, unless you have local knowledge, it's hard to work out where you're supposed to cross.... and I guess that if you are a driver from out of town, it's hard to work out when you're supposed to stop (pedestrians have right of way then). For all of these reasons, I couldn't advise our blind students that they even attempt to cross the roads on their own. I was quite nervous myself, being fully sighted.
The language itself sounded quite nice, fairly soft and I was surprised to see that I could actually understand quite a lot of the written text - and some spoken words too. It seemed like a blend of Italian and German. Some words also sounded very French. I didn't realise that Romanian was also a latin-based language which explains a lot. They have the same alphabet but different accents on their letters - sometimes.
It is a fairly poor country though, wages are about 1/4 of what they are in Western Europe and so whereby 10 years ago there were 21 million Romanians, I understand that there are only 17 millions now. People are desperate to find a brighter future elsewhere.
Anyway, as you know I was there to pass some of my knowledge onto teachers who worked with visually impaired children and young adults. I was very honoured to find out that many had travelled several hours by train to get to Bucharest for the chance of hearing what I had to say.
We were blessed with great weather... a bit cold at night but quite pleasant by day, which was crucial for us as we had to do a fair amount of mobility. Romania was further South than I had expected, and Bucharest is only 40 mins away from the Black Sea and quite near Turkey (only Bulgaria stands in between), so I guess it explained a lot.
Some of the blind students that I met already had canes but had never been shown how to use them properly. There are 7 tips to holding a cane safely, from the position of the hand (body-centred), to the width of the arc when you swing from left to right (just beyond your shoulder, no more, no less), to the body posture, tension in the hand, where you place your index, and insuring your cane is on the ground at all times. Walking in steps is not always easy so I'm personally a bit more leniant on that - so long as they have a good rhythm it's all that matters. So, beside walking safely, I was keen to show them that they could also walk comfortably. Doing that is the 'mobility' part of things and is the main bulk when you have some residual vision.
When you don't, then you have to look at orientation too.... and using all your other senses to figure out where you are (sun, shade, draft, slopes, textures, drops, trees, sounds of traffics, smells of shops, etc). I had brought books on mobility that they will translate so that the teachers can look back on them eventually, but it was full of technical jargons that is specific to my job and that wouldn't have made any sense when looked up in a dictionary. Things like 'indenting' (at a road crossing - i.e. away from the busiest junction), 'squaring off' (placing your heels in front of a kerb before setting off to make it easier to walk in a staight line), 'popping up' (with a cane, when you find an obstacle), pendulum, 2 point touch, 3 point touch, etc. None of this can be easily explained in words, you need to see it demonstrated. So, I really wanted to work on all these concepts so that when they eventually get the books, they will be able to visualise in their heads what it meant.
We also spent some time indoors, demonstrating the importance of lighting and contrasts when writing or cooking, using simulation spectacles that show what different eye conditions look like - blurred vision, patchy vision, tunnel vision, peripheral vision, etc. Each eye condition has its own set of problem but even people who just have 'light perception' can still use this to orientate themselves. We had a session on how best to read and write (the "3 Bs rule" - bigger, bolder, brighter will solve 90% of problems), and how to make a cup of tea safely. Playing with contrasts, lighting (equally essential) and LLI (liquid level indicators, that beep when you are an inch away from the top as you pour water in your mug) all made a huge difference. It was good fun and educational and as a result, they managed to retain a lot of information in those 3 days and all enjoyed themselves. They seemed hungry for knowledge and when I did a little test at the end, they seemed to have remembered a lot. They were also very keen to work under blindfold to understand the concepts better - and the fears too.
Stan & Camelia were lovely hosts (I was staying in an annexe next to theirs). They have a super cat, Pepper, and a female labrador, Chloe, who will become the first guide dog there - if she can behave herself. So, I've met the dog who will make history I felt ! :) They are devoted Christian and 'what you see if what you get - they walk the walk and talk the talk'. Not many people do that these days and it's always refreshing to see the best side of human nature at work, when we are bombarbed by sad news on TV, caused by the worst side of human nature usually.
Stan, in particular, had some incredible stories to tell. He even told me one evening that he'd met an angel... and from he described, I totally believe it too. He is a pilot and has had a few engine problems with his plane in his days. One day he just about managed to land safely in a small airport but was unable to take off again. He tried to start the propellors at the front, manually, by leaning on them to make them spin, to no avail. He said he tried for over an hour until all his muscles ached, but was unable to move them by even half an inch. They seemed completely jammed. Just as he'd given up, a guy came from nowhere... from behind a shed maybe... and told him 'look, go back to your seat, do everything you need to do to be ready for take off and I'll spin the propellors for you'... Stan was a bit dubious but obeyed anyway. He did as he was told, then gave the guy the thumbs up to mean 'ready now'... and the mystery man just spinned the propellors with no effort whatsoever. Supernatural strength. As Stan took off, he looked back down to wave at him as a thank you but he had completely vanished (most angels do - I've read lots of stories on the theme). He thought this miracle had happened for his benefit but 10 minutes later, he picked up a distress signal from another aircraft and was able to relay their SOS to a local airport so that they could clear the landing strip for them. Stan told me he felt sure that the angel had stepped in for *them*, because if he hadn't been in the air to relay their messages, God knows what would have happened...
Another time, when working as an air-ambulance pilot, about 5 years ago he told me that he got to know a man who had a daughter with severe kidney problems. She was on dialysis most days and only had 6 months left to live. I guess the mother had died so she was all this man had left in the world. The father knew though that he was a compatible match, blood wise, to become a live donor, but in Romania, nobody wanted to take this on. Stan endeavoured to call around all hospitals he knew of in Europe and found one in Ireland that was willing to do the surgery. Better still, they were happy to do it for nothing so long as Stan could fly them over. He then called the father who was over-the-moon and the surgery was scheduled for the following week-end I seem to recall. However, a few hours after Stan had told this man the good news, the Irish hospital called back and said 'oops, sorry, we didn't realise that Romania isn't part of the EU [yet], so we cannot do this procedure free of charge. There is no reciprocal agreement with Romania. We can still do the surgery, but only if this man can find £25,000'. Shock and horror. As you can imagine, there was no way this poor man could afford such a huge amount, all the more so by Romanian standards. His daughter only had 5 months left, not 5 years (which was probably the minimum amount of time needed for him to save that much). Stan being as Christian as ever, told me he could not find it in him to call this man back and tell him that his daughter's life was worth £25,000 - which is what it boiled down to, in effect. Stan also felt he could not stand back and do nothing. He gathered his sons and they all agreed that if they sold their house and downscaled, they could probably find £25,000 in the profit margin. He told me that they all felt it was the only way forward and that they could not let this girl die so they would take it upon themselves to find the money. He went to bed that night probably serene, thinking he'd taken the (morally) right decision and was going to visit an estate agent on Monday to put their home on the market.
However, that night, he had a premonition (God often talks to people in their dreams, as the Bible often shows). A man that he had met 5 years earlier, an Irish journalist, came back to him his mind. When he woke up, he dug out his business card, called him and explained what had happened. The guy was very interested in the story and agreed to fly to Romania same day to meet the father & daugther, take photos, etc. He ran the story in the press on the Monday, and by the end of the week they'd managed to raise £25,500. The surgery was able to go ahead on schedule, was a massive success, and this girl is still in contact with Stan.... She actually wrote to him recently to say she'd just got married and had a baby. I cannot imagine how rewarding that must have felt... that through his sheer determination and compassion, he had saved, in effect, two lives... one on the way out, and one that wouldn't have been.
All of these stories really warmed up my heart and I felt I learnt more from them than they probably learnt from me. I had a lot of practical knowledge to share, but the spiritual knowledge is the most important. Renewing my faith in the power of prayers, etc. It was humbling.
They are both exquisite people and when you see them at work together, you really witness how love, faith and determination can move mountains. It renews your faith in the human spirit and in the best in all of us. They have done SO much for the most vulnerable people of Romania... I felt very priviledged to be a part of their venture - and to know them at all.
If you want to read up more on what they do, you can log onto their site at
http://www.lightintoeurope.org/
I'm a bit late in updating my blog - sorry- but every time I get back to London in between trips, I have no life left.
Bucharest itself was ok-ish, but not the kind of city where I'd particularly want to go back to as it's not visually pretty (by my standards). They do have a few Parisian styles type of architecture but it's only because some of their architects went to study in Paris, I understand. Outside that, the vast majority of the town is made of blocks that look like English council flats and that don't have any appeal to them whatsoever. I hardly took any photos.
The roads are very wide too, to allow for the tram lines, and the zebra crossing points are almost all washed out, so, unless you have local knowledge, it's hard to work out where you're supposed to cross.... and I guess that if you are a driver from out of town, it's hard to work out when you're supposed to stop (pedestrians have right of way then). For all of these reasons, I couldn't advise our blind students that they even attempt to cross the roads on their own. I was quite nervous myself, being fully sighted.
The language itself sounded quite nice, fairly soft and I was surprised to see that I could actually understand quite a lot of the written text - and some spoken words too. It seemed like a blend of Italian and German. Some words also sounded very French. I didn't realise that Romanian was also a latin-based language which explains a lot. They have the same alphabet but different accents on their letters - sometimes.
It is a fairly poor country though, wages are about 1/4 of what they are in Western Europe and so whereby 10 years ago there were 21 million Romanians, I understand that there are only 17 millions now. People are desperate to find a brighter future elsewhere.
Anyway, as you know I was there to pass some of my knowledge onto teachers who worked with visually impaired children and young adults. I was very honoured to find out that many had travelled several hours by train to get to Bucharest for the chance of hearing what I had to say.
We were blessed with great weather... a bit cold at night but quite pleasant by day, which was crucial for us as we had to do a fair amount of mobility. Romania was further South than I had expected, and Bucharest is only 40 mins away from the Black Sea and quite near Turkey (only Bulgaria stands in between), so I guess it explained a lot.
Some of the blind students that I met already had canes but had never been shown how to use them properly. There are 7 tips to holding a cane safely, from the position of the hand (body-centred), to the width of the arc when you swing from left to right (just beyond your shoulder, no more, no less), to the body posture, tension in the hand, where you place your index, and insuring your cane is on the ground at all times. Walking in steps is not always easy so I'm personally a bit more leniant on that - so long as they have a good rhythm it's all that matters. So, beside walking safely, I was keen to show them that they could also walk comfortably. Doing that is the 'mobility' part of things and is the main bulk when you have some residual vision.
When you don't, then you have to look at orientation too.... and using all your other senses to figure out where you are (sun, shade, draft, slopes, textures, drops, trees, sounds of traffics, smells of shops, etc). I had brought books on mobility that they will translate so that the teachers can look back on them eventually, but it was full of technical jargons that is specific to my job and that wouldn't have made any sense when looked up in a dictionary. Things like 'indenting' (at a road crossing - i.e. away from the busiest junction), 'squaring off' (placing your heels in front of a kerb before setting off to make it easier to walk in a staight line), 'popping up' (with a cane, when you find an obstacle), pendulum, 2 point touch, 3 point touch, etc. None of this can be easily explained in words, you need to see it demonstrated. So, I really wanted to work on all these concepts so that when they eventually get the books, they will be able to visualise in their heads what it meant.
We also spent some time indoors, demonstrating the importance of lighting and contrasts when writing or cooking, using simulation spectacles that show what different eye conditions look like - blurred vision, patchy vision, tunnel vision, peripheral vision, etc. Each eye condition has its own set of problem but even people who just have 'light perception' can still use this to orientate themselves. We had a session on how best to read and write (the "3 Bs rule" - bigger, bolder, brighter will solve 90% of problems), and how to make a cup of tea safely. Playing with contrasts, lighting (equally essential) and LLI (liquid level indicators, that beep when you are an inch away from the top as you pour water in your mug) all made a huge difference. It was good fun and educational and as a result, they managed to retain a lot of information in those 3 days and all enjoyed themselves. They seemed hungry for knowledge and when I did a little test at the end, they seemed to have remembered a lot. They were also very keen to work under blindfold to understand the concepts better - and the fears too.
Stan & Camelia were lovely hosts (I was staying in an annexe next to theirs). They have a super cat, Pepper, and a female labrador, Chloe, who will become the first guide dog there - if she can behave herself. So, I've met the dog who will make history I felt ! :) They are devoted Christian and 'what you see if what you get - they walk the walk and talk the talk'. Not many people do that these days and it's always refreshing to see the best side of human nature at work, when we are bombarbed by sad news on TV, caused by the worst side of human nature usually.
Stan, in particular, had some incredible stories to tell. He even told me one evening that he'd met an angel... and from he described, I totally believe it too. He is a pilot and has had a few engine problems with his plane in his days. One day he just about managed to land safely in a small airport but was unable to take off again. He tried to start the propellors at the front, manually, by leaning on them to make them spin, to no avail. He said he tried for over an hour until all his muscles ached, but was unable to move them by even half an inch. They seemed completely jammed. Just as he'd given up, a guy came from nowhere... from behind a shed maybe... and told him 'look, go back to your seat, do everything you need to do to be ready for take off and I'll spin the propellors for you'... Stan was a bit dubious but obeyed anyway. He did as he was told, then gave the guy the thumbs up to mean 'ready now'... and the mystery man just spinned the propellors with no effort whatsoever. Supernatural strength. As Stan took off, he looked back down to wave at him as a thank you but he had completely vanished (most angels do - I've read lots of stories on the theme). He thought this miracle had happened for his benefit but 10 minutes later, he picked up a distress signal from another aircraft and was able to relay their SOS to a local airport so that they could clear the landing strip for them. Stan told me he felt sure that the angel had stepped in for *them*, because if he hadn't been in the air to relay their messages, God knows what would have happened...
Another time, when working as an air-ambulance pilot, about 5 years ago he told me that he got to know a man who had a daughter with severe kidney problems. She was on dialysis most days and only had 6 months left to live. I guess the mother had died so she was all this man had left in the world. The father knew though that he was a compatible match, blood wise, to become a live donor, but in Romania, nobody wanted to take this on. Stan endeavoured to call around all hospitals he knew of in Europe and found one in Ireland that was willing to do the surgery. Better still, they were happy to do it for nothing so long as Stan could fly them over. He then called the father who was over-the-moon and the surgery was scheduled for the following week-end I seem to recall. However, a few hours after Stan had told this man the good news, the Irish hospital called back and said 'oops, sorry, we didn't realise that Romania isn't part of the EU [yet], so we cannot do this procedure free of charge. There is no reciprocal agreement with Romania. We can still do the surgery, but only if this man can find £25,000'. Shock and horror. As you can imagine, there was no way this poor man could afford such a huge amount, all the more so by Romanian standards. His daughter only had 5 months left, not 5 years (which was probably the minimum amount of time needed for him to save that much). Stan being as Christian as ever, told me he could not find it in him to call this man back and tell him that his daughter's life was worth £25,000 - which is what it boiled down to, in effect. Stan also felt he could not stand back and do nothing. He gathered his sons and they all agreed that if they sold their house and downscaled, they could probably find £25,000 in the profit margin. He told me that they all felt it was the only way forward and that they could not let this girl die so they would take it upon themselves to find the money. He went to bed that night probably serene, thinking he'd taken the (morally) right decision and was going to visit an estate agent on Monday to put their home on the market.
However, that night, he had a premonition (God often talks to people in their dreams, as the Bible often shows). A man that he had met 5 years earlier, an Irish journalist, came back to him his mind. When he woke up, he dug out his business card, called him and explained what had happened. The guy was very interested in the story and agreed to fly to Romania same day to meet the father & daugther, take photos, etc. He ran the story in the press on the Monday, and by the end of the week they'd managed to raise £25,500. The surgery was able to go ahead on schedule, was a massive success, and this girl is still in contact with Stan.... She actually wrote to him recently to say she'd just got married and had a baby. I cannot imagine how rewarding that must have felt... that through his sheer determination and compassion, he had saved, in effect, two lives... one on the way out, and one that wouldn't have been.
All of these stories really warmed up my heart and I felt I learnt more from them than they probably learnt from me. I had a lot of practical knowledge to share, but the spiritual knowledge is the most important. Renewing my faith in the power of prayers, etc. It was humbling.
They are both exquisite people and when you see them at work together, you really witness how love, faith and determination can move mountains. It renews your faith in the human spirit and in the best in all of us. They have done SO much for the most vulnerable people of Romania... I felt very priviledged to be a part of their venture - and to know them at all.
If you want to read up more on what they do, you can log onto their site at
http://www.lightintoeurope.org/
posted by Sylvie at 2:22 PM
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