[stylist] Article on my hero Sabriye Tenberten, who developed Braille code for Tibetan language

Sun Dec 14 21:22:56 UTC 2008

Hi Friends,
Here's a recent article about my hero, Sabriye Tenberten, who developed 
a Braille code for the Tibetan language and started the first ever 
school for blind kids there.  Has anyone read "My Path Leads to Tibet" 
her book about going to Tibet?  I'll start with the llink and then just 
copy the text of the article.
Enjoy,
Donna Hill

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Society/10266912.html

Bringing a new vision to the world of blindness

By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter

Published: December 13, 2008, 23:45

Dubai: Founders of a developmental non-governmental organisation have 
appealed for donations in Dubai through a touching documentary about 
their mountain

expedition with their six visually impaired students from Tibet.

The film, Blindsight, was released in 2006 and since then has won many 
awards for it depiction of the lives of six exceptional students in 
Tibet, as they

joined world class blind mountain climber, Erik Weihenmayer, in an 
attempt to summit Lhakpa Ri, the 23,000 foot peak which rises 
spectacularly beside Mount

Everest.

The resulting, breathtaking threeweek journey is beyond anything any of 
them could have predicted. It shows their courageous struggle to fight 
their way

through the stigmas of society in order to become vibrant, active, and 
independent individuals.

"It's not a usual mountain film with a big ending," Sabriye Tenberken, 
founder of Braille Without Borders, told Gulf News on Friday during her 
visit to

Dubai.

"It's an interesting film as it talks about what is success in life? Do 
we really need to stand on top? Is this our summit or is this the summit 
of the

sighted? These discussions are all filmed...the doubts and scepticism, 
hope and team work is all shown."

Feeling different

Tenberken lost her sight at the age of 12 and growing up in Germany 
pushed her to pursue a challenging task to do something with her life. 
"I always wanted

to get out of Germany. It was my biggest wish. Germany had too many 
limits," she said.

"I had no place to breathe, no place to create something. The problem is 
if you're a little bit different and crazy and you're not very 
conventional then

there is not much space for you especially if you're blind or 
handicapped. Of course we have a lot of support for blind and 
handicapped people.

"We can study and go to university but then 70 per cent of people with 
university degrees in Germany are unemployed who are blind or 
handicapped. This is

really bad because you have these really brilliant minds, you have great 
thinkers and they are just sitting around and just getting their blind 
money or

whatever to keep them silent," said Tenberken.

Superstitions

Her endless challenges to prove her ability to offer blind Tibetan 
children with opportunities kept her going for 10 years of fund raising 
for the programs

at their foundation in Tibet.

According to the founders, many Tibetans are unaware of the reasons for 
blindness and base their superstitions about the condition on Buddhist 
beliefs.

A central tenet of Buddhism, the main religion in Tibet, is the law of 
karma, which holds that responsibility for unwelcome actions is borne by 
the person

who commits them.

"The worst thing is they thought that blindness was a punishment for 
something you had done in your past life," said Tenberken.

"Some people thought that blind people were possessed by demons."

She adds that some blind children never learn to walk because their 
parents keep them tied to a bed, while others are locked in dark rooms 
for years because

their parents are embarrassed by their blind offspring.

During her travels, Tenberken also met an eight-year-old blind boy who 
was given the important task of herding yaks and goats by his village 
chief. Unlike

other blind children who were ostracised, this boy was integrated into 
village life. He inspired her to set up Braille Without Borders and is 
part of the

Blindsight documentary.

Calling for donations

The founders completely rely on donations for their foundation in Tibet 
and after establishing the Braille Without Borders training centre there 
with its

unique concepts of empowering the blind to take their own projects in 
their own hands, the organisation is now taking a next step: The 
realisation of the

International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs (IISE) in Kerala, India.

In a one year course the IISE will train 25 to 40 participants who have 
the right initiative, motivation and potential to establish and run 
their own social

projects.

"We are calling out for donations all around the world to support these 
projects," said co-founder Kronenberg.

Beginning: Achieving the impossible

Braille Without Borders was founded in 1998 by Sabriye Tenberken and 
co-founded by her sighted Dutch partner, technician Paul Kronenberg who 
gave up his

career for this life mission.

They both set up not only the school but also a system to teach the 
blind to read and write using the world's first Braille system for 
Tibetan script, which

Tenberken developed while studying Tibetan in Germany in the 1990s.

She made her first trip to Tibet in 1994 and returned in 1997 to meet 
with government officials about setting up a non-governmental organisation.

Apart from learning to read Tibetan, the children also learn Chinese and 
English as part of a curriculum that includes aikido and home science.

The blindsight documentary will be shown on Monday at Cinestar, Mall of 
the Emirates at 9pm. All the proceeds will be given to Braille without 
Borders and

local vision non-profit organisation Foresight.

-- 
For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill

Apple I-Tunes

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374

Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
www.padnfb.org

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