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

Sun Dec 14 23:02:14 UTC 2008

Thanks Donna!  She sounds wonderful!  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>; "Performing Arts Division list" 
<perform-talk at nfbnet.org>; "nfbp-talk" <nfbp-talk at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 4:22 PM
Subject: [stylist] Article on my hero Sabriye Tenberten, who developed 
Braille code for Tibetan language


> 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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