[stylist] kite runner(The Kite Runner of Turkey)

[Robert Leslie Newman]

Vejas 
I read the book a few years ago and do not recall all that happens. I sort
of don't like books/stories that pull on the heart-strings from the angle of
one person being super hurt by another. Love and romance is preferable to
the dirty things that some of us do to others. But hey, that book stimulated
me to write the following "THOUGHT PROVOKER," (a short short piece of
fiction, a style that I used for 11 years to pump out a new one every 4
weeks and post it for comment, discussion and/or use in wherever  the human
potential to blindness was the topic; like in rehab settings, college
classroom discussion, anyone's personal quest to either better understand
and/or deal with vision loss. Anyway, the below piece of flash fiction is
one in a series that I wrote for our use in our training of the trainer that
we in Blind Corps took with us when providing instruction in Turkey. 
(I have 154 of this sort of blindness issue specific pieces on my personal
website; URL at the bottom of all my emails)


THOUGHT PROVOKER 136
 
The Blind Kite runner of Turkey
 
Last Updated November 08, 2008
First Posted- August 24, 2008
 
To Provoke Thought Is The First Step To Beyond


     Prolog: "With my cane and my brain I can go anywhere." The instructor
said. He was blind, an American, one of 9 professionals in blindness who had
been invited to put on a training workshop for blindness professionals in
Turkey. This workshop's approach to teaching the blind--structured discovery
learning -- was new for Turkey.

     "In this class we will first teach you the technique for the use of
this long white cane. Next we will put you into structured learning
situations where you will discover what you face and learn how to manage
yourself and travel independently. The result will be that you will become
confident in your skills and be able to go anywhere. This is our
expectation. And what will make this experience most effective for you, is
that later when you provide instruction in the use of the long white cane,
you will have the same high expectation of your own students."

     Today I will begin with a story, a true story.

     I am a teacher of the blind; I work in a government school in Turkey.
My favorite skill to teach is the use of the long white cane. It brings more
confidence and independence to a blind person than any other skill. I have a
story to tell, an amazing tale of personal triumph of one small blind boy.

     Baris was a ten-year-old boy at one of the government schools for the
blind. He lost his sight at an early age from an infection. His family out
of love and low expectations pampered and sheltered him. Like many of the
younger blind, he did not have many friends, seldom played outside, had very
little physical activity, and was overweight and out of shape.

     When I began working with Baris, getting him to accept the cane was not
difficult, as long as it was indoors and slow moving. Getting him outdoors
with the cane was at first impossible. I even put on my blindfolds from the
training workshop and showed him how to walk fast and to run.

     To gain further trust and interest in going out with the cane, I
introduced the craft project that the workshop instructors used on us
teachers back when we were the students. It was building a kite from raw
materials from a design he'd gotten off the Internet. It was then I learned
of Baris's dream. Every year his village celebrates the coming of Spring by
holding a kite festival. Baris had never participated; first being taken
there in the arms of his father, later lead by the hand, always being on the
sidelines. He would be told of the boys and men running and hear the
paper-bodies vibrating as the kites were launched into the sky. He could
only imagine the beautiful ever-changing patterns of soaring, diving,
criss-crossings of the myriad of paper gifts to God as they swirled in the
blue of the Spring sky. His training with the cane went well after that,
until Baris left us mid-winter.

     We missed Baris, wondering how he was making out. Then in early Spring
we received a letter from his parents. It was a thank you and the following
picture.

Newspaper photograph--Description: In a large field, people are massed on
two sides of a wide clear lane, cheering wildly as down the lane one small,
lone figure is running, long white cane extended out in front, left arm
back, pulling a soaring bright red kite. Photo caption: "The Blind Kite
Runner of Turkey."
-

Robert Leslie Newman
Personal Website-
Adjustment To Blindness And Visual impairment
http//www.thoughtprovoker.info
NFB Writers' Division, president
http://www.nfb-writers-division.net 
Chair of the NFB Communications Committee