Educating the Blind in Togo
Disabilities in Togo are seen as signs of cursing and witchcraft and this includes persons that are blind. They are not seen as having any form of value at all. It is often thought that a person who is blind can do nothing and is worth nothing. At Village of Light School for the Blind, the staff is trying to help others see that sight is not a necessity for someone to excel in life.
“The visually impaired population makes up 20 percent of Togo as well as the neighboring countries of Ghana and Benin, but this group is often abandoned or shunned by their communities. Students at the Village of Light school are taught to understand God’s love. ”
Braille* is a system of reading and writing that uses six dot cells; two columns of three rows. In order to read Braille, one must feel the indentations and determine the letters or numbers. Writing is another beast in and of itself. A sighted person uses a pen and paper to right left to right as the letters would appear (unless you are writing in languages like Hebrew and Japanese which read right to left). The Braille system requires one to flip the paper over and write right to left while simultaneously reversing the letters. As Village of Light seeks to educate students and give them better opportunities for their future, there is a huge need: Braille paper.
It is necessary to purchase paper for all the school books each student needs. Each class has its own textbook that must be made as well as its own notebook for the student to record things in. And the paper used cannot just be any type of paper. A metal stylus is used to form indentations in the paper; push too hard and the paper is pierced, yet, not pushing hard enough means no indent is made. The paper thickness creates a similar issue. If the paper is too light, the stylus pierces the paper too far and makes the Braille illegible and if the paper is too heavy the indents require much more force to make. Currently, it is becoming difficult to buy paper of proper thickness because of rising costs. Without this paper, the students will not be able to read or write for their classes and receiving their education will become much more difficult.
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*to find out more about the basics of Braille, you can visit BrailleWorks
photos by Liz Ortiz and Hannah Strayer