Patrick and his friends

This was, by far, one of our best visits.  We connected with Handicap International, who is doing a project helping connect teachers with people who are blind. Because transportation is difficult, the students assemble at one of their homes, and the teachers join them. Ones of the benefits--other than the learning going on which is impressive itself--is that the community members come to watch, and realize that blind people are really smart!

Here the students are using their peg boards to learn their braille letters. They learn them in four sets of ten letters, as the different vowel sounds have their own letters--totaling 40.

When they are ready, students move on to writing on their metal 'tablets'.  Here's the thing. When you write braille, you do it from the back, so you have to write it mirror and backwards, so when you flip it over, it reads left to right.  It's intense!

We were so proud of everyone writing their names!

 

Next, we went to visit Gregoire and his two students, Patrick and Clemence.  Patrick is about 6 or 7, and Clemence is 8.  Honestly, they were both so tiny that I thought they were 4. There is huge stigma around disabilities in DRC, like in many places, and it's not unusual to have children who are hidden in the house and barely fed.  While Clemence was very shy and was having a hard time remembering her letters, Patrick is a spunky guy.  They used to have their lessons outside, but because Patrick is so entertaining, other kids would come and watch and they couldn't get any work done.  So, they moved inside the house where it's quite dark (which only mattered to us!). I'm hopeful that he will encourage her to come out of her shell, as he has that kind of contagious energy!  Gregoire, their teacher, didn't go blind until he was in his 20s and has committed his life to helping others who can't see.  He has such a lovely way about him.  He's patient and encouraging, but doesn't pity these kids.  He works them hard!  At one point, Patrick was asked if he was tired because he rested his chin on his board, and he replied, "If I was tired, I would tell you that my hand hurts."  We laughed really hard :)

Clemence is working on memorizing the alphabet before she learns the braille letters for each of the words, but she's really good at filling up her board with pegs.. very quickly!  I sure hope this project grows and grows.