Your help in delivering miracles

Council’s Eye Care Services Division, the Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness, conducted various cataract blitzes during last year’s Eye Care Awareness Month (ECAM) campaign. ECAM is held annually in October in order to raise awareness about the importance of eye health and specifically around the prevention and treatment of avoidable blindness.

The Bureau, who was aiming to perform 600 operations during ECAM 2009, far surpassed its target:
• Limpopo Province – 228 operations
• Eastern Cape Province – 63 operations
• Free State Province – 127 operations
• Mpumalanga Province – 175 operations
• North West Province – 309 operations

With your kind and loyal support we were able to make a huge difference in the lives of 902 people, their families and the communities they belong to by giving them back the amazing gift of sight.

Meet our new National Executive Director

Meet Jace Nair – newly appointed National Executive Director of the South African National Council for the Blind. From humble beginnings as a switchboard operator 30 years ago, this inspirational man has made his way up the corporate ladder through hard work and perseverance in order to bring about positive change within the visually and hearing impaired communities.
 
Lying in a hospital bed at the age of 14, Jace had convinced himself that his life was meaningless after he lost his sight overnight while being treated for measles. However, two patients he would meet at the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban would change his perception of blindness.

A blind boy, no more than eight years of age, took it upon himself to help the nurses by bringing Jace his medication and water. Another young patient was a scholar at the Arthur Blaxall School for the Blind. These two boys brought Jace to the realisation that blind people were not only still capable of carrying out daily tasks, but that blind people could also still receive an education – something that Jace wanted dearly.

In 1982 Jace started as a volunteer switchboard operator at the Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH) – a NGO in Chatsworth, and was soon employed full-time, after proving his competence. Seizing an opportunity to help the organisation he was working at, Jace decided to sell fundraising tickets over the phone – his own initiative which led to his promotion to the position of National Public Fundraising Manager within the organisation. When he left the organisation in 2000, his original fundraising project was bringing in almost R700 000 in cash donations on its own.

After joining one of Council’s member organisations, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Blind and Deaf Society in 2000 as the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer, Jace supervised the setting up of the KZN Optima College in 2004, helped set up the KZN Community Based initiative in 2005, and implemented the opening of the Victor Daitz Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Centre in 2007.
 
After almost nine productive years as their CEO, Jace took the next step in his journey, occupying his new post as Council’s National Executive Director from September 2009. Jace says: “The important thing is that we want to give people hope, we want them to know that there are opportunities, and we need to find ways of creating access for them, so that they can live an integrated, or inclusive life in their communities.”

A Christmas surprise for Daniël

Do you remember baby Daniël? Daniël suffered from shaken baby syndrome in the care of his parents, and, as a result, lost his sight. He is still happy in foster care and started going to crèche this year. Council’s new National Executive Director, Jace Nair , handed over a Christmas gift to Daniël on behalf of one of our generous donors. The gift – a Perkins Panda – is an educational toy for blind children.

Please Vote for Us!

The MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet fundraising programme has launched a special competition where the top charity can win R10 000 in cash – and you can win R 5 000 for yourself when you go to the website to vote!
 
The competition is accessible online. Please vote for Council here: www.myschool.co.za/favourite_charity

If you are not a MyVillage card holder, apply for a MySchool card http://www.vmptest.co.za/myschool_village/villages/myschool_form.php  or a MyVillage MyPlanet card http://www.myschooltest.co.za/application/villages/general_village.php now.

Apply online and select Council as your beneficiary. It’s free! Every time you use your card, participating retailers (including Woolworths) make a donation on your behalf.
 
Get voting and WIN!

2009 Matric Results for the Special Schools

Our Special Schools have performed wonderfully in the Matric exams - with a pass rate high above the national average of 60.6%! (Note that Khanyisa School’s results are not included in this report as it was not available in time).  

Total number of Special Schools participating in the exams: 11            

Total number of students who wrote the exams: 105 (21 Braille candidates)   

Total % of students who passed the exams: 86.8%                                    

Total number of students who passed with admission to a degree course: 45  

Total number of students who passed with admission to a diploma course: 20

Total number of students who passed with a Higher Certificate: 25     

Total number of students who passed with LSEN: 7

Total number of students who failed: 7     

Total number of students who will be writing the Supplementary Exam In 2010: 1

Congratulations to those people within the education system for your hard work and effort in making this possible. We know that challenges around accessible textbooks etc. make these wonderful results even better.

Join Inclusive Planet

Inclusiveplanet.com is an online platform that enables persons with visual impairments to connect with each other, share accessible content and build conversations and communities around these shared experiences.

In short, the problem of lack of accessible content is being solved by the community themselves by sharing files, making new friends and participating in conversations. Some of the channels started by users include English literature, computer science, social science, accessible sheet music and much more. Over 2200 members from 76 different countries have come together to attempt to make this an inclusive planet

To know more or to join, visit www.inclusiveplanet.com

• If one of your new year’s resolutions is to loose weight, you will need the talking kitchen scale at R345 to weigh your food portions!
• If you decided that 2010 is the year to get organised, you may need the Braille Dymo Writer at R310.
• The Olympus VN-6000 is back in stock! With 39 hours recording time it is a bargain at only R995.
• One used 1983 Afrikaans Bible on Tape is available from the Resource Centre, free of charge - first come first served.

 The Resource Centre can order this exciting product for you on request:

• RNIB PenFriend Audio Labeller

You can easily record information using this pocket-sized, easy-to-use product. Self-adhesive labels instantly play back recordings through the PenFriend - no computer required. It can also be used as a portable note taker or a MP3 player.

Use it to label medicine, food items (including freezer items), film and music collections, household objects or even to organise letters and other paperwork as well as record shopping lists or leave audio messages. PenFriend is very affordable in comparison to other labeller models.

For orders or enquiries on the range of assistive devices and technologies for visually impaired persons, contact Martie at Council’s Resource Centre: resource@sancb.org.za / 012 452-3811.

Multi-Stakeholder Declaration

South African Response to the WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons (TVI)

On 30 November 2009, a workshop on the ‘Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons’ (referred to as the ‘TVI’) was held in Pretoria. It was hosted by the South African National Council for the Blind (Council).

Delegates represented various organisations servicing the blind and visually impaired communities of South Africa, as well as stakeholders from the private and public sectors, including government departments and academia. This Declaration was adopted by all representatives and supporters of the blind and visually impaired communities who were present. [click here to download the full document in Word format]

Multi-Stakeholder Declaration

Blog by Denise Nicholson: Support for Access to Knowledge for the Visually Impaired http://a2knetwork.org/support-access-knowledge-visually-impaired

Discussion around Secret Vote in Elections

A meeting was held between senior officials from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Council Task Team on Voting by the Blind, representatives from BlindSA and staff members of Council. The meeting was requested by the Research and Knowledge Management Division of the IEC to discuss the 2011 elections and their plans in relation to civic voter education.  
 
An opportunity was provided for discussion on how to improve the braille booklet prepared for the 2009 general election which had not been satisfactory. The IEC noted this and undertook to apply an open tender process going forward and to contract a recognised braille producer. The IEC also noted that the needs of blind non-braille literate voters had to be considered and that plans were underway to produce an audio version on the booklet, in all languages.  
 
The IEC asked the Council task team to make an input into the civic voter education initiative to support successful roll out. The IEC expressed concerns about having the template ready for the 2011 elections because of the many different ballot papers and increase in the number of wards. Hazel Marshall, Council’s Honorary Vice-President, said that, provided a standard layout and font was used on ballot papers, there could be a workable solution and she undertook to provide the IEC with a proposal for consideration by their technical team.  In closing, Jace Nair thanked the IEC for their continued support of the sector.

Passing on the literacy torch

It is statistically proven that visually impaired people who are braille literate stand a better chance of finding a job. Braille literacy empowers people by providing the independence they need to support themselves and contribute to their community!

Optima College offers its visually impaired students a course in Braille literacy to instil a sense of empowerment in each of their lives. Itumeleng Molete is one such student. The Braille literacy course has given him a new sense of empowerment and a renewed sense of purpose. Itumeleng, who is slowly losing his sight due to macular degeneration, was a passionate maths and science teacher within a sighted high school. After losing a large part of his central vision, he was forced to leave teaching, forever. Or so he thought.

“The best thing about taking this course is knowing that I’ll be going back to the classroom and to the children – that’s very important to me.” After finishing the Braille literacy course, Itumeleng will be going back to teaching, this time within the Special school environment. After learning how to read and write in braille, Itumeleng can pass on the torch to his students, and use his new skill as a tool to educate learners in other important subjects.

Braille literacy for this teacher will become a gift, a torch that is passed on to many visually impaired school goers. Optima couldn’t have provided Itumeleng’s training without the support of friends like you, so thank you!

Natie’s paving the road to success

Do you remember Natie Ferreira, the partially sighted student who was determined to uplift his community after completing a Computer Literacy course at Optima?

Well, Natie is still working hard on developing material for an entrepreneurial course aimed at empowering visually impaired people in rural KwaZulu Natal. However, with the current financial environment being as tough as it is, Natie has decided to put one of his many talents to use in order to keep food on his young family’s table, while developing the course material. Natie has been selling the goat’s milk products he so skilfully produces and has been struggling to keep up with the demand for his drinking yogurt and cream cheese products!

But in keeping up with his notion of community upliftment, Natie has been in negotiation with government over its ‘Land Reform Programme’. Natie wants to run a mentorship programme for the recipients of farming land, where he would train the new farmers in goat farming to ensure that the redistributed farmland is used optimally to produce food for the community and for the country.

Natie’s business-savvy nature has necessitated computer literacy for the planning and documenting of his projects. Thanks to the support of friends like you, Optima was able to guide this budding entrepreneur on his road to success!

Optima helps Lazarus reach end goal

This time last year, thirteen of Council’s Optima students began an internship at the Pretoria Post Office. We caught up with one of the lucky thirteen, Lazarus Muthimba – a partially sighted father of four who completed courses in Computer Literacy and Call Centre Training at Optima College.

We were pleasantly surprised – Lazarus is now a full-time employee in Eskom’s Contact Centre as a Call Centre Agent!  “I wouldn’t have been able to secure the Eskom job if I hadn’t worked at the Post Office, but my training at Optima has, in my opinion, been the biggest stepping stone for me – it gave me computer literacy – which is the base knowledge needed to become a Call Centre Agent.”

Thanks to the generous support of friends like you, Optima has been able to serve as the stepping stone for many students just like Lazarus – so thank you! With your support, Optima will continue to steer students in the right direction!

Imfama now available in DAISY format

The second edition of Imfama for 2009 will be distributed within the next month. This highly respected magazine/journal is produced by Council three times a year and is available in the following formats: 

• Full colour print
• Braille
• Electronically
• Audio (on tape) – converted by Tape Aids for the Blind
• DAISY format – converted by SA Library for the Blind

Should you wish to receive this free publication, please write to Stacey at Council: stacey@sancb.org.za and state clearly which format you request and the appropriate address for delivery (postal address for print, braille, tape and Daisy and email address for electronic format). Please note, that to receive audio or DAISY format, the subscriber would need to register as a member of Tape Aids for the Blind or the SA Library for the Blind, respectively.

The secret to happiness

It seems the secret to happiness lies in giving! New research has found that people who spend their money on gifts for others or on donations to charity are much more content than those who squander their money on themselves. 

Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada gave students envelopes containing either a $5 bill or a $20 bill. They found that those who donated the money to charity or used it to buy a gift for someone else were happier at the end of the day than those who used it to pay a bill or indulge in a treat for themselves.

Two other surveys had similar results, which leads researchers to conclude that the effect of altruistic spending is probably similar to the effects of exercise – including reduced anxiety, depression and stress, along with positive effects on mood and self esteem.

Researchers also believe that while giving once might make a person happy for a day, it could make a lasting difference if it became a way of life. Let’s spread the word that giving is the path to happiness!

Source:Elsa Youngsteadt, ScienceNOW (March 2008).

Blinding facts

• 80% of the world’s 45 million blind people are over 50 years of age.
• Our chances of developing cataract, refractive error, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma increase as we age.
• Cataract remains the leading cause of blindness in older people – yet it can be cured with a simple, cost-effective operation. Council, in line with VISION 2020 goals, seeks to make this ‘gift’ available to all who need it.
• Glaucoma has blinded 4.5 million people worldwide.
• 8 million people worldwide are functionally blind due to uncorrected refractive errors. Yet a simple eye test and glasses could restore sight to most of these people.
  
  Source:Vision 2020 Website