And Turn The Speakers Up.

THIS IS MY LOT, BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Because of its high-altitude exposure to the sun, Tibet has unusually high rates of eye disease, and because of the prevalence of Buddhist beliefs, blindness is often regarded as punishment for misdeeds in a previous life.

At the age of 26, Sabriye Tenberken, went to this very place to make these blind children believe that they deserve no less in the lives they have been given.
Some, like Ngudap, had been tied to their beds for years so that they didn't hurt themselves. Some couldn't walk, because their parents hadn't taught them. For 11 years," she said, "he was locked up in a dark room."

Now at 34, Sabriye has brought light into Ngudup's life and into the lives of the other 48 children at her school. She and her staff don't just teach the kids Tibetan, Chinese and English, and practical skills like making beds and operating computers. They also give their charges dignity.

Sabriye herself, is blind.

Blind from a retinal disease by the time she was 13, Sabriye who is German, studied for a master's degree in Tibetology at Bonn University and created Tibetan braille.

"We want to show the kids that they don't have to be ashamed. We want them to stand up and say, 'I am blind, not stupid!' They need to be proud of themselves, gather the strength to cope with discrimination and go out there as messengers for what they've learned."

Clearly, you don't need sight, to have vision.

When you are actually done with wallowing in self-pity and you look around you, at the things going on in the world to more than a billion other people, you will realise that there is more you can do for others, than what you can feel sorry for yourself about. It is not about saving a life, doing a 'noble' deed. It is about realising first, that this world is not about self-absorbed you.

TonFlyingHigh!1:44 PM

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