FEATURED STORY

Trust raises funds to buy braille machines for blind children

BUSINESS TODAYJun 28, 20161k

Mr Paul Polman, Unilever’s Global CEO and President of KBTA, said in Kenya, 45,000 children live with visual impairment.

Kilimanjaro Blind Trust Africa (KBTA), a charitable trust that supports literacy among visually impaired school children, is raising funds towards the purchase of braille machines.

The campaign dubbed #MyVision was officially launched during a fundraiser organised by KTBA at the Capital Club where over 50 CEOs, ambassadors and friends of the Trust gathered in support of the initiative. The #MyVision campaign seeks to raise funds to partially fill the current gap of 800 braille machines at a cost of Ksh80,000 each, in order to realise the desired 1 to 1 ratio of machine to child.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) report on the magnitude and causes of visual impairment of 2002, more than 161 million people were visually impaired of whom 124 million were people with low vision and 37 million were blind (WHO, 2002). Unless major initiatives are taken, that figure could double by the year 2020.

Mr Paul Polman, Unilever’s Global CEO and President of KBTA, said in Kenya, 45,000 children live with visual impairment, but only 7,000 have access to quality education.

“The current ratio of braille machine to child is 1 to 3 and this poses a great challenge to their access and quality of their education. We would like to bridge that gap because every visually impaired child has a right to basic education and an equal learning opportunity where they can be able to fully exploit their full potential bringing their dreams to life,” added Polman.

Notably, KBTA has been able to train more than 170 field technicians in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, in braille repair and maintenance, donation and subsequent distribution of 650 braille machines to schools and provision of more than 35 tons of good quality braille paper in the East Africa region.

The trusts’ mission of ensuring that each visually impaired school child is able to access a braille machine resonates with the Global UN and WHO initiative towards ensuring equal educational opportunities and rights for all children irrespective of age, gender, religion, disability poverty-level and ethnicity.