See no evil

How do the blind find their way around life in Egypt, wonders Nader Habib

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Clockwise from top: Heba Khuleif, blind librarian at Alexandria Library; closed-circuit television to enlarge images for the weak-sighted; cover of Resalati magazine; sewing and art activities at Al-Nour wal Amal NGO; reading in Braille; Ahmed Naguib, blind tour guide at the Egyptian Museum; Ragab Abdel-Dayem, law student and owner of a photocopying business; more art at Al-Nour wal Amal; child learning Braille photos: Khaled El-Fiqi & Nader Habib

"Circumstances can make you blind, they don't stop you from being master of your fate. Being blind has at least one advantage: others offer you their help. The question is how to use such help. If you use it correctly, you can make your dreams come true; many blind people have managed to do just that," says Tarek Abul-Wafa Mohamed -- a blind man with a PhD in Islamic history, i.e. one of those who have managed to use the help they got thanks to programmes like ICTARB (Information and Communication Technology in the Arab Region for the Blind), an Egypt-based initiative of the UN-run ICTDAR (Information and Communication Technologies for Development in the Arab Region), which uses information technology in development. According to programme officer Amira El-Sirafi, "Since information is the cornerstone of human development, ICTDAR helps various countries apply information technology in a way that helps alleviate poverty and suffering." By enhancing the skills of the blind, ICTARB attempts to improve their prospects in the labour market.

The idea, according to El-Sirafi, is to compensate for lack of educational opportunities by, among other means, instituting "excellence centres", one of which was established in Al-Haram in collaboration with Al-Risala Al-Khairiya (The Charity Mission) Society with help from the business community -- a pilot project to be followed by "more centres across the country". According to Riham Noureddin, a Risala employee, much of the work concerns converting books to audio and translating educational material to Braille; some 2,000 volunteers read to 450 registered blind people or accompany them to libraries, while teachers train them in the use of computers equipped with software that functions through sound and touch: "The national excellence centre offers language courses and arranges social events as well." Dreamland, the amusement park, has proved by far the most popular. Like most volunteers, Mohamed Mousa, a first-year Al-Jazira Computer Institute student, is driven by altruistic motives: "I come because I want to help others. In my institute I'm studying ways to train the blind to use computers -- which, more so for those who know a foreign language, is a link to the whole world."

Bearing the name of Taha Hussein, the blind "dean of Arabic literature" and education minister of the 1950s, a new division of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is dedicated to the blind, with 200 titles in Braille and 500 on audio tape. Librarian Heba Khuleif, a literature graduate of Alexandria University who is blind herself, stresses the benefits of modern technology: software that turns computer content or (through a scanner) hard copy into speech, for example, or transforms normal text into Braille, which can then be "printed" on paper at 100 letters per second. So far 120 out of 250 subscribers have been trained to operate such services themselves. The Taha Hussein Library also reaches out to those with seriously impaired vision, including 20 school children, making use of short-circuit television that works like a magnifying glass.

Risala is doing similar work in the arena of heritage: Ahmed Naguib, a (blind) member of Risala, is employed by the Egyptian Museum to describe its contents to the blind. Naguib invites visitors to touch replicas of exhibit pieces, offering background history in three languages (he has been taking English and French lessons); elsewhere he supervises the production of history books in Braille and audio, and he is helping establish a library for the blind on the museum premises. "From what I've read on the Internet," Naguib reports, "I know other countries have dedicated museums for the blind -- which is something we have yet to think about here in Egypt." More modestly, for now, Naguib expressed the hope that the business community will donate money for computers that could improve a blind person's experience of the museum.

Others, like Ragab Abdel-Dayem, a blind Ain Shams University law student with a small photocopying business of his own, feel the main issue is social awareness of blind people's needs and respect for their condition. At the university, he says by way of an example, professors make no special provisions for those deprived of their sight: "Ain Shams University provides reliable escorts who read to the students during exams, but at other universities, such escorts may not be properly qualified." Likewise society in general: the family of his sweetheart turned down his proposal of marriage, he says, just because he is blind. "I might be blind in my eyes, but my heart can see. I don't feel in any way disabled. You may not believe it, but I even started a tailor's workshop with two friends of mine. I didn't do designs or work the machines, naturally, but I was part of everything and I even helped with the packing."

For her part Khuleif believes it would take a change in the education and training of the blind to change social attitudes towards them. In America, where she visited a blind community centre, "Education for the blind covers not only the curricula but also daily skills, such as how to cook and wash, how to clean things and use the transportation system. The centre even teaches the blind how to dress, so that their employers find them presentable enough." It is not enough to learn some music or acting and Braille, following the usual curricula: "Schools should be a social mediator. Most schools have boarding sections with kitchens and other provisions; why not use these to train blind people?" She lists an astounding number of skills that blind people must learn on their own: "Our schools turn out graduates with good academic standing, but a blind person cannot live on academic excellence alone." In the US, she recalls, the school even brought in a man with a car to teach the blind how to drive. "They are not going to drive in real life, but knowing they could drive a car is significant in itself. So that if someone mentions shifting gears, for example, I know what on earth they might be talking about." She also mentions how movies are described orally in a separate space so as not to disturb the theatre audience: "Such ideas are in no way expensive..."

Egypt's notorious lack of effective management and organisation also affects the blind. "This country is a goldmine," says Mohamed. "We just don't know how to tap into it. "Our streets are full of potholes and other hazards, though you get a hundred people ready to help you at every step." But sticks are not respected the way they should be, for example: raise it in front of a speeding bus, and the stick offers no protection. Yet when he brought this up with a senior traffic official, "civil society" was all he got in response: "We have 18,000 NGOs in Egypt. Perhaps at least some of them would like to pitch in." Perhaps tax incentives could increase the incidence of menus in Braille: "It really doesn't cost much to print a page in Braille. Societies for the blind may want to offer this service in return for having their insignia advertised in the shop, or for a small fee. That's a good cause for business charity, and it makes life easier for everyone. When you see a blind person," Mohamed advises the public, "don't just walk by. Ask him if he needs help, for this in itself can make him feel good. It is important for the blind to feel welcome among you."