Aid for the Blind

A way out of the dark: audio books, food parcels, medicines and clothing

Background

As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it in his book, The Little Prince, "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
About 65,000 visually handicapped people live in Ukraine, a third of them children. About 13,000 of all the visually handicapped are 100 % blind. Their handicap isolates them from their surroundings and from society. Most of them have become used to no-one caring. But these people also have desires and longings. Moreover, by using other senses they have developed the ability to experience the world more intensely than the healthy. And so they sometimes "see" where those who see are "blind". The opportunity to make audio books and audio materials available to the blind is thus a good chance to brighten their hearts.

The project

LIGHT IN THE EAST Ukraine has been working with the visually handicapped since 1993 and has published the New Testament in braille. This edition for the blind has long been out of print, but the demand for materials for the blind is still unbroken. This is why audio materials with Christian content such as parts of the Bible, sermons, magazines and other Christian literature and also books for children are being recorded in Ukraine and supplied on audio media or as MP3 audio files. Every year over 20,000 audio media are produced and posted to the visually handicapped, to libraries, associations for the blind and boarding schools for visually handicapped children. The staff of LICHT IM OSTEN (LIGHT IN THE EAST) in Kiev also visit the blind personally, assisting with food parcels, medicines and clothing.

Response to the project

"I cannot see at all. I cannot read the word of God. I can only go to church on Sunday morning when someone takes me, and only when the weather is good. In the winter I cannot go out at all because in the past I have often tripped, even breaking my legs. Please keep on sending me your audio books. I need them like the air I breathe. They comfort and encourage me."
Ekaterina K., Ukraine

"Many, many thanks for the audio books on CD. The respect you show to someone with a handicap is something I have never experienced in my whole life."
A recipient of media for the visually handicapped

Funding

Project costs: 40,000 € per year
for audio materials and postal charges, food and medicines.
The programme is funded exclusively by donations.