To follow up on the last post, we didn't exactly get a sponsor for our web costs, but we did get a few donations. So thank you very much, it helps a lot! With that in mind, I've been working with a new supporter of Ability Beyond the Horizon, James Sowers, who is helping me design a new website for the organization. This new site will allow me to update the content MUCH easier, and it looks pretty snazzy too. The downside to this, is that I will be moving the blog most likely, which means that you'll have to subscribe to a new blog. It shouldn't be too painful, and if you are reading this, you probably already did it once. I'm just worried we'll lose a lot of readers, but I hope, and feel that if you like reading our updates you'll take the couple minutes to resubscribe. That's not yet though, but soon.
I wanted to post the content of an email I received recently:
Hello Mickey,
 This is just one of many emails I've received from India now thanking us for the braille books. Sister Clare is with Jyothi Seva http://www.jyothiseva.ovh.org a school I've spoken about before in the blog in Bangalore. They do really nice work with kids with visual impairments, but like many other schools and organizations in India they didn't have enough books to go around for the children to take to their rooms to enjoy. Due to the small number of available books, they were only able to allow a certain amount of time each day for each kid to have a chance to read them, and reading them in their room was not possible. This school was the original reason I imagined this idea, and it warms my heart to see that they arrived. We've sent by our estimates over 1,000 books to India now. I'm not certain they've all arrived yet, but what an impact! Ability Beyond the Horizon really looks forward to continuing this program. Next stop for the books is Hyderabad, India. Please write me mickey@abilitybeyondthehorizon.org if you have some to send and I will send you the address. We're sending directly to India now through Free Matter for the Blind, rather than to me first as that just adds an unnecessary step to the process that eats up time. Speaking of Hyderabad, that is our intended destination this summer. Susan and Lauren have not been able to commit to doing their own location unfortunately, they're both trying to get their careers off the ground. So, one location again for ABH, which is kind of upsetting. I've found some volunteers to go with me, though I may look for one additional one once our plans for Hyderabad are more concrete. These new volunteers will have to commit to at least 2 summers of service, so that we can expand our operations and help more people with visual impairment. So, Hyderabad it is, the hottest food in India, my poor tummy... There are 480 kids with visual impairment in just this one school though, |
http://www.devnarfoundationfortheblind.org/ so that is a lot of children that we can help. I will also be working with other teachers from other agencies and schools in Hyderabad while we are there. If the successes in Bangalore are any indication, Hyderabad should be really great.
Also, there are tentative plans for working in Sierra Leone in West Africa in 2013. I'm REALLY excited about this. They are on the recovering side a long civil war. The country is in shambles from what I understand from people that have been there. There are many many blind people because of the war. Our work is desperately needed. I would be trying to get there this summer, but because of the war, infrastructure is awful and finding a coordinator like the lovely Shanthala in Bangalore is difficult. There is a person that is volunteering this summer who is looking for a coordinator for us though, and we'll get there in 2013! As anyone that really knows me will tell you, I judge a lot of the value of a country by whether it has monkeys or not. If I am in a country that has resident primates of the non-human variety, I almost won't leave until I've seen one. Well friends, Sierra Leonne has 15 different types of primate, including the world famous Chimpanzee. As a bonus, they have African Elephants and hippos too, not to mention a huge diversity of bird life. We've got to go.
Well friends, that's all for now, the next time I post it will most likely be to tell you about our new web site, and give instructions for the new blog as well as final plans for Hyderabad. As always, I love hearing from you, please write me if you have any questions or ideas. We love your support!
~Mickey
