Overview by Sara Minkara

Aisha Daboussy, support educator of YAB and Sara Minkara teaching children how to build circuits

I am a legally blind Lebanese American student studying at Wellesley. I have experienced both societies here in Lebanon and in the US. Being legally blind myself, I saw the lack of integration of disabled individuals in the Lebanese society. They are secluded from many aspects of a normal daily routine. It is not a common thing for a blind individual to go shopping alone, or go to the cinemas with a group of friends. Wherever I walk in the streets with my cane people stare and point at me and they don’t know how to deal with me. They either take the two extremes. Either they don’t help at all by not describing the surroundings, or they help too much to a degree where they treat you like a small child. They don’t differentiate between the two kinds of help. You can help a person to help him become more independent or you can help him to encage himself. The way of life in Lebanon makes it very hard for a blind individual to live independently. Streets aren’t constructed well. Cars don’t stop when a person wants to cross the streets. There aren’t many software and signs in audio or Braille formats. The government doesn’t help children with disabilities in schools. Thus, I felt that I had the duty to go help other blind children and open for them some opportunities that were provided for me in the US. In the US, blind individuals are given enough assistance for them to live an independent life.

I came into the camp not knowing what to expect. Half of the work was organizing the camp and making societal awareness. We also had to get volunteers. And more funds. After going around universities we were able to get around 20 committed volunteers. They came everyday, handled the children with care and gave them their full attention. I was very happy and surprised. The more amazing thing is that they came from different religious, economic backgrounds. They also were studying different things ranging from engineering to social work. However, they got along very well and became very close friends. We are thinking of opening an NGO consisting of these volunteers, so whenever anyone wants to do a project, there is an organization to back it up.

This camp taught me a lot starting from we were organizing the camp. For instance I learned how to deal with people on a professional base. I learned how to not expect anything from anyone and to accept everyone for who they are. Instead, if anything, I would have to look at myself and try to change anything wrong within me. I also realized that I saw many things in either black or white. I learned that a lot of situations are really in the grey zone.

The best part of this experience was getting to know the children. I learned a lot from them in addition to what I gave them. I might have exposed them to new ideas, thoughts and hopes, but they taught me persistence is a key to everything. Nothing came easy to them. In addition to surpassing the obstacle of low vision, they had to fight the societal lashes. A lot of the children who were completely blind or close to complete blindness were secluded and lonely. There is this 13 year old boy, his name is Hamze, he told me that: “yes, I do all these activities, but I still feel lonely. I feel like the closest thing to me was the guide dog I had. Animals don’t judge you on physical appearance.” I was really touched by this. I felt like these kids have so much potential, but the environment around him that should be guiding this great potential towards great things is not there. However, the Lebanese society should become the greatest support of those with special needs.

What I liked about this camp is that the blind children were exposed to many new things. For instance, Riyad, who is completely blind, has never played sports until now. I brought with me from the US sports equipments made for the blind. They make noises as long as there is movement. I also brought with me cards, tic tac to and other games in 3d versions. They loved it. And the better thing is that they did all these activities with sighted students. I also wanted the sighted students to feel and experience what blind children go through. Thus, in many activities, I blind folded them. They also experienced the canes. What I loved the most is that the sighted children were able to live and experience what a blind child goes through on a daily basis. This alone is awareness since they go back home and talk about it and thus the cycle of better understanding continues.

The greatest thing that surprised me was the fact that the kids accepted the canes. When we first were organizing the camp and started corresponding with Mr. Amer Makaram, the head of YABS, a lot of people refused the idea of the cane because it is not commonly used in Lebanon. There are only two blind individuals in Lebanon who use the cane. They say that the streets are not constructed well and … thus they think that it is not necessary for blind people to learn and use the cane. I disagreed. The cane is used in many ways. For one thing, it is societal awareness. People will see that you are blind and will help you in stores and in crossing the streets. When I was walking in the streets of Lebanon with my cane I felt like I was an alien. People stared at me and pointed at me. Another use of the cane, it helps blind individuals become more independent and confident in themselves. They can walk to the store alone. They can walk down the stairs alone without assistance. Thus I insisted on the cane and brought one for each one of them. The more amazing thing is that the blind kids were very much for the cane. Riyad was so excited and everyday in the camp he would come to me and ask me when we would get the cane. I was expecting a great rejection of the cane but instead they welcomed the idea with open arms.

The Kids Gernica was a fascinating experience. I was at first uncertain how we were going to integrate the blind into the painting. However, we found many ways to accomplish this task. Maysa and I thought of the idea of the scotch tape. We used scotch tape to divide up the border. Thus the blind kids had 3d borders to feel their area of drawing. When we started to draw, each blind person had to sit down with a sighted person to direct him or her. For instance, Riyad drew the ship with the volunteer Nadeen. He also wanted to insert Braille onto the painting. We also integrated 3d lettering of “together” in Arabic. With the time we had at our disposal, I felt that we had integrated the blind as much as we could not have done otherwise. However, if we had more time, I think we could have integrated more 3d drawings and differentiate the colors by smell.

This camp was a wonderful experience for everyone. The kids said that this was the best camp they have ever been to. I learned so much from dealing with people to getting to know the kids. Also, this painting will be mobile illustration of our thoughts, ideas, hopes and activities that occurred during the past tow weeks. For instance, it certainly reflects the camp from the beginning right to the end. In the painting there is a ship at the bottom right, breaking into a heart. Then the river connects to a bridge, upper left, with a building heart under it. It portrays how we started off in the camp broken and not sure of ourselves and what we needed first of all, namely to untie ourselves and become confident that we can fix and build our society. So this is a great start for a new society.

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Overview by Sara Minkara