White Cane Week

This is “White Cane Week” in Turkey, in which special attention is paid to the blind. Since we have done two projects to benefit the blind in Ankara, we attended two ceremonies this week at which LDS Charities was honored with plaques, etc. The first was at the Blind Foundation, where we donated four computers and aural-feedback software. (In this picture you’ll see a picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk hanging on the wall. Every office and schoolroom has at least one picture of their great national hero.)

In their small classroom, blind adults are given computer and English training to enhance their job skills. The student shown here demonstrated how the aural-feedback software worked.

We were surprised to find that the textbook which they use to study English is written for both Turkish and Japanese students, since, the teacher told us, “the syntax is the same in the Turkish and Japanese languages.”

We also attended a ceremony at an elementary school for the blind. We donated 220 folding white metal canes to the students in this school. Because the students are young, we weren’t permitted to take any pictures which included students, but we toured the classrooms. We were astonished at how rapidly they could read Braille. It touched our hearts that some of the canes had to be specially made because they were so small.

The ceremony ended, as do all the ceremonies we have attended, with a group photo of everyone present. After pictures, we always have tea and goodies. Our interpreter explained that we drink only apple tea, which is always readily available.

The Turks are warm and generous to us, and we feel that we have many friends among the various service clubs with which we have worked.