The Hildesheim Mission for the Blind (HMB) has been in existence for 125 years this year. It now campaigns for the recognition and equal rights of blind people in six Asian countries.
The Blind Mission therefore runs and supports schools in five Asian countries and offers education there. Sponsorships from Germany can be used to finance school places for blind children.
Discrimination, exclusion and prejudice make the already difficult situation of blind people much more difficult.
At first glance, the further training opportunities are limited and often only focus on learning the profession of masseur. Telephone services and working with a speech computer have been added in recent decades.
This year we organized air freight for the Blind Mission to Medan in Indonesia with computers donated by Gymnasium Josephinum. This drew our attention to the problem of a lack of training opportunities.
As head teachers from schools for the blind in Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan were invited to Hildesheim as part of the anniversary celebrations, they visited Arbeit und Dritte Welt. This gave us the opportunity to learn more about the work of the schools for the blind and to gain a better understanding of the situation of blind people in Asia.
We used this opportunity to discuss new ways of educating the blind and came up with some surprising results, such as the establishment of shoemaking workshops.
Together with Pastor Ewert, Chairman and Managing Director of HMB, we agreed to concretize these ideas and take the initiative. Thanks to the many donations of tools that Arbeit und Dritte Welt constantly receives, we are in a position to support the establishment of small workshops.
