THE 25th ANNUAL Journey For Sight is taking place today across the island, aiming to raise awareness for the blind in Cyprus.
The fundraising event, which is happening simultaneously in several countries across the globe, is being organised by the Lions Clubs of Cyprus, jointly with the St Barnabas School for the Blind, the Pancyprian Association for the Welfare of the Blind, the Pancyprian Organisation for the Blind and the Pancyprian Parents’ Association for the Blind.
The Journey has been well supported over the years, and is based on the idea of asking people to walk a small distance instead of using their car. The amount of money that the walker will save by not using their car will be donated to the above organisations.
Donations are collected through special stickers, worth £1.
In Nicosia, the Journey will start from The Hilton at 4pm and will finish at the St Barnabas School. It will be headed by President Papadopoulos. Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides will also be making a speech before the start of the walk.
Layia Karpasitis, who is a teacher at St Barnabas and is involved in the Journey, told the Cyprus Mail that, “1,000 people are expected to take part and we hope to raise around £4,000 across the island. This will be distributed to the blind organisations which will use the money for medical expenses, educational programs and to purchase equipment.”
She added that there were 1,050 people in Cyprus who are registered as blind, “but we believe that the total number is in the region of 2,000 people.”
As well as the Journey, a fundraising fair will be held at the school today and tomorrow. First Lady Fotini Papadopoulou will at 5pm be opening the fair, where the public can buy food and drink, clothing, children’s games, knickknacks and handicrafts made by the blind. There will also be choirs and face painters.
Karpasitis added that the most important thing was “to make people aware of the problems facing the blind. Once they receive education and training, blind people can function just like everybody else. The last thing they want is pity. We don’t want to create myths about the blind as they’re just ordinary people.”
ST BARNABAS School for the Blind is the only educational institution of its kind in Cyprus. The establishment of the School in 1929 marked the beginning of the provision of special education in Cyprus in general, and, more specifically, the education of people with visual impairment (VI). Until 1957, the school operated within the framework of philanthropy. Upon the independence of Cyprus in 1960, a new era of development and upgrading of the role of the school began, which took the form of a truly equivalent public school.
The staffing of the school with qualified personnel, the design and application of a curriculum, the acquisition of modern technological and educational means, and the zeal of all those who worked and are currently working at the school, have brought the quality of the services provided to a very high level. This enables all students and adults with VI to acquire the necessary means that will allow them to live in comfort and dignity in society and play an active role in all aspects of life, thus projecting, in their turn, the remarkable work done at the school.
The school for the blind is a multi-dynamic centre providing a wide range of services that include: nursery and pre-primary education, primary education, a unit for children with multiple disabilities including visual impairment, a telephony department (the only one provided for by the state), training in the use of electronic means, tape-recordings and transcripts of teaching and other material into braille, an early intervention programme for children with VI and their families, support services for children with visual impairment attending mainstream educational settings, and training programmes for adults as well as special individual programmes.
