[bookshare-discuss] Fw: Braille library in Ha Noi to shed light on world of ideas

"Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Wed, 6 Oct 2004 10:08:41 -0400

Braille library in Ha Noi to shed light on world of ideas
Monday, October 4, 2004
Vietnam News Agency

Until recently the capital's blind community was forced to compete for scant 
Braille resources, but not any more. Minh Huong
reports.

The Vietnamese blind community can now access a wider range of reading 
material thanks to the Braille library opened this
week at the Ha Noi Training and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind.

The 10 million yen (US$90,000) library, funded by the Japan International 
Co-operation Agency with help from the Vietnamese
Esperanto Association, will provide access to reading material and also 
introduce modern technology, enabling the centre to
produce Braille books at a faster rate for Vietnamese readers.

"I was so happy the library could not only provide us with books, but also 
produce books to serve other blind people all over
the country," said Dinh Viet Anh, a blind girl who uses the centre. 
"Currently, the national library provides some Braille
books, but not enough."

Before the centre was built, there were few places for Viet Nam's 600,000 
blind to read, which made accessing education
difficult, said director of the centre Dao Soat.

The blind in Ha Noi used to have to compete with each other over the scant 
resources at the national library.

"Like any other person, we, the blind need education," said Uchida Kuniko, a 
blind woman and representative of the Japanese
Zasou-no-kai Braille printing workshop. "We need books to read and improve 
our knowledge."

The library has edited and printed more than 500 books, including a set of 
grade one text books, a massage and acupuncture
instruction book, and an English book.

Of Viet Nam's total blind population, only 45,000 are members of the 
association, only 20,000 can read Braille, and only 900
study together with others.

"With these books, especially the text books, we can fight illiteracy among 
the blind," Soat said.

Thanks to the new Braille textbook publication, blind children can now study 
with other children more easily.

"Other people need books, and we the blind need them even more," said Hoang 
Lien Huong, a blind learner at the centre. "With
the books, we can reduce our dependence on others, we can help ourselves, 
and we can study the world."

Producing the books without the correct software and printing technology is 
difficult.

Nguyen Thi Hy, a worker at the printing workshop of the Blind Association, 
produces these books by hand.

It is a difficult job and requires the utmost care and accuracy, she said.

The steps involved in publishing the books include layout, zincography and 
then printing.

Zincography is the process where the Braille nubs are impressed onto the 
zinc pages, enabling the blind to read with their
fingers.

After printing, the pages are arranged, an important step in which the 
publishers have to place the pages in the correct
order, avoiding all possible mistakes. Each step requires extreme skill, 
especially the zincography process.

However, with the computers and printers at the new centre, the job is much 
easier and will be able to produce many more
books for the blind. The only hard work now is to find books suitable for 
the readers.

The text books are the hardest to edit, because they use so many pictures 
for descriptions, said Anh.

Braille editors must take on the difficult task of describing the pictures 
instead of drawing them.

The Nguyen Dinh Chieu Schools in Ha Noi and HCM City, the Viet Nam 
Association for the Blind and some workshops are the only
operations helping the 600,000 blind in Viet Nam access education. In 
comparison, Japan has 89 Braille libraries to serve
about 300,000 blind people.

Viet Nam hopes to edit a wider variety of books, such as those about maths, 
science, technology, health in order to improve
the education of the blind, said Soat.

Japan may help with more projects if the library is successful in Viet Nam, 
said Hedeo Kumaki, president of the Japanese
Esperanto Association and the director of the library project. - VNS

CAPTION: Talking books: Before the centre was built, there were few places 
for Viet Nam's 600,000 blind to read, which made
accessing education difficult. - VNSFile Photos

CAPTION: Handywork: With Braille books, blind people can undertake 
independent study.

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2004-10/02/Stories/27.htm

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