Braillers to Baghdad: Second Delivery

Students at the Al Noor School for the Blind in Baghdad receive literacy tools from across the globe.

Educating children who are blind is a challenge. Educating children in a war zone is tough. Educating children who are blind in a war zone is unimaginable. It takes courage and optimism to get it done. The teachers at Al Noor School for the Blind in Baghdad, Iraq, have the courage, but they needed some help.

IRD Associate Program Officer Jessica Feldman (left) with Perkins Products Director of Marketing & Sales Laura Matz.

To aid in their remarkable everyday efforts, Perkins Products is partnering with International Relief and Development (IRD) and others for the second time in as many years to bring essential literacy tools to Iraqi children who are blind.

A shipment is making its way to the Baghdad school carrying 20 Perkins Braillers®, the most commonly used braille typewriter in the world, along with a computerized braille printer, 12 boxes of special braille paper (donated by Star Continuous Cards), and dozens of back copies of DIALOGUE, an international news magazine for people who are blind.

The Al Noor School in Baghdad is the central school for the blind in Iraq. Schools in Basra, Diwania, Najaf, and Nainoa depend on the school in Baghdad to produce braille documents they need to teach their students. The computerized embosser and Perkins Braillers will support their efforts. Read news coverage about the delivery from The Eagle-Tribune.

In October, 2008, Perkins partnered with IRD to deliver 20 braillers, paper, a dictionary and a supply of sunglasses to the Al Noor School for the Blind in Baghdad. The need is so great, and the impact so positive, that we decided to expand this effort. View the CNN report on the October 2008 shipment.

Perkins Products General Manager David Morgan, who launched the first shipment last fall after seeing the plight of the Baghdad school in a CNN report, says: "Their needs were much like our own here at Perkins – teachers and students who need tools to facilitate learning in the classroom. If Perkins couldn't help, who could?"

Read More on the Importance of Braille Literacy

In the July/August issue of LION Magazine, the story "Irreplacable Braille, Indispensable Lions," takes a closer look at the impact of declining braille literacy rates and tells the story of what organizations like Perkins and Lions International are doing to reverse this trend.