Product Description

Defying everyone+s advice, armed only with her rudimentary knowledge of Chinese and Tibetan, Sabriye Tenberken set out to do something about the appalling condition of the Tibetan blind, who she learned had been abandoned by society and left to die. Traveling on horseback throughout the country, she sought them out, devised a Braille alphabet in Tibetan, equipped her charges with canes for the first time, and set up a school for the blind. Her efforts were crowned with such success that hundreds of young blind Tibetans, instilled with a newfound pride and an education, have now become self-supporting. A tale that will leave no reader unmoved, it demonstrates anew the power of the positive spirit to overcome the most daunting odds.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #666662 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-08
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.06 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

From Publishers Weekly
When Tenberken, whose battle with retinal disease left her blind at age 13, was in her 20s, she studied Tibetan culture at the University of Bonn. Frustrated by the awkward character-recognition machinery she had to use to read Tibetan materials, she devised a Tibetan braille alphabet, so that once translated, works could be directly readable by the blind. What followed seemed natural to her: she'd go to Tibet and start a school to teach this braille to blind Tibetan children. Traveling on horseback over treacherous mountain passes, sleeping in rat-infested huts and dealing with self-interested charitable bureaucracies, Tenberken managed to keep her humor and courage. She succeeded in establishing a school, and her organization, "Braille Without Borders," continues the literacy mission in other countries. While stories of triumph over adversity are often compelling, Tenberken gives something more: her own point of view on life as a blind person. Why does she go out of her way to visit stunning landscapes? Why are colors meaningful to her? "I consider myself a very visual person," Tenberken explains, aware that not all blind people-or "sighted" people, for that matter-have "visual imaginations." "Besides, why wouldn't a world informed and described by one's imagination be better than reality?" Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-With no official encouragement-rather, the opposite-Tenberken left Germany after college to set up the first school for blind children in Tibet. She found her way into the backcountry on horseback, searching for students. These youngsters were sometimes kept at the back of the hut to be safe and to avoid shaming their families, as blindness is widely thought to be a punishment from God. She slept in flea-ridden huts, haggled for supplies, made friends who helped with her enterprise, and was caught up in Chinese red tape regarding foreign residents. Her situation was iffy for several years, but ended in triumph and a firm footing for her school. Tenberken is about to move on to other countries in hopes of duplicating her work. Not only do readers learn of her problems and how she overcame them, but they get a fascinating look at behind-the-scenes Tibet as well. It's an education to follow her path through the obstacles and disappointments of presenting and implementing a new idea in an unfamiliar culture.
Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Sabriye Tenberken was born in 1970 near Bonn. When she was two years old she was diagnosed with a retinal disease that caused her to go blind at the age of 13. She took up Tibetan studies, sociology, and philosophy, and is currently running a school for the blind in Lhasa. In 2000, she received the Norgall Prize of the International Womenís Club.