Visually impaired graduates from the south hopeful for the future
By Joe-Chintha Garises
KEETMANSHOOP, 24 June 2022 -The Southern Association for Visually Impaired, which provides opportunities for its members to further their studies, this year sent two students on a four-month course at the Namibia Federation for the Visually Impaired (NFVI) in Windhoek.
Monneth Paulsen and Frieda Charlies are graduates of the programme from 10 February until 15 June 2022. Both of them were born partially visually impaired.
The course offered six subjects including entrepreneurship, counselling and orientation and mobility, while the students thought it would only be about Braille education. These are the subjects that help you learn to be an independent visually impaired person.
“I came back as a different person when I came back from NFVI, it made me realise that I am worth more than just having good vision,” Frieda said.
“This course really helped me to get out of my shell and live freely,” Monneth exclaimed when asked how she found the course. They are both keen on opening a school for the visually impaired in the southern region.
“Counselling helps when one was not born with his disability and got it along the road due to different circumstances, for you not to have self-pity but to be positive about life and still have reason to live beside the disability,” Frieda added.
“The people with good vision should know that the visually impaired also need a place under the sun, we can also do what others without disabilities can do.
“Give us an opportunity to live out our visions.
“My fellow visually impaired stop pitying yourself. If you want to be a better person for yourself, you need to stand up for yourself and not sit and wait on someone to do everything for you,” Frieda stressed. – Namibia Daily News
