Different worlds……..

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We have been providing Braille boards for the blind students of the Hanoi high school I have previously mentioned. We recently had a new batch to deliver but we decided that before we took the Braille boards in we would show them to Brian's young students and let them have a bit of a play and an impromptu Braille lesson.

It’s always nice to spend time at Brian’s school, the children are great and they’re always happy to say hello to us and to spend a bit of time with Dat and listen to what he has to say. They come from a very different world to the kids we usually deal with, but they’re just as delightful and they are very keen to hear about their poorer, blind counterparts. With Brian as their teacher they have learnt that there is a bigger, poorer world out there.

Another thing they learnt is that Braille is certainly not as easy as it looks.

Firstly, to read Braille, you run your fingertips across the page from left to right, feeling the raised bumps that have been imprinted onto the page by a small, sharp device called a stylus. Each letter is a combination of dots placed within a cell (somewhat like a domino) with separate arrangements to denote spaces, capitals etc.

However, to WRITE Braille you must produce the letters across the page from right to left and completely in reverse!

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Dat was in his element as teacher, he loved having the students surround him as he taught and marked their work. Teacher Brian was also a diligent student, trying so hard to learn his letters well!

We really had a lot of fun and the students had a new respect for their blind counterparts at the end of the lesson!

They also enjoyed catching up with Rose and her sour lollies!


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The next day the Braille boards were duly delivered to some very grateful young blind teenagers in Hanoi …….. but that’s a story for another day!


Kind Regards

Alison & Rose


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