When someone goes on a journey, they might go looking for Braille.
That’s exactly what Susanna Halme did on her recently completed trip and today she shares her experiences with us.
Many thanks to our dear Braillepathfinder Susanna, for the interesting travel report and, above all, for her dedication in the search for Braille!
Braille in Tajikistan
I have just returned from a two-week trip to Tajikistan. I have been voluntarily raising funds for development cooperation projects in Tajikistan supported by Finnish NGOs. These projects promote, among other things, the rights, education, and empowerment of people with disabilities. We went to visit these development cooperation projects. After that, us volunteers headed for a mountain trek in Tajikistan’s Fann Mountains.
As always, I eagerly keep an eye out for braille. In Tajikistan I didn’t come across too much of it on my routes, but here are my finds:
– We stayed at a hotel in Dushanbe, and all three of the hotel’s elevators were talking elevators with buttons labeled in braille. This was important because the hotel had 22 floors. Without the audio and braille markings on the buttons, I would probably have ended up on the wrong floor quite a few times.
– While wandering around Dushanbe, we ended up at the National Library, which happened to have an open doors day. We joined a guided tour, and one of the stops was the library’s disability department. There braille books were on display and visitors had the chance to try writing braille with a slate and stylus. The idea was to raise awareness about how blind people read. Handicrafts made by people with disabilities were on sale, and the proceeds supported the library for the visually impaired. I bought myself a nice little pouch and a hat.
– We traveled with Turkish Airlines on the Helsinki–Istanbul–Dushanbe route and back. On every flight, I received the safety instructions in braille. The English section was written without contractions, i.e., not in contracted braille, which I think is a good thing since it makes the document accessible to more readers. For example, in Finland we don’t use contracted braille, and I haven’t learned English braille contractions (though I really should, it’s been on my mind many times).
On the mountain trek my own braille labels played an important role. At the campsite, I was able to find the right medicines from my pouches thanks to the braille labels. I had also labeled things like my water purification tablets, a small face cream bottle, and other small items. So braille was with me throughout the demanding trek in the mountains – which, by the way, was quite an experience as a blind person. At times it even felt too dangerous, but I made it!
You can read more in Finnish about my Tajikistan project at this link. Through the page, you can also donate to the development cooperation projects I mentioned earlier (the donation section is also in English.)
useful links:
Read all articles on: livingbraille.eu
Contact us with your contributions, ideas and questions by: braille200@livingbraille.eu
Social media: Braille 200 on Facebook