Brailee Without Borders

http://www.braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/index_nov_07.html

for donation:
http://www.braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/support.html
http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/

Dear reader,
Welcome to the website of Braille Without Borders.

Per WHO statistics, 161 million persons live with a disabling visual impairment, of whom 37 million are blind and 124 million are persons with low vision. Every 5 seconds someone becomes blind, every minute somewhere a child goes blind. About 90% of them live in developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Regions. 9 out of 10 blind children in developing countries have no access to education.

Braille Without Borders wants to empower blind people from these countries so they themselves can set up projects and schools for other blind people. In this way the concept can be spread across the globe so more blind and visually impaired people have access to education and a better future.

To realize these plans we need your support.

Thank you very much!

Sabriye Tenberken
Paul Kronenberg


PROJECT IN TIBET

INTRODUCTION

Before the opening of the Project, blind children in the Tibet Autonomous Region did not have access to education. They led a life on the margin of society with few chances of integration. According to official statistics 30.000 of the 2.5 million inhabitants of the T.A.R. are blind or highly visually impaired. Compared to most areas in the world this is well above the average ratio. The causes of visual impairment or blindness are both climatic and hygienic: dust, wind, high ultra-violet light radiation, soot in houses caused by heating with coal and/or yak dung, and lack of vitamin A at an early age. Inadequate medical care also plays a role. Cataracts are widespread. Indeed governmental and private organizations have set up eye-camps where medical surgery is being performed and local doctors are taught to do the procedure. However, there is a large group of blind people that can't be helped this way. For this group of people the rehabilitation and training centre for the blind, has been established.

http://www.braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/index_nov_07.html

for donation:
http://www.braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/support.html
http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/

Back to some natural healthcare, in Mustang, Nepal

http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/2010/01/9/Nation/16692

Striking a balance
Brave effort to revive traditional Tibetan medicine in Upper Mustang

FROM ISSUE #484 (08 JAN 2010 - 14 JAN 2010) | TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUBSCRIBE NT PRINT REFER WRITE TO EDITOR SHARE


HAPPY GRADUATE: Rinzin Wangmo says it isn't just about the certificate. "I want to serve the local people as much as possible, as the other amchis do," she says.
"Medicine is passed down like a religious lineage, from father to son. It is also like a dance and a game. People offer what they know, sometimes adding new ideas from what they have seen and done. In our tradition, we learn to take from our teacher's ideas and our books to create new ideas, which come into full bloom like a lotus flower when combined with the soil of experience."

Gyatso Bista, Co-founder of Lo Kunphen Medical School, Upper Mustang

For brothers Gyatso and Tenzin Bista, Rinzin Wangmo could well be a lotus flower coming into bloom. She is the first government-recognised Community Amchi Assistant (CAA) of Himalayan Traditional Medicine (HMT) in Nepal. Teaching her juniors in Lo Kunphen Medical School and treating locals in the surrounding communities, she is carrying on an ancient tradition that might have been lost in Nepal if not for the efforts of the Bistas.

There was a time when there were about 30 traditional amchis (practitioners of traditional Tibetan medicine) in Mustang, approximately one for every village. Now there are only seven, the inevitable result of out-migration and a shift towards a cash-based economy that undervalues indigenous knowledge provided for free through masters and apprentices.

Expert amchi practitioners and hereditary physician astrologers to the Mustangi King in Lo-Manthang, Gyatso and Tenzin Bista, picked the threat to this millennia-old tradition early.

They then founded Lo Kunphen Medical School in 2000 and designed a two-year CAA curriculum for Class Eight graduates. Now they are looking to upgrade the HMT course to a Certificate in Amchi Medicine for CAA or SLC graduates.

HMT is based on the herbal and natural products of Tibet and the Himalaya, and is a rigorous discipline that has been practiced for thousands of years. Practitioners develop a close relationship with their patients, and attend to chronic conditions such as hepatitis and diabetes, incorporating diagnosis by pulse and urine analysis and holistic treatment combining physical and spiritual wellness.

In the age of modern medicine, some aspects of HMT - particularly its focus on Buddhist philosophy - may seem a little antiquated. But it is sometimes the only treatment available to locals in remote areas such as Dolpo, Upper Mustang and Mugu. What's more, the services are provided for free by practitioners, old and new, mirroring the ideal of the Bodhisattva who sacrifices personal benefit for that of the community.


Lo Kunphen's ultimate aim may be to produce HMT graduates to safeguard indigenous knowledge. But the Bista brothers appear to have grasped why HMT was under threat in the first place, and have sought to integrate traditional medicine's aims with modern requirements. With the help of the Japan Foundation, WWF-Nepal and US-based Drokpa, Lo Kunphen Medical School and the Himalayan Amchi Association also support the cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants.

It's widely acknowledged that Nepal has among the richest diversity of medicinal plants in the world. A strong, government-accredited community of amchis - linked with practitioners in Tibet, Ladakh, Bhutan and Mongolia - could prove essential to promoting sustainable utilisation of our ecological resources. This in turn could tie into a strategy for regional and international marketing of HMT that could provide the financial resources for its continued development, and that of the traditional communities that constitute its heartland.

Yoji Kamata

Free healtcare in Boud Gaya, Jan 3rd to 10th.

http://serajhehealth.org/sjhcc/index.html

ENVIRONMENT CARE PROJECT

Environment protection is another scope of service in which SJHCC has made commendable contributions for the Monastic community. The maintenance of cleanliness, proper and systematic disposal of waste from the monastic community is undertaken by SJHCC. We have employed six green workers to clean the surroundings of the monastic community, collect and dispose the wastes.

Due to lack of scientific method to dispose the wastes, the present system of waste disposal causes health and environmental hazards. The committee has earmarked a project to improve the facility and dispose the wastes scientifically to minimize the hazards in the long run.

East West | Travel Blog by Kunda Dixit | Nepali Times | nepalitimes.com

East West | Travel Blog by Kunda Dixit | Nepali Times | nepalitimes.com

Future Generation's Projects in Nepal and Tibet

CBC Segment on the Tibet Four Great Rivers Project
Mar 17, 2008 - 11:03

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1853180223642458811&hl=en


http://www.future.org/news/20091021/community-leaders-eight-countries-graduate-kathmandu-nepal

Community Leaders from Eight Countries Graduate in Kathmandu, Nepal
Posted on Wed, 10/21/2009 – 18:06
Franklin, West Virginia. On October 7, 2009, students from eight countries graduated with a Master’s Degree in Applied Community Change and Conservation at the Gokarna King’s Forest in Nepal. In this 700-acre forest reserve in the Kathmandu Valley, students were awarded a master’s degree for their leadership in conservation and social development among the world’s most underserved communities.

Honorary guests and dignitaries included the former Finance Minister and Foreign Minister, Dr. Bekh Bahadur Thapa, member of the former royal family, Bishou Bikram Shah, Rev Dr. A. Antonysamy S.J., Principal of St. Xavier’s College, and Mr. Karna Shakya, conservationist and founder of the famous Kathmandu Guest House.

Graduating students came from Bhutan, Bolivia, China, Egypt, Peru, Mozambique, Uganda, and the United States. Every student serves communities. Their professional backgrounds range from economists and medical doctors to government agents and community development specialists.

The Tibet Fund (healthcare and education programs)

PROGRAMS IN TIBET

In 1994, The Tibet Fund established its Tibet Assistance Program to address the neglected medical, educational and economic needs of the Tibetan people. Working primarily with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Tibet, the Program has launched small-scale, well-managed programs to educate and care for orphans, offer scholarship opportunities for higher education, and provide eye care and blindness prevention services. For the past 11 years, The Tibet Fund has administered a State Department-funded cultural exchange program that enables Tibetan scholars and professionals to study and gain internship experience in the U.S. The program has also provided college-level English language and computer skills training in Tibet.

http://www.tibetfund.org/prog_tibet.html

Projects in the highlands, surrounding areas, (solar)

Himalaya Projects

The Himalayas feature some of the harshest environments in the world, requiring ingenuity and re-tooling to address conditions unlike any found elsewhere.

Our current projects in the region have presented us with many stimulating challenges and instilled in us a great respect for the ingenuity and perseverance of the people of this region.

http://www.oneearthdesigns.org/projects/himalayas
http://www.tew.org/geography/t2000.forest.html