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Ahmed is five years old. His sight is
very limited and he needs specialist support to learn to cope with
everyday life. The Helen Keller Centre has evolved to provide him and
his fellow students with an oasis of calm in what is a terrifying
world for blind and visually impaired children. Situated on the edge
of Jerusalem, it provides specialist teaching staff to help the pupils
overcome their disability with the aim of enabling them to fulfil
their potential in a sighted world.
Over the last few years the Helen Keller Centre has faced many
challenges. Heightened levels of security have made the journey to and
from the Centre more difficult than ever before and have resulted in
increased transport costs. In addition, the Centre has started a
series of repairs and improvements and more are planned for 2008,
including major work on the windows and fire escapes. New staff are
also being recruited to ensure that children like Ahmed continue to
get the best possible start in life.
The Helen Keller Centre quietly continues to make a difference in its
own individual way to the lives of the pupils for whom it cares. It is
a shining example of Christian love in action, where staff and
students work together against overwhelming odds, as the Principal
Suad Younan says, “There are many barriers outside the Centre but at
the Helen Keller Centre we break down barriers.”
Please help her to continue breaking down the walls around these
children by
donating
online, completing and sending a
Direct Debit form
or sending your cheque or charity
voucher (with your name and address, or supporter reference, on the
back) to me at BibleLands Lent 2008 Appeal, FREEPOST, PO Box
50, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP15 7BR. Ahmed and his fellow pupils at the
Helen Keller Centre deserve a fighting chance to have a place in the
world.
A single gift of:
£7.82 will cover the cost of the devoted staff team working with
Ahmed or Auhoud for one day
£55.00 will do the same for one week
£219 will do the same for a whole month.
Any amount you are able to give towards the cost of helping Ahmed
and Auhoud is most welcome. If you feel you wish to make a regular
monthly commitment, examples of the value over a year of such a gift by monthly
Direct Debit are:
Alternatively you might like to consider sponsoring a child at the
Centre for £15 per month. You will receive an annual progress report
and termly updates on the progress of the Centre. Please
email Christine Gallagher
or contact her at
BibleLands, FREEPOST, PO Box 50,
High Wycombe, Bucks, HP15 7BR if you wish to do this.
Our
2008
Lent Study Guide - A New Vision for Life - has as its focus the
work of the Helen Keller Centre. You may wish to use this to raise the
profile of the Helen Keller Centre in your church or group, or for
your own private study.
However you choose to give, we can assure you that your support will
make a direct impact of the lives of Ahmed, Auhoud and their fellow
pupils.
Yours sincerely |
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Helen
Keller Centre: The Helen
Keller Centre in Jerusalem is a school for blind children with a
reputation for excellence that has become both National and
International.
The Centre was founded as a home for blind girls 1890s by English
missionary, Mary Lovell.
Growing from strength to strength, the School was visited by Dr
Helen Keller in the 1950s. She was impressed by the work and agreed
to her name being adopted in the newly named Helen Keller Centre. |
Information Leaflet
[743kB pdf] |
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Today the Centre provides an education for some 70 children aged 3
to 13 years, covering all the usual curricular subjects, as well as
teaching a range of additional skills that will enable these young
people to lead independent lives. These include:
-
mobility
training in daily living skills, orientation, speech and
occupational therapies
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Arabic
Braille and computer skills to help the children pursue career
opportunities that were previously thought impossible.
-
training in
gymnastics and athletics to incredible levels of competitive
achievement.
As the
children reach secondary age, the Centre supports them in their
transfer to mainstream school. It provides training for teachers and
ongoing support from the Centre to ensure that each child is
integrated and accepted by their teachers and peers. The Centre
regularly arranges exchanges with mainstream schools and more
recently, took the pioneering step of offering an education to a
number of children without visual impairment.
In a culture where disability is still marginalised, theses measures
make a huge difference to young people’s lives.
The Centre also works closely with other organisations in Jerusalem
for children with disabilities such as the BibleLands-supported
Princess Basma Centre, to make sure that all the children’s needs
are met.
Many students face great difficulty in getting to and from the
Centre and their homes. Travel restrictions in Jerusalem make these
journeys time consuming, dangerous, harrowing and often humiliating
as children with visual impairment struggle to cross checkpoints,
barbed wire and road blocks. Sometimes they are unsuccessful and are
forced to return home.
In response to this situation, the Centre provides a residential
section for 20 children who have a long way to travel each day. They
are looked after by care staff who provide for their welfare and
social needs.
Living with disability is very challenging for the parents of
children with visual impairment. The Centre supports these families
to help them respond to the needs of their child at home.
For children living in this troubled region, life can be traumatic.
The Centre organises camps in the summer, giving them the
opportunity to relax and have fun alongside children without visual
impairment. It also helps them in their all-round development.
Mrs Suad Younan is the Principal of the Helen Keller Centre. She is
an Israeli citizen who is also a Palestinian Christian. Growing up
in an Israeli community, it was taboo to declare her Palestinian
roots but she also learnt a deep appreciation her heritage and
culture and the richness of living in a mixed community. These
values have stayed with her and she now works hard to encourage
tolerance and understanding at the Centre, where Christian and
Muslim staff and children work and play together.
The Centre faces difficult times, with increasing travel
restrictions and the separation wall bringing their own set of
problems for visually impaired children. Suad remains resolute in
her determination to give these children the best possible start in
life and to encourage and support them and their families through
their years of education and into adult life. Suad explains,
“There are many barriers outside the Centre but at the Helen Keller
Centre we break down barriers.”
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Ahmed is from Nablus and has two sisters and one brother. He has low
vision and lives in the residential section of the Helen Keller
Centre.