News Feature: Light in the darkness at Tibet school for blind children

Shanghai Daily

7th September 2015

News Feature: Light in the darkness at Tibet school for blind children

Kyila, 29, has lived in darkness since she was born.

But she likes teaching her students, who are also blind, a Tibetan song: "We all have bright and beautiful eyes. I see the beautiful souls in the world, and you see the light in our hearts."

"For the first 12 year of my life, I was placed in a safe corner at home, always waiting for my parents to dress or feed me," she said.

Her parents, like many other Tibetans who believe in reincarnation, considered her blindness a punishment for sins in the previous life. "I was sad when people sighed and lamented my fate," she said.

When she was 12, however, Kyila's luck changed thanks to Sabriye Tenberken, a German woman who herself is blind.

At Tenberken's school for blind children on the Tibetan plateau, Kyila learned to read and write in Braille, Tibetan, Chinese and English. She also learned computer and therapeutical massage skills and was given the opportunity to study in the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany.

In 2011, Kyila opened a kindergarten for visually impaired children and named it "Kiki's Kindergarten." Kiki means "happiness" in Tibetan.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=300798