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Photo: S. Gopakumar

Striding into the future Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg

But as she says so often, “I’m blind, so what?” Nobody but Sabriye can ask this question better. Highly motivated and adventurous in her own life, she never allows her blindness to “apply brakes” or set limits for herself. And this unchanging faith in her “vision” has seen her playing several roles successfully: activist, horse rider, mountain climber, motivational speaker, author of two books and so on.

As a committed activist who set up a school for the blind in Tibet nine years ago, Sabriye with partner Paul Kronenberg, has been changing lives since then. Now Thiruvananthapuram will host Sabriye’s and Paul’s next mission: The International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs.

A part of ‘Braille Without Borders’ (BWB), the organisation established in Tibet that has been training and empowering blind and visually impaired Tibetan children, the Institute will train motivated blind people from all over the world to start social projects in their own countries. As their web site ( www.braillewithoutborders.org) says, only if blind people themselves speak out this way, can attitudes to blindness change.

It is this spirit that Sabriye and Paul hope to develop through their Institute which is nearing completion by the Vellayani Lake. So why Kerala? “We thought of a place that’s easily accessible, which is beautiful of course, where there are lots of educated people, but still in a country where things can be improved in a good way,” explains Sabriye.

The Institute aims at training anyone who is creative and motivated to do something for society through social and environmental projects. However, Sabriye and Paul consider blindness and visual impairment an advantage, especially when it comes to developmental work and innovative problem solving. “They’ve overcome so many obstacles, so they’re natural problem solvers…they know what it’s like to be out of society…what it’s like to fight back into society,” explains Sabriye.

The students chosen would be good communicators. “They must have a dream to give back to society,” says Sabriye.

Therefore, the Institute will focus on the blind people who will be trained in public speaking, project management and planning, media relations, fund raising and so on. Computer training and a month-long apprenticeship are also an inherent part of the curriculum.

The Institute would also have a community radio station through which blind students would interact with and involve the local community. As the technical brain of BWB, Paul tries to focus on free software, computer systems for the blind on which they learn to work with Braille display and so on. A Braille book production unit on campus will produce all the books for the Institute.

They are also working with a Bangalore-based company and a Thiruvananthapuram-based engineering college to develop affordable and light Braille typewriters.

Funding has always been a huge challenge for BWB. Thankfully, some sponsors like Infosys who sponsored the hostel building have been a huge help. But they’re always on the lookout for people who could sponsor prospective students or could contribute to the operating costs.

Having the right team of teachers and staff on board is also a concern. The Institute is likely to start functioning by June 2008 with short seminars while the one-year course for social entrepreneurs may be in place by January 2009.

Sabriye and Paul hope that in 10 years, they would be forgotten while the BWB philosophy would be well known the world over. Then “we have the freedom to do new things”, she says, briskly navigating herself around the construction site, with Paul, steadily advancing towards their goal.

The Institute’s campus itself is a statement in innovation. Built by Costford, the Institute incorporates wind, solar energy, ecosan toilets, rainwater harvesting. The campus has two colossal tanks that will harvest rainwater. There is also a wastewater treatment plant in place.

Interestingly, the gymnasium hopes to utilise the energy spent on exercise machines to pump water up to the water channels built to keep insects away from the buildings. The natural draft and the lake nearby keep the buildings “air conditioned.”

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