Experience of WSD at Delhi ……..

By Shanthakumari Gopal
gshantha@sightsavers.org

It was then, Prasannaji entered into the room, giving his mobile to me, asking…. talk to her. Surprisingly at the other end was Elizabeth Madam, within a fraction of second I could realize I was at the peak of excitement, of course the content of the discussion made me to that level of excitement!! At the end she asked me, Shantha, could you suggest someone who could help us in setting a context for the gender discussion during the world sight day of Vision 2020. Immediately tried recollecting couple of names but in such an excitement I couldn’t even get people’s exact names that I know very personally…. strangeJ.

Later on, forwarded few names that I felt would be ideal for this sort of events. Almost a week passed, unexpectedly, one day received a mail from RD informing me, prepare a ppt on a given topic and you could present it during the WSD event in Delhi. It was a great surprise for me. In fact I had been dreaming to get an invitation to attend the event, vested interest is to get a chance to listen my favorite gender expert’s (whom I suggested) deliberations. Never dreamt I would myself get the chance to present the topic.
Looking at the given topic I was then interested to do it on my own, more than me my colleagues out here encouraged me, saying I could add value to the event!

Throughout the process of developing the ppt, we had lots of discussions within our team, however, Prasannaji and I felt strongly that major part of the presentation should focus clarifying the concept of Gender rather than focusing on technical aspects of eye care and we agreed upon.

The day has come, reached Delhi at around 9 pm on 6 Oct 09. Having waited considerable time at the Airport, managed to trace the taxi, in which the next day’s moderator Dr Shetty had been waiting for more than an hour. With lot of embarrassment got into the taxi and formally introduced myself. By the time finished our introduction we already reached the huge army campus “IDSA”.

As soon as entered the lobby, met Paritosh (from one of our partner), his first response was, so, finally you are the one going to present the topic on Gender, he continued… you know we have listed nearly 21 members for this topic starting from Shobha De (the eminent novelist)!! and your name was last in the list. On the process of finalization, seems my name as the only name stayed back, thus I got the wonderful opportunityJ

When I met Dr Ghose (the chief of RP Centre) his immediate response was, no..no ………this face is not familiar to me in Sightsavers”, then he turned to me and asked, when is Elizabeth expected to the workshop? Which hinted me, it’s his strategy to confirm whether I am from the same Sightsavers which he has been closely associated and known very personally for years. My response might have made him to convince I am from the same Sightsavers!

7 Oct 09, the day was set to begin, it was nicely arranged compact hall with the capacity of around 200 -250 chairs. At a surprise George, Akbar and Prabhat were there, saying, “We three of us have come to give you the full support Shantha, very sweet of themJ.

The main session started where I was the 2nd speaker, as my time was nearing, could feel a small butterfly flying inside the stomach!!. Reason is, although Gender is one of my favorite and a subject very close to my heart, since then preparing the ppt I was bit worried how to put things in 10 mints time. Most of the time people fail to give clarity and the gender sessions ends up with blame games!!. The several Gender sessions I have facilitated during my carrier, sessions always gone beyond hours, where I was comfortably managed to convey the message I wanted.

Finally, my presentation went for nearly 20-25 mits, after the presentation there was a loud response and reactions – in a positive manner which showed people got some strong message from the presentation. Over all it was an amazing experienceJ.

As soon as I was back, got the first message from the tired-less moderator Samvaad, so the lady is back to office…. will you write something about your experience? Shweta sent the message. In one of the mail from Archana, she said, waiting to hear your experience. Thus I made up my mind to write this.

I take this opportunity to send a message herewith, as this is need of the hour; we have to seriously reflect the proportion in which our services are reaching men and women. The simple mathematics is (as per the prevalence rate among women and men 74%-26%) every 26 men we treat for cataract, we need to proportionately treat 74 women……………………..

Another amazing experience, meeting the Ambassador Smt.Hema Malini which was too good!

Thank you for reading…..

White and Red Independence

By Ketan Kothari
kkothari@sightsavers.org

Every year, on October 15 I am reminded that in spite of the fact of being blind, it is still possible to go miles. White cane which is a constant companion has ensured that we are able to achieve almost everything that we desire. Of course, the significance of white cane cannot be exaggerated.

However, the cane as we know was not the same in the years gone by. It was only in the 20th century that the cane has acquired the shape that we see today. In 1921 one James Biggs claimed to have invented the cane in its present state. In 1930’s, with the support of lions movement the white cane became more popular amongst the blind in Europe and the United States. However, at the end of World War II the importance of the cane grew as many war blinded veterans returned and needed support. In 1950’s Dr. Richard Hoover initiated the “Hoover method of walking” which is even prevalent today.

There was a great demand in the USA in 60’s to designate 15 October as “White Cane Safety Day” and on 6 Oct. 1964 American congress passed a resolution which resulted in President Johnson declaring 15 Oct. as “White Cane Safety Day”

Why white? This has been a question that many people have been asking. White is visible in the dark and ensures safety for the blind while they are negotiating the traffic.

Why Red? Red is the colour that is a signal to stop so if a blind pedestrian is walking on the road, the traffic slows down or even stops.

We are all very proud of our white cane as it not only enables to travel independently but also signifies our independence and gives us confidence to travel all over the place and achieve whatever we wish. Sometimes I say “if all desert, I can still survive but without my cane, I am helpless.