Let's help blind children refugees from Ukraine

Dear friends!

Thank you very much for your support! Due to your support our Ukrainian 1000 blind children receive free Braille books with illustration, they can get the needed development and be literate. We get feedbacks on how important it is for them to have such books. These benefits for our blind children are due to your contributions.

The knowledge gained by us during the trips to Poland and Sweden, supported by the Global Given, we invest in our books.

1. During the reporting period, we have 4 new books printed in Braille, which were provided for free of charge to libraries for the blind children of Kharkov, Kiev, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Vinnitsa, Uzhgorod.

2. We made new tactile books for very small children "Touch piggy bank" and "Glove".

3. Our Resource Center has signed the first cooperation agreement with the contemporary Ukrainian writer Larisa Nitsoy who writes fairy tales for children, so we could print her fairy tales in Braille for our children. On May, 21 in Kiev, and on May, 25 in Kharkov, there will take place meeting for the small blind readers with the writer. Children will receive a collection of fairy tales written by Larissa Nitsoy "Nesluhi i vereduni" printed in Braille. With the help of tactile illustration the blind children will get acquainted with a cat called Murkot, Lesyunya Veredulya and other heroes of fairy tales.

4. In May, in Kiev “Ostrovsky” Library there will take place an exhibition of Braille “design for all” books published by our resource center.

Dear Friends, thank you again for your support you provide to pur project to create Braille books for the blind children! Please, pay attention to our new project Introduce 30 Blind Youth To European Values.Our blind children become older and they face many barriers and challenges on the adult world. In Ukraine it is impossible to find a regular job according to the profession received, navigate independently, and get education without barriers. With the help of this project we plan to introduce our blind you to the European standards of living, empower them to fight for their rights in Ukraine and promote independent life. In Bulgaria 30 blind youth will get the needed knowledge and skills to implement them into their NGO’s potential to represent their rights and fight for them.To support our new project follow this link

http://globalgiving.org/projects/introduce-30-blind-youth-to-european-values

Dear Supporters, due to your support we make the lives of Ukrainian blind children easier and more comfortable! We LOVE our children and we do our best to help them enjoy their lives and be happy!

Sincerely,

Valentina Butenko

Dear friends,

Thank you for your support of our project "Create Braille Books For 1000 Blind Children". Due ro the support  of GlobalGiving 100 blind children in Ukraine  of preschool and primary school age received books in Braille (design for all books) with a relief pictures inside and in Ukrainian language.

We published new books in Braille and we gave them for free to libraries  for blind children in Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Kiev, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Vinnitsa, Koristen, Kherson, Uzhgorod. 

We  worked on the adaptation and development of new Braille books for children: "Brothers Kondratiki", "Who is the strongest on earth," "Singing Glade".

The blind children were happy to receive a gift of books and cards with embossed patterns on Christmas Day.

In  February seven  experts acquainted with the work of the project «STUDIO TYFLOGRAFYKY» (Czerwonak, Poland) for the design and manufacture of relief maps, charts, drawings, and social enterprise of young people with severe visual impairment MasterPunkt (Poznan).

A  group of our experts studied the Swedish experience of adaptation and design of books for blind children.We meet the production team at MTM (Swedish Agency for Accessible Media). MTM is under the administration of the Ministry of Culture responsible for the production of tactile picture books .

Agencies task is to ensure that all persons with reading impairments can access literature and daily newspapers through media appropriate to them. MTM activities include the production and distribution of talking books and Braille books. MTM is the central lending facility of these materials for Swedish libraries, with the legimus.se digital library acting as the hub in this area. A large and crucial field is research and development relating to new techniques for production and reading. One special mandate is to provide university and college students access to their required reading through media appropriate to them. February 18 we visited the printing house in Fagersta.

As a result of the study trip to the Swedish and Polish experience of adaptation and production of books and manuals for blind children we met with international standards and modern technologies of quality training of relief images for blind children of preschool age.

We have found partners and new ideas to develop and improve our work and our project  to create a mini-printing "World at Your Fingertips."

In Sweden we boughtnew equipment improved braille printer Everest D V4.   This allowed us to improve the quality and speed of printing books.

We started to carry out orders to print Braille (design for all books) for adult people. We adapted and published for blind children "Regula" for the Secular Franciscan Order. 

We are keen on positive change in lives of the Blind children in Ukraine and we do our best to make them enjoy their rights fully!

 Please, stay in touch and follow our project progress.

 Our kind regards,

 Valentina Butenko