As a young girl I remember my parents would every Sunday bring to our home a young boy, a cousin of mine, to spend the day with us.  He had a small disability, and had to be separated from his family for schooling as there was no specialized schooling where they lived.  It was on taking him back one afternoon that I was privileged to meet a little blind boy, Barry, about 4 years old, who was not much younger than me, if I come to think of it now.  It was at one of our first meetings that, while I was kneeling next to him he asked to touch my face,  I realized immediately he wanted to know what I ‘looked’ like, once that was out of the way, we could get on with the usual chit chat.

One Sunday afternoon, I offered to take him back to his room as I usually did - I couldn’t leave him standing on the verandah, hoping that someone would pass by and take his hand, to ensure he wouldn’t fall.  He insisted that he would be okay.  I reluctantly agreed, and we said our goodbyes.  I walked a couple of steps, and then turned around, preparing to run and save him from the inevitable, knocking into something, falling and breaking a leg!

But what I was about to witness would be one of life’s first lessons of a resilient spirit!  Barry got onto his hands and knees ........   yes, I know what you’re thinking, I thought so too, so many years ago,  ...... he was going to crawl back to the dormitory.  He stretched out his hands in front of him touching the floor, but still crawling on his knees, until he felt the edge of the verandah about 4 meters away.  What a clever boy, I thought to myself! But no, it didn’t end there, he stood up, walked backwards for a few meters, and took a running jump, flew through the air, and landed on his feet on the lawn beyond the edge of the verandah!

It took me a while to get over the shakes, it all happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to shout out to him to be careful!  I have no doubt in my mind that Barry made his mark in this tough world!

To the many Barries out there, enjoy this website!

A Big Strong Man

It was some years back that Monty came into our lives, he was a kind big hearted and generous person.  He could do anything on his dad’s ranch, which was thousands of hectares, as well as supervise the numerous staff members needed to run the ranch efficiently.  He completed his secondary school and then went onto a technical college.  He had one secret that he only shared with people after a while, he was dyslexic.

A quick sentence typed into any search engine, and up comes the statistics and the long lists of dyslexic people who have changed the course of history!  Nelson Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, F.W. Woolworth and Walt Disney to name but a few.  How is it then that these jewels of information are hidden from us, and great people like Monty, might take a back seat in life?

It didn’t take long for us to find out how simple it is for dyslexic and blind people to enjoy the internet; most modern computers come with software that enable voice over systems that read aloud everything written on the website.

We would like to ask you, seeing you’ve got this far down the page, if you should perhaps know, a vision impaired, blind or dyslexic person, to speak to their families, and to get them CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET!  It will surely enhance their lives.  Thanks for listening!

We are lost!

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Barry - Remembered Forever

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Many years ago,  light years before the GPS era, we were travelling in Johannesburg with Agatha and Edward, they in their vehicle and we in ours following behind, looking for an address.  After passing the same road a few times, we realised we were lost.  As Edward was in front, they pulled over to the side of the road, and asked a gentleman, who was taking his dog out for a walk, if he could direct them.We watched from our car, the way he explained using his hands, to go left here, then right, then left again.  Wonderful the first person we asked knew exactly where we wanted to go!  As we passed him, we called out a thanks to him as well ............  he wasn’t taking his dog for a walk, he was a blind man, but he came to the aid of sighted people!  Isn’t that great!