吉拉，一位藏族盲女孩的故事

現(xiàn)在，我有一個(gè)美好的夢(mèng)想。我夢(mèng)想開(kāi)辦一所盲童幼兒園，它也許安家在西藏，也許落腳在其他地方，總之是一個(gè)需要這樣一所學(xué)校的地方。

我1985年出生于珠穆朗瑪峰附近的小城拉查。我家有6口人，我的父母、兩個(gè)哥哥，我的姐姐和我。我的父親、哥哥和我都是盲人，我們平時(shí)都需要在母親的照顧之下才能正常生活。而盲人在西藏是備受人們歧視的，因?yàn)樗麄冋J(rèn)為眼盲是前世作孽的報(bào)應(yīng)，我們因此不能離開(kāi)家門(mén)而且也沒(méi)有和其他孩子一同玩耍的權(quán)利。我的父母為了我們竭盡所能，可就是這樣，我們家的生活依然困苦異常，直到我12歲那年之前都沒(méi)有什么起色。

當(dāng)我12歲的時(shí)候，家里把我送去了西藏最大的城市拉薩讀書(shū)。那時(shí)的我既不懂如何著裝也不會(huì)打理洗漱，只是操著一口藏語(yǔ)，且從未接受過(guò)任何教育。來(lái)到學(xué)校的第一天，心中一則以喜一則以懼，不過(guò)很快我就發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)校的同學(xué)也都是盲人，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)這里簡(jiǎn)直就像人間天堂一樣，我們這些同病相憐的人也就匯聚在這里同舟共濟(jì)。當(dāng)天晚些時(shí)候，我們認(rèn)識(shí)了學(xué)校的藏族老師，還有兩個(gè)歐洲人。他們都和我握了手，這也是我平生第一次遇見(jiàn)歐洲人。見(jiàn)面之后，老師和我們并排坐下，一邊喝奶茶一邊聊天。當(dāng)我問(wèn)到這個(gè)盲人學(xué)校是怎么創(chuàng)立的，我感覺(jué)她似乎笑容可掬，并且這樣答道:“就是剛才那位來(lái)自歐洲的女士Sabriye啊，她也是一位盲人，不過(guò)她的那個(gè)同伴Paul是個(gè)視力健全的人，而且很務(wù)實(shí)。他們?nèi)硕己芎玫摹薄！安弧豢赡馨?”我說(shuō)，“盲人怎么能開(kāi)辦學(xué)校。盲人除了吃喝睡，他們不是什么都不能做嗎?所有人都這么跟我說(shuō)。”“如果你不相信的話就自己?jiǎn)枂?wèn)她吧。”我的老師說(shuō)。

我并沒(méi)有去問(wèn)這個(gè)問(wèn)題，而這個(gè)疑問(wèn)終有一天得到了解答。一天，Sabriye向我們講述了她自己的故事，告訴了我們她是如何著手創(chuàng)辦這樣一個(gè)藏族盲童學(xué)校的。在我聽(tīng)來(lái)，她的這些經(jīng)歷好像天方夜譚般讓人難以置信。當(dāng)分享完她的故事之后，坐在板凳上的我們似乎都若有所思，思考著我們自己的生活。我曾經(jīng)認(rèn)為自己與視力健全的人大相徑庭甚至是相去甚遠(yuǎn)，幸運(yùn)的是，我現(xiàn)在意識(shí)到這并不是事實(shí)。盡管我是一位盲人，但是我并不愚笨，我可以做正常人能做的所有事情。這個(gè)啟迪，開(kāi)始了我對(duì)面前嶄新世界的展望，我感到周身無(wú)比的輕松，充滿了能量。Sabriye為我打開(kāi)了人生的一扇光輝大門(mén)，而這光芒足以照耀我至永久。

日子一天天過(guò)去，我漸漸地熟悉了這所學(xué)校。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)學(xué)校寬敞而整潔，學(xué)校的設(shè)施也都是現(xiàn)代化的，而我的出生地拉查根本沒(méi)有這些。在這里我第一次接觸到了電，電視機(jī)、電話和其他一些我連聽(tīng)也沒(méi)聽(tīng)過(guò)的東西，一切對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)都是新鮮的。那時(shí)，整個(gè)學(xué)校只有6個(gè)學(xué)生，包括我和我的兩個(gè)哥哥，好像無(wú)人不驚訝我們3個(gè)盲孩子居然來(lái)自同一個(gè)家庭。就這樣，我在這所學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)了6年時(shí)間。

在學(xué)校中我們首先學(xué)習(xí)的是如何著裝得體，整理床鋪，進(jìn)食以及進(jìn)行洗漱。學(xué)會(huì)這些之后，我們繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)了漢語(yǔ)、英文、計(jì)算機(jī)、定向和布萊葉。布萊葉是幫助盲人進(jìn)行讀寫(xiě)的盲文。用了3年的時(shí)間，我學(xué)完了這些課程。在這之后的3年中，我接受了成為一名按摩師的訓(xùn)練，掌握了中式按摩，針灸以及理療的技術(shù)。結(jié)束了學(xué)校的學(xué)習(xí)后，我便同我另外一位盲人朋友辦起了一個(gè)不大的理療診所。在診所工作的一年里，我有很多機(jī)會(huì)同旅游的外國(guó)客人接觸，同時(shí)也提高了我的外語(yǔ)水平。

而在2005年，我又走出了國(guó)門(mén)。我來(lái)到了英國(guó)一所語(yǔ)言學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)英文。那學(xué)校在一個(gè)很小的鎮(zhèn)上，我喜歡那里，雖然街上混跡著不少頹廢的人，但卻是一個(gè)友好而快樂(lè)的小鎮(zhèn)。

這是我第一次走出西藏只身前往一個(gè)遙遠(yuǎn)的國(guó)家，我知道這旅程必定舉步維艱，但令人興奮，也許這就是痛并快樂(lè)著吧。走出去之后，那么多截然不同，那么多前所未聞，都帶給我磨合的痛苦，不一樣的食物，不一樣的天氣，只是這些，在我離開(kāi)之前就預(yù)料到了，而且我知道我能夠面對(duì)它。

英國(guó)歸來(lái)之后，我便就職于“盲文無(wú)國(guó)界”項(xiàng)目，從事英文盲文教師工作一年，與我的朋友一起作為一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)支持著這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的運(yùn)行。隨項(xiàng)目而來(lái)的諸多挑戰(zhàn)也給予了我無(wú)與倫比的體驗(yàn)。

現(xiàn)在，我有一個(gè)美好的夢(mèng)想。我夢(mèng)想開(kāi)辦一所盲童幼兒園，它也許安家在西藏，也許落腳在其他地方，總之是一個(gè)需要這樣一所學(xué)校的地方。

在西藏，沒(méi)有接收年幼盲童的特殊學(xué)校。我認(rèn)為讓這些孩子擁有一個(gè)特殊的環(huán)境，接受特殊的教育是十分必要的，這些孩子需要學(xué)習(xí)諸如交流，生活技能，布萊葉盲文以及其它定向技能。我同樣希望他們可以在較早就獲得自信，意識(shí)到他們像其他孩子一樣享有生活的種種權(quán)利。

I was born in 1985 near Mount Everest in the small city called Lhatsa. In my family there were six people-my parents， two brothers， me and my older sister. My life was very difficult until I was twelve years old because my two brothers， my father and myself were blind.My mother had to take care of us. At that time being blind in Tibet was really difficult because people thought of blindness as a punishment for doing something wrong in a past life. We could never go out and play with other children. My parents wanted to do everything for us and would not let us do things for ourselves.

When I was 12 I went to school in the biggest city in Tibet called Lhasa. At that time I did not know how to dress myself and wash myself. I only spoke my mother tongue which is Tibetan and had no previous education. On my first day at the school I was a bit nervous and very excited. I met lots of students who were also blind. It felt as thoughI was in heaven， to be amongst children of my own age who had the same experience as me. Later that day I met all the Tibetan house staff and teachers， and two European people who shook hands with me. They were the first European people I had ever met in my life. After that I sat down with our house mother and we drank huge cups of butter tea while we talked about my life so far.I asked her how this school started and she answered with a big big smile on her face: 'Sabriye the European lady you just met， she is also blind but her partner Paul has his sight and is very very practical. They are both very kind people'.'Oh no no' I said， 'it's not true that a blind lady set up this school. Blind people can't do anything except eat， drink and sleep. That's what people have always told me.''Well go and ask her if you don't believe me.' My house mother said.

One day Sabriye told us her own life story and all her adventures in starting this wonderful school for the Tibetan blind children.For me what she had done was unbelievable.When she had finished her story we all sat down and thought about our lives.I had always believed that I was totally different from people who have sight.Fortunately this is not true.Although I am blind， I am not stupid， and I can do everything that people with sight can do.This was a revelation to me， I was seeing a new world. I felt free and full of energy.Sabriye had opened a huge door in my life which would stay open forever.

As I was discovering my new school， I found it to be quite big and very clean. Everything seemed to be very modern compared to my house in Lhatsa where I was born. It was the first time I had experienced electricity， TV， telephone and lots of other things which I never heard about before， so it was very exciting. At that time there were only six students including us， me and my two brothers. We all came to the school at the same time and everybody was very surprised that three blind children came from one family. I have been going to the school for six years.

The first thing learned was how to dress myself，how to make my own bed， how to eat and how to wash myself. After that I learned Chinese， English， how to use a computer， orientation， and Braille. Braille is the way in which blind people can read and write.In the first three years I learned all these things. In the next three years I trained as a professional masseuse. I learned Chinese massage， acupuncture and physiotherapy. When I finished school I set up a small physiotherapy clinic of my own， with one of my friends， who is also blind. I worked there for a year， which was a great chance to improve my English with the clients， who were tourists.

I went to England to study English in 2005 in a language school called the English School of Totnes. It's a very small town and lots of hippy people around but I liked it very much because it's a very happy， friendly town.

It was my first time to travel outside of Tibet on my own and I knew that it was going tobe very tough and very exciting as well. It was quite hard at first because everything was different and new for me， such as the food， the weather and so on， but I had anticipated it for a long time before I left and I knew that I could face it.

After I came back from the UK， I worked in the Braille Without Borders project for a year as a English Braille trainer and running the project with my friends as a team.

It was a great experience with lots of new challenges.

Now I have a beautiful dream of my own. My dream is to open a kindergarten for the blind in Tibet or another place where there is a need for such a school.

In Tibet there are no special schools for younger blind children. I think it's very important that these children have their own environment and special education. I think it's very important that small kids should start to learn such things as communication， daily living skills， Braille， and orientation at early age.I also want them to gain self-esteem early so that they feel they have the rights to do what other kids do!