“I have seen true blindness in eyes that shine with light.”
March 4, 2016
I’ve been asked many times in the last few months, “What’s the connection with ChildVision?”, “How did you chose ChildVision as your charity partner?” etc. etc. etc. There is no elaborate story. I have no children using the service, know only a handful of people who suffer from a visual impairment or blindness, have no personal or family relationship to any of the staff and up until the middle of last year had only that brief sense of what ChildVision did based on hearsay, social channels and the obligatory Google search. There is however this story.
I remember my first day going into meet Ruth Hickey, ChildVision’s fundraising and communication lead, ringing the buzzer and seating myself patiently in reception. With work commitments I had arrived late in the day, but while many of the children had gone home by the time I got there, the hall was still abuzz with passing activity — a young man and his guide dog ascending the stairs, an older looking lady patiently using her cane to guide herself down the same set. Sitting there, I wondered what it was like to be blind. To be unable to see, to interact with the world as I did. To learn, to grow, to just be. It was then Ruth arrived.
I can only speak for myself, but I propose that you too would have sat in that reception and perhaps had many of the same thoughts — there’s no guilt in trying to step into someone else’s shoes. That said, what I’ve since realized is that the eyes through which we view experiences like that, the way we pigeonhole another’s world, another’s capabilities (or lack of them), as they relate to ours, is our own undoing.
In the weeks and months since, I’ve learnt a great deal. Guided by ChildVision’s expertise and support, thousands of children with sight loss and other profound disabilities learn to bravely overcome their obstacles and reach their full potential. I’ve had the undeniable privilege to be among babies, children, teenagers and young adults, who are defined not by what they lack, not by what we think is ‘missing’. These exceptional children know nothing of that world, the world most of society builds for them — they literally experience the world before them as it is, and like each and every one of us, they choose life. Defined by their proficiencies, their bravery, their fortitude, their generosity of spirit and their sense of self. And when you’re with them, it’s there in plain daylight for all to see.
Reflecting on my experiences, I remembered a simple line of text I scribed in very different surroundings many, many moons ago.
‘Wildside Backpackers’ was located near the town of Knysna on South Africa’s garden route and it was the stuff of dreams. The front door faced onto 16 kilometers of open beach, down along the Goukamma Nature Reserve; the back to Buffel’s Bay beach. Wildside was a backpackers that was literally perched amongst the rocks on either side.
It was a special place. The type that would take your breath away. A place where you felt the kinetic energy from the moment you arrived; where a 1–2 day stay would often becomes weeks if not occasionally months. By day nature wrapped around us — the irrepressible sound of waves on rock and natures daily HD display of dolphin, whale and wildlife sightings. You literally had to have your eyes closed to miss it.
On one particular night, we set off on a ‘rockpool safari’. Torches in hand I guided 10 backpackers or so around the adjacent rocky landscape at low tide. Eyes focused on our small beams, nature revealed it’s simple beauty; the crawl of sea anemones, small fish, crustaceans and even octopus in our slivers of battery light. An hour passed, it was time to return to the campfire — reflect on all the creatures great and small. As I collected the torches up, three of the party looking a little bemused, left with the parting shot, “Well, that was a waste of time”. It irked me such that my diary entry that night made reference — “I have seen true blindness in eyes that shine with light”.
Now, 17 years later, I see many more parallels between those crispy, sun-filled days at Wildside and those I have been fortunate enough to spend at ChildVision. That unmistakable kinetic energy that flows through the environment, the staff, the kids, the parents, the animals and plants they tend to. The sense that good work and intention is all around you.
Moreover, it’s that lasting sense that it’s all truly life-changing, meaningful and enduring. That even as a visitor you’ll leave the place as a better, more informed person. A place called ChildVision where children can grow, learn and just be, themselves.
