Media Release
Mangalore, Nov 15: 'Blind guide the sighted'- can this be true? 'Guiding Stars' a 4-wheeler treasure hunt by Mangalore Coastal Round Table 190 makes this a reality. Once a year, for the past 2 years MCRT 190 together with the Roman & Catherine School for the Blind, Mangalore and Asha Kiran, Chikmaglur have taken visually challenged kids for a fun-filled joyride. Children who are not fortunate enough to have the gift of sight turn into navigators to guide sighted drivers.
This year, Guiding Stars 2012 will take place on Sunday November 18.
How did they do it? The route for Guiding Stars is scripted in Braille. Braille is a language that the visually challenged use to read. Braille consists of a series of dots or prick marks made on thick paper. To a sighted person this will look like a set of random pin pricks, but when those who understand braille run their fingers over these dots, they are able to read out the message encrypted therein. Each letter of the alphabet and number has a specific representation. This is how the visually challenged child can tell the sighted driver where to go.
During the last 2 years and this year as well, Issac Vas and Yatish Baikampady have supported the event by designing the route for the treasure hunt. From the English script that they came up with, a translation to braille was done by Calistus D'sa, principal of Roman & Catherine School for the Blind.
On the day of the event the visually challenged children from the two participating schools will each be assigned to a participating car. Their task will be to guide or navigate their car from start to finish. Each child will be rewarded for their participation and they will be the true stars of the day. The car that solves the maximum clues in the optimum time is the winner. The entire day is an enjoyable one for the blind children. In the past this has included a trip to the beach and a day at the park. This year will be extra special because after the treasure hunt they get to spend time at a specially designed play area at Gandhi park, Gandhi Nagar which co-incidentally has been built by the Mangalore Coastal Round Table.
During the past two years, a large number of Mangaloreans and local businesses have provided financial support for this event. This has helped MCRT 190 provide the participating institutions with some tools to further enhance the visually challenged children's educational needs. These include JAWS software that helps the challenged children with computer usage and braille books to enhance their learning.
This year MCRT 190 expects 60 visually challenged children to participate. This would be a huge increase from the 35 children who participated during the last two years. MCRT 190 welcomes participation from members of the public for this event. In order to match the number of participants with the number of visually challenged navigators, it is necessary to pre-register for the event. Pre-rigistration is simple and hassle free by calling the following numbers 96111-35214 and 99802-81979. There is no participation fee. All that is required is a 4 wheeler and a mindset of cooperation and collaboration to have fun while also making a visually challenged child's day special. The visually challenged kids will be assigned to each participating car by the organisers. Please bring your cars and come support our guiding stars.