Braille Scriptures

Braille Scriptures	Project Pack
According to the World Health Organisation about 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide and 45 million of them are blind. For many Braille is the only way they can read. 2009 marks the 200th birthday of Louis Braille. Becoming blind at the age of three, Louis knew what it was like to be unable to read and he set about creating a system for blind people to read and write. He devoted his life to the creation of the Braille alphabet and the introduction of it into the lives of those who were blind. At present, a complete Bible in Braille has only been published in about 35 languages out of the total of approximately 6,900 active world languages. The cost of producing a complete Braille Bible is about 50 times higher than a printed Bible, and one Braille Bible requires about 40 bulky volumes. About 87% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries. In many African countries visual problems are a serious public health issue. There are 9 million visually impaired people living in sub-Saharan Africa. Bible Societies are involved in a range of Braille translation projects as well as initiatives to make the Braille scriptures available to those who urgently need them and in training programmes to help people read and write Braille.
In Mali over a million people suffer from visual impairments. The Bible Society in Mali is working to create at least 4 Braille biblical libraries to help people read the Bible for a better interaction with the Gospel.
The Bible Society of Ghana plans to provide copies of the Old and New Testaments to Special Schools. This is a follow-up to an initiative in 2005 when Braille scriptures were presented to some schools but they still do not have enough to meet their needs.
In Francophone Africa Bible Societies are working with partner organisations in a programme to help people, especially children and youth, learn to read and write Braille.
There are also initiatives to provide large print Scriptures, audio Scriptures including MegaVoice and Proclaimer solar powered units.
Will YOU help make the Scriptures available to those who are visually impaired? If you can help please send your gift to The National Bible Society of Ireland, 41 Dawson Street, Dublin 2 marking your gift 'Braille'.