The League of Friends of the Blind – A South African National Treasure
It’s hard for most of us to imagine blindness. True, Andrea Boccelli, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Helen Keller have all lived remarkable lives, but each of them would have traded their success for the gift of sight.
October is Blind Awareness Month and while such calendar events help raise public consciousness of the 1,4 million South Africans who are blind or visually impaired, blindness is not an event – it is a lifetime’s disability. This is where the League of Friends of the Blind (LOFOB) plays a unique role and why the Spirit Foundation is proud to support this amazing institution.
LOFOB empowers, educates, employs, ‘e-nnovates’ and engages. For over nine decades since 1933, LOFOB has provided independent development services for literally thousands of blind and visually impaired individuals from South Africa and Africa.
Its mission is to enable all visually impaired children, adults, their families and care-givers to reach their optimal potential through providing early childhood development, independence development, wellness programmes and to care for and protect the rights of those who, due to circumstances beyond their control, are unable to do so themselves.
LOFOB seeks to achieve this by providing all-encompassing independence development and prevention of blindness service that ensures the successful integration of all visually impaired persons into society.
LOFOB’s infant stimulation programme supports parents through home based stimulatory and age and stage specific development programmes. Parents are guided on techniques, approaches and activities to implement in their homes to prepare children for life.
LOFOB’s preschool centre is located in Grassy Park. Children receive transport to and from the centre and participate in educational/creative sensory development programmes, physical education, Braille literacy, and orientation and mobility training. Educational excursions include visits to animal farms, fire stations, and boat trips. The opportunity to improve sensory awareness is promoted through these outings. Preschool teacher and teacher’s assistant are centre-based and are constantly involved.
Constant support is offered to parents and family members and is open to any parents who want to join. Orientation and mobility instructors focus on teaching white cane techniques. LOFOB’s occupational therapist performs on-site and home visits to families across the Western Cape and the social worker offers support to parents and caregivers on many matters, including childcare grants.
But LOFOB is so much more than this and so during this Blind Awareness Month, why not join the Spirit Foundation in supporting this most worthy of causes?
Simply log on to: https://spiritf.org/ or give as a call on +27 (0) 21 205 3497 and we’ll welcome you.
