A village in Connecticut brings aid to blind children of Ethiopia

FALLS VILLAGE — Lee H. Kellogg School art teacher Chris Hanley recently returned from a trip to northern Ethiopia to check in on the Mekele Blind School.

Hanley has been involved with the school since 2006. She visits every two years.

The school serves between 100 and 130 children at any given time, from roughly ages 6 to 16. The students suffer from trauchoma (which scars the eyes) and from “river blindness” (caused by a parasite).

Hanley said the children arrive “from all over,” often traveling by mule or by foot over considerable distances and inhospitable terrain.

Hanley said Ethiopia has a high rate of blindness in part because of the difficulty of implementing health and hygiene programs in a decentralized country that speaks more than 80 different languages.

The school is run by the government, with considerable assistance from the Friends of Mekele Blind School, a nonprofit.

Over the years the group has provided a Braille library, security walls, learning aids and salaries for staff. 

Together with a U.K. nonprofit, Sentigray, the organization introduced “talking textbooks,” small electronic devices that can hold audio versions of up to 10 textbooks, read in local languages by college students.

Hanley said the curriculum is “limited,” but the overall effort allows children to graduate from the local high school. And the graduation age gap between children who can see and the blind children is narrowing as a result.

The Friends also support the Blind Mothers Union, blind women whose children can see. 

The Friends work with organizations in the U.S.. The late Kevin Purcell and the Torrington Rotary Club provided the funds for the Mekele school garden and gardener. The Falls Village Congregational Church, with Kay Blass leading the effort, provides “hygiene bags.”

Hanley also acknowledged the schools, libraries, churches and social organizations that have hosted her presentations and contributed to the school.

For more information, go to www.mekeleblindschool.org or Friends of Mekele Blind School on Facebook.