A Guiding Hand
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- Writer 총관리자
- 보도일자 2012-01-04
The 3rd Shake Hands Day, hosted by Sookmyung Braille Translation Volunteers, was held in the Science Building on Saturday, October 3. Volunteers and visually impaired students enjoyed a special bond while singing and clapping together.
Events of the day included a concert performed by visually impaired girls, with performances both moving and upbeat. When one participant named Eun-hae started singing a song in a feeble voice, several in the audience became misty-eyed, but tears changed to cheers when Ye-sel played the song Man is a Ship and Woman is a Harbor on saxophone with the audience clapping in time.
The 3rd Shake Hands Day, founded by the Sookmyung Braille Translation Volunteers, opened in Auditorium 615 of the Science Building on Saturday, October 3 at 11 am for students who are visually impaired. This is the third Shake Hands Day since he first was held February 2010 and the second in September 2010, all held to promote mutual friendship and communion among Braille translation volunteers and visually-impaired students. Some 60 students from the Sookmyung Braille Translation Volunteers, visually-impaired boys and girls, their family members and others attended this event making for a total of one hundred in attendance.
One especially meaningful moment for volunteers came when principals from 12 national schools for the blind bestowed prizes for service upon 12 volunteers who have been actively participating in service since the establishment of Sookmyung Braille Translation Volunteers. The first one to receive an reward from Jang Seok-moon, the head teacher of Dajeon School for the Blind, was Park Eun-ju (Business Administration 07). She described her unique feeling: “There are only few who’ve kept up their volunteer work so far, though there were many who started out with enthusiasm, because Braille translation is not easy. Now I am already a graduate, but I am still doing volunteer work because it gives me great satisfaction.”
The head of Sookmyung Braille Translation Volunteers, Kwon Soon-in, explained the significance of the event: “Braille translation volunteers must work hard – it takes 2 hours to make a book which visually-impaired student are able to read within 30 minutes. I wish that our volunteers who work every week and visually handicapped students who study the material made by those volunteers can share a closer bond.”
Several visually-impaired students showed off their talents in the second part of the event that featured entertainment. Eunhasu Noridan, a team made up of children from child care facility, cheered up the audience with their Korean traditional percussion quartet. As mentioned, when 18-year-old Seo Eun-hae sang a plaintive ballad, others wiped tears from their eyes. The hosts’ comments that her talents were worthy of the program Super Star K3 garnered smiles of approval from the audience. Fifteen-year-old Lee Ye-sel from Seoul School for the Blind gave a spectacular performance on saxophone while dancing, to which the audience responded with hearty applause. Miss Lee was already a well-known star to many in the audience, having performed on saxophone several times in the past.
The speed quiz and the game With One Voice followed, carrying on the cheerful atmosphere. Students’ abilities in reading Braille shone in this guessing game that involved the whole audience. The exciting rounds proved time and again that being visually impaired does not slow the students down!
Kim Myung-jin, a 15-year-old boy from Seoul School for the Blind joked when given a question about how his volunteer partner might look, answering with a genial smile that he doubted she was the beautiful girl.
Clearly, lack of sight is no obstacle to forming friendships through this fine partnership of positive students and committed volunteers.