Visually impaired, Phoolmaya could not read out from the books like her friends did. So when all her friends would be playing around during the lunch hours she would ask her classmate and close friend Usha Dewan to read out some chapters from their books. [break]
Usha, who did not want to disappoint her friend, would do so most of the time but also sulk on having to miss out on her playtime.
“Phoolmaya asked me to read to her during lunch again. So I didn’t get to play today as well,” young Usha would complain to her brother after school, pouting, and soon rush off to join her friends for an extended playtime.
Usha’s brother Bijay Dewan, a 10th grader back then, was like a brother to Phoolmaya too. Moved by her enthusiasm to study and learn despite the impediments that rose out of her disability, Dewan had made up his mind to do something for the visually impaired.
Soon after Usha and Phoolmaya passed their S.L.C and were looking to pursue further studies, they found out that there was not a single curriculum book available in Braille for the visually impaired students who wanted to study further.
Dewan knew that if he really wanted to help visually impaired people, this was the time to begin.
As most visually impaired students had to rely on what their teachers or family members read out, and printing in Braille was too expensive (Rs 15 for a page), Dewan knew that digitization could be the solution.
With digital devices like computer, disc walkman and mp3 player, audio navigation of the books and chapters in tracks with the functionalities of pausing, forwarding, rewinding and replaying would be possible.
With that in mind and with the support of his four other friends in Dhankuta, he formed an organization called Youth Participation and soon began recording audio books for the visually impaired.
“It’s been four years now since we started the Audio Book Project,” says Dewan, smiling as he recalls their starting days. Now 26 and working as a web designer in Kathmandu, Dewan shares that initially it was just the five friends reading out from the books and using whatever recording equipment they could get.
“We asked around our friends’ circles to volunteer for the project and many did and that’s how we grew,” says Dewan.
However, four years back and in places beyond the capital, very few people had computers or equipments they could record with. So they would lend headphones with microphones to volunteers and some even offered to record through their cell phones.
Despite their limited resources, the group finished recording 11 course books of the education faculty of higher secondary level. With funds they had collected from their well-wishers and volunteers, they bought CDs and CD players which they distributed to visually impaired students who would return them to their schools after they graduated.
According to Dewan, their program has been able to benefit 25 such students in six districts of Nepal.
Man Kumar Maden, 20, one of the benefited students from Dharan, later told The Week over the phone, “I used the audio books during my +2 level because they made studying a lot easier. They even had audio question banks that helped us prepare for our exam.”
He adds that, before they had audio books, it was very difficult to note down anything especially for students in government colleges.
“Currently, I’m studying the B Ed course and have got some audio books from the National Audio Library for blind, but the course is outdated. But I hear the Audio Book Project is recording books of the new curriculum, and that will be available soon,” he adds.
Though Dewan and his group had targeted to reach out to a lot more people, he had not been able to do that till two months back. That was when Sagar Prasain came in.
Prasain, who was working as Cyber Training Coordinator at National Rehabilitation Society for the Disabled (NRSD), would hear many of his friends at the center sharing their problems about the lack of books and study materials for visually impaired.
Prasain, being well aware of the power that social media had on youths, decided to use it to gather volunteers and see if they could come up with audio books.
Through social networks, he then found about Dewan’s project and met him, as they were working on the same goal.
“Bijay had the expertise and I had more time and a space to make the project more organized. So two months back, we restarted and revamped the project together,” he shares.
Within these two months, more volunteers have signed up for the project through their Facebook page, Let’s build audio books for visually impaired people, and their orientation programs in different colleges in and around Kathmandu.
Currently, 137 audio books are being recorded in both English and Nepali which they plan to distribute all over Nepal along with MP3 players.
Dewan adds that the project definitely has taken a great turn with more volunteers joining in to help record books; but they are still looking for more help.
“Initially, if recording a book took five hours, it would take us ten hours to edit it. But now we give out a CD guide and teach our volunteers to use simple recording software so they can do simple edits themselves,” shares Dewan. “But once the recordings of hundred plus books come in, we’ll need a lot more help in the editing section.”
Besides, while Dewan is trying to build an online audio book database and also record narrative movies for the visually impaired, Prasain is looking to use software that can read out typed texts and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that can read scanned text as well.
They are also planning to take the project nationwide by working together with Nepal Association of Blind (NAB) and Department of Education (DOE) that have their branches all over Nepal.
Meanwhile, Phoolmaya is now pursuing her B. Ed in Nepali at the Dhankuta Bahumukhi Campus. She says she had to settle for studying Nepali despite wanting to pursue English as there still are not any Bachelor-level audio books for English.
“Bijay Dai started the project as he realized our problems. I and my classmates could get through our +2 level because of those audio books. Though our choices were limited, I’m happy that more audio books are being produced that will broaden horizons for many others like me.”
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According to available statistics from NAB that dates back to 1981 and based on a WHO blind survey report in Nepal, there are approximately 400,000 visually impaired people in Nepal. But DOE’s flash report records that till 2010 only 6,000 such students have had the opportunities to receive school education.
This shows there is a huge opportunity gap for visually impaired people to obtain education in Nepal.
Nara BahadurLimbu, President of NAB, informs that they have been recording audio books since 2003 and which they distribute free of cost to anyone who visits their center or their 37 branches over Nepal. However, he also admits that due to changes in the curriculum, many audio books have become useless.
“There are about 1,000 audio books in the National Audio Library for Blind at Prithvi Narayan College in Pokhara but very few of them are usable now,” informs Shishir Khanal, President of Kaski Association of Blind which manages the library at the college. They also have a recording studio where they train and employ students to record audio books at minimal wages.
However, for English book recordings, they don’t have much manpower or budget due to which he says there is a huge shortage of English curriculum books in audio.
Ganesh Poudel, Deputy Director at DoE, however says that besides the Braille books made available till the S.L.C level, the government hasn’t taken other initiatives yet to help improve the education of visually impaired.
However, they say they are looking into other projects and technology development that can help improve their situation in the future or support organizations that have been working in this field.
Despite their disability, many visually impaired people without any audio books have been able to secure outstanding academic achievements with sheer determination.
Nirmala Gyawali, a Fulbright Scholar who graduated from Colorado State University and currently working as a social worker and Cultural Orientation Trainer in Nepal, is one such example.
Gyawali, who solely studied through either Braille books or with the help of her friends reading out to her or their recordings, says audio books will definitely bring in positive changes for visually impaired students.
She adds, “Computers also came into use very recently, but it’s limited to very few people. I believe that audio books can be the solution in Nepal that will not only provide them with knowledge but also prepare them to step into a wider competition.”
With more books that give them access to a wider world of knowledge and the opportunities that come along with it, we can only imagine how many such students will be able to dream of and achieve better and successful lives.
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To support and raise funds for the noble Audio Book Project, Laxmi Cares is organizing a musical concert with Yogeshwor Amatya, Tsujil Karmacharya, Albatross, Slam Poets, Himalayan Bob, Lyrics Indy, and Utsav Nepal at the Patan Musuem tonight.
The show starts at 5:30 pm and the tickets are priced at Rs 500 each.
You can also help by donating recording materials, or just signing up to volunteer at their Facebook page “Lets Build Audio Books For Visually Impaired People.”
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