Lend a Hand 2 Seeing Hands!

Give a Helping Hand to Seeing Hands !

L 2 R, the Seeing Hands team: Sylvus, Wani, James,  & Ausgustin (Catherine is missing here but she's in video!)

My name is Virginia Williams and I have worked on and off in South Sudan for the last two years. It’s the world’s newest country, raised from the rubble of decades of civil war, famine, and a non-existent infrastructure and educational system.  Here, even for the most able-bodied, life is a struggle. But many citizens are making a remarkable difference despite great challenges, like Seeing Hands.

Seeing Hands is an organization that helps blind men and women earn a living while providing a service to the community via massage therapy. I learned about them first hand when I came in with tired, aching muscles, and left not only relaxed and renewed, but with a warm heart-- overwhelmingly inspired by the people who run this organization.  James and his colleagues are professional, dedicated, and anxious to expand their business so that they can share their skills with other visually impaired people, and also provide a great service to the community.  But they need money to do that. 

Together, let's raise the USD $ 8,500 they need to improve their livelihood and in turn improve the lives of the South Sudanese people.  ALL amounts are welcome, and you can be assured that 100% (less Gofundme fee) will be going to fund their training.   **VERY IMPORTANT**, even if you are unable to donate yourself, please SHARE this link with your friends who may!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any hand you are willing to give!

Love,  

Virginia

Here is a letter from my friend James explaining more about their plans:

Dear Friends,

My name is James Pitia Gore, and I’m a blind massage therapist with Seeing Hands in South Sudan. Here, we make a living through Japanese Shiatsu massage. I came down with River Blindness several years ago and I was lucky enough to find the Biluk Eye Center, where I was trained to read Braille, use a cane, and the art of massage. I represent the Equatoria State Union of the visually impaired, Seeing Hands Massage, and the REJAF Educational Center for the Blind.

Together we recognize the fact that South Sudan has many thousands of blind people who do not have access to assistive devices and other resources to help them in their daily activities--especially those living outside the capital of Juba.

We are thinking of the future and how our three organizations can begin to reach out to many more blind children and adults. To do this work, resources are needed. We realize there are many possible donors both inside and outside of our country. But our problem is how to contact them to ask for help.

That’s where we hope you might make a difference.

We have a plan to send five people from Juba to study computer adaptive technology skills at the Kenya Society for the Blind in Nairobi. Once these five individuals learn how to use the Internet and Braille software, we hope to have the skills to write funding proposals for various projects that will serve the blind of South Sudan in the years to come. The budget for this training is US $8,500.

We hope you will be able to help us with funds needed for this important first step.

On behalf of all of us, thank you for making a difference in the lives of so many South Sudanese.

God bless you, 

James Pitia

 


** SPECIAL THANKS to Elisha Matovu for arranging for the directing production of the video and making it happen! Thanks to Brian Edgar for filming.

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