A vision of wonder

By Hiranthi Fernando

Hemalatha Fernando, 70, was born blind. Yet, with indomitable courage, she leads an active and useful life, rendering invaluable service to the visually handicapped. Travelling daily by train alone from Katunayake, Hemaltha works five days a week at the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind, on Church Street, Slave Island.

"I transcribe Sinhala and English textbooks into Braille," said Hemalatha who has made the Malalasekera Dictionary accessible to the blind. At present she and two others are working on the Bible. "I use a Braille slate," she said, demonstrating how she places the paper in the Braille slate and writes a sentence on the paper. The two-sided Braille slate has 27 lines. "Braille writing consists of various formations of six dots. One page of text comes to about three-and-a-half Braille pages, and the Malalasekera Dictionary came to 52 volumes."

"The 66 books of the Bible, will be over 200 volumes. It will be a long process since we get a person with sight to read the text to us. That person also has to be free to work with us. Once a master copy is made, we make more copies by hand. I have done four copies of the dictionary. We had a stereograph machine, which could print several copies, but it is not working now," she said.

Hemalatha who was educated at the Ratmalana Blind School, wrote Braille books for children there, after completing her schooling. She was then sent to Lever Brothers as a trainee telephone operator for a year and to Ceylon Oxygen for six months. As she was unable to get a permanent job, she got back to writing Braille books. She has been at the Council for the Blind since 1985.

Having no family, Hemalatha stays with a friend at the Deaf and Blind Housing Scheme at Katunayake. "I travel to work by train and use a white cane when I am on the road. At a crossing, I await someone's help. In the evening I take the Ragama train and change to the Negombo train at Maradana. I am now accustomed to it and the people who travel daily know me and help me. But sometimes it is difficult because the platform at which the train stops is changed suddenly," she said.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Hemalatha visits homes, giving English tuition to students and working people. "If I have a Peking Brailler I could carry it about when I go for my classes.

The Peking Brailler is similar to a typewriter with six keys and a spacer. Using a combination of keys, one can type on it, in Braille," she said.

A talented musician, Hemalatha also plays the organ at church. She has done examinations in piano and violin, up to the Higher Local and has a Yamaha keyboard of her own. "I used to give music lessons at home but I have no time now," Hemalatha said. But she does have time to sing as an alto in the choir of the Federation of the Visually Handicapped, which has become a regular feature at leading hotels.

"I have enjoyed music and singing from childhood," said Hemalatha who lives her life to the fullest and has proved that given the opportunity, visually handicapped people can be part of society.

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