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Newscast - 2-2010
Special Edition - Newsletter of
Compass Braille
Special 20th Anniversary Edition
This extra edition of Newscast is to cover the 20th Anniversary Celebration held on 5th June this year.
The afternoon began with a Thanksgiving Service at Christ Church, Ware, conducted by the Revd David Proud. After the introductions we presented a pre-recorded video featuring four of the founding members: Tony & Rona Gibb and Steve & Janette Brown who shared memories of how it all began. They spoke about those who had played a part in setting up the press and the very first transcription which was developed by Prof. Don Rogers (deceased). It was an informal video that showed how a vision was turned into a reality.
With hymns interspersed between each item there followed an account of what it means to be a Compass Braille volunteer by Bob Owen, the first Ware volunteer. This was followed by the reading of several testimonials from groups who either receive or order and distribute our Braille. The letters, read by Steve Brown (former Manager) & Glennis Dowling (Trustee and Administrator) were from: Ingrid Felber-Bischof, Worldwide Braille Coordinator, United Bibles Societies; Dr Pramanik, General Secretary, Bible Society of India; Mrs Ruby Pearce, Executive Secretary, Bible Society of Sierra Leone; Mr Mark (a Braille reader), Bible Society of India; Prabhu and Nancy Ryan, India Fellowship for the Visually Handicapped, Chennai and Sam and Jeya Thanaseelan, Mission to the Blind, Chennai.
Rona Gibb, read from Rev.3:7-13, chosen by Trustee, Paul East. 'See I have set before you an open door'. Paul then gave the address: "Over the 20 years we see a visionary founder of this mission and his name is God.... He has sustained it and he will take it on in his time." Paul said that he and Su' have been humbled over the years by the way God has provided money, people, partnerships and opportunities. Through many key people: Tony & Rona, Don Rogers, Steve Brown, David Barnard and others in the early days the CB model of volunteers producing Braille Bibles was successful in Mortonhampstead and continues in Ware today.
He talked of the pioneer work of UBS and how Ingrid Felber-Bischof promotes this vital work to encourage Bible Societies to support Braille readers with the Bible in their own language. He individually praised the CB staff recognising the different skills each has as well as volunteers, prayer partners and donors. He left us with the thought: Rev. 3: 8 (NIV) 'I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.'
Colin Dowling, CEO, then concluded the service with a few words and the meeting was closed in prayer by David Barnard.
After the Service everyone moved to the church centre where we enjoyed a buffet which was catered for by staff and volunteers. There were a few short speeches and then the cutting of the cake. From the church centre a large number of people took the river walk to the Press where David Proud conducted a short dedication for the continuation of the work followed by various presentations.
After everyone had gone home we held a short Trustees meeting when two new Trustees, Liz and Jonny Pienaar, were welcomed to the Board.
We were tired at the end of the day yet elated because it was such a blessed occasion. We thank God for sustaining Compass Braille this far and acknowledge that it is by His Grace we continue.
We want to give special thanks to the Town Mayor, Cllr Bedford and his wife for their attendance and also those who helped with: catering, ushering, flowers, transport, sound and video and the musicians.
Update - Work in Progress
We have had a good year so far and Braille production has been running smoothly. Up to the end of July we produced 5171 Bible volumes and 314 Booklets (not including the Micro Braille Unit production at Mission to the Blind). We have also produced 50 copies of Psalms in Maltese Giant Print and at present Glennis is formatting several OT books for Malta which will amount to a further 50 Giant Print volumes.
Transcription work continues on several languages and with David having completed the Indian language of Manipuri we have now fulfilled the original order for the first ever Braille Bible volumes for Manipuri Braille readers. As well as Bible portions, David is also transcribing various children’s books in Armenian and two lifestyle books in French.
We are also working on a new book for UBS titled ‘Zacchaeus’ and Jake is currently transcribing this into English Braille.
Raising Funds - the energetic way!
Once again members of Aberaman Apostolic church in Aberdare have been raising money for charity by running up mountains! This year Paul Jones, David Morgan and Alun Gowan climbed the Three Peaks: Ben Nevis, Scarfell Pike and Snowdon.
We do not know how they do it or from where they get their energy but we are glad that they keep going! They were assisted by Mike Cable and Kay Jones who did the driving for them (between mountains, not up them).
The proceeds of their fundraising were shared among two charities from which £516 was donated to Compass Braille.
From the Chairman - Gwilym Hitchcock
Our Dear supporters and prayer partners, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who were able to come to the excellent 20th anniversary celebrations and also to thank Colin, Glennis and all the helpers for the organisation of a great event.
I know I have not written anything for Newscast for some time now but Honey and I have been in constant prayer and support in the background.
Honey and I became Trustees in December of 1994 and I was asked to take over as chairman in 1997. In the years we have been associated with Compass Braille we have seen some huge changes. From the start it has been exciting to see the development of Braille production in so many Asian and, latterly, other languages...directly from their script into Braille.
The early way of typing into the computer, then four copies to be proof read before eventual production has advanced in amazing ways. David Barnard has developed new computer programs to transcribe more efficiently so that CB is now one of the most advanced Braille producers in the world!
Another wonderful leap forward was when Colin and Glennis Dowling joined the Trustees and eventually Colin took over as CEO and Glennis as a working Trustee. We praise the Lord for Colin and Glennis as He brought to us a couple with extraordinary talents, Colin as a skilled engineer and manager/director and Glennis an accomplished administrator, writer and editor. Under their leadership CB has become a major mission instead of just a Braille press.
Colin's invention and development of the Micro Braille Unit which he installed in partnership with Sam and Jeya Thanaseelan at Mission to the Blind in Chennai, has become a wonderful blessing to thousands of PVDs all over India as they produce many Christian booklets and carry out distribution and follow up. We are also in constant communication with Prabhu and Nancy Rayan of IFVH and we are so encouraged to hear their regular news of many PVDs coming to know the Lord as their own Saviour and Lord.
As our trustees, Paul and Su' East, are in India much of the time, we have been able to take advantage of the 'Skype’ conferencing facilities on the internet for some of our regular Trustee meetings. Recently we have had the privilege of welcoming two new Trustees on to the team, Jonny and Liz Pienaar, who live in Ware and have for a long time given Colin and Glennis support and encouragement which they will continue to do as Trustees. We thank the Lord for their support.
In January Honey and I went to India for three weeks to visit family and attend two family weddings. During that time we had the joy of visiting Shantijai Khristmukti at Bartimai Centre for the Blind and also the IFVH fellowship unit in Ahmedabad. Whilst there we heard some wonderful testimonies of PVDs who have come to know the Lord. One of these told of how he found Jesus through reading the Gospels for himself in Braille. What a thrill when we found that the volumes he was reading were some of the ones Honey had typed in years ago! What a blessing and encouragement!
The work of God to PVDs through CB is advancing rapidly and there will be more exciting news in the near future, so keep in touch!
Please pray for this important work and seek the Lord regarding giving as, in Partnership with the United Bible Societies, we produce Braille that is free to the end user. We praise the Lord for His faithful supporters who make it all possible.
Please also pray for Colin and Glennis and for our faithful staff and volunteers as they steadfastly produce hundreds of Braille volumes each month.
May the Lord bless you. Gwilym
A Report from the CEO - Colin Dowling
Where we started, where we are and where we're going .......
Time was at a premium at the Thanksgiving Service and yet there was so much I wanted to say. I am, therefore, taking this opportunity to share my thoughts and future plans with you.
I would like to begin by thanking Revd David Proud for presiding over the service and allowing us free use of the Christ Church facilities for our 20th Anniversary celebrations. I would also like to say a big thank you to all the people who helped, on the day, to make it such a special occasion. Twenty years is an important milestone for Compass Braille and before looking at the future we need to recognise the past:
Firstly, there was the vision given by God to Tony and Rona Gibb. God then brought together a team of people driven by the goal of producing the Braille Bible in 11 of the main Indian languages - the beginning of Compass Braille.
Secondly, there were the people who stepped out in faith to support a new venture, in prayer and financial giving, that was to make such an impact on the lives of people with visual disabilities in the years to come; providing them with Braille Bible portions in their own language.
Since that time Compass Braille, with its skilled and dedicated team, has produced the Braille Bible in 42 languages.
But access to Braille Bible portions does more than just make God's written Word available to PVDs. There are other important aspects of its availability that are not immediately obvious. The Braille Bible has been the catalyst for growth and diversity within many overseas PVD outreach projects. There are now hundreds of small and large overseas groups who have been able to reach many more blind people because the availability of Braille has allowed them to initiate new and specific ministries. Without the Braille Bible many of these new ministries would never have been visualised let alone established. All of this has clearly made a huge impact on the lives of PVDs and opened up many new opportunities.
Also families and close friends of PVDs are often influenced when they see for themselves how reading Braille and having a Braille Bible volume has given a blind person confidence in communication and discussion. This is how integration starts - enabling participation in church services as well as Bible studies and many other social activities, as well as giving the opportunity for Braille readers to actually practice and enjoy reading.
Back in April Glennis and I went to the Sight City exhibition in Frankfurt which is a showcase for manufactures of Braille embossing machines and computer equipment designed for people with various visual disabilities. The most striking thing for me was that there was nothing for those who could not read which, when you stop and think about it, demonstrates the continued relevance of Braille whether, for those who can afford it, it is transferred to computer technology or not, it still needs to be learned and practised.
In the main, the cost of the exhibited equipment was inhibitive for the majority of people. But maybe in the next ten years or so this type of equipment will become less expensive and perhaps larger companies will invest in the technology. This will give blind people more opportunities for good jobs but firstly they need to be Braille literate.
So what about the future of Compass Braille ........
There are still many countries and languages without the Braille Bible and we are working very closely with the United Bible Societies, not only in language transcription, but also producing sample Braille materials to help local Bible Societies in their research so they become aware of the part they can play in reaching blind people in their country.
We are actively trying to encourage personnel from the Bible Societies and also other missions to visit Compass Braille. We have presentations that exhibit ways in which they can take up the challenge and support PVDs in their own countries through their own projects. Compass Braille wants to work in partnership with other like-minded Overseas Groups by technically supporting projects. We feel this is important because new Braille projects need to be carefully planned in order for them to be sustainable in the long term. We have had some opportunities to meet with overseas Bible Societies' and United Bible Societies' personnel and we have had very good responses.
The Micro Braille project in Chennai, in partnership with Mission to the Blind, has developed not only in terms of production but in understanding the type of Christian literature suitable to the understanding of the recipients. A realisation of the importance of good Christian Braille books has developed and we especially recognise the need for young PVDs to have Braille books that are interesting, educational and at the same time based on Christian principles.
As Christianity develops in many countries it is, often the case that PVDs are not included. This is because in most circumstances there are not enough people who understand the needs and in other cases there is simply no Braille to engender any new initiatives. We have tried to encourage Overseas Mission Groups for many years now, with only a few successes, and because of this I have decided to tackle the issue from a different angle. I am, at present, developing a new networking strategy in India which I expect to initiate in the early part of next year. This, together with our existing partnerships, will be a step forward in redressing some of these issues.
The Compass Braille model, firstly as a production unit and secondly as an organisation that involves volunteers and churches, provides opportunities for others to become involved. This model can be replicated in any part of the world and has the propensity to not only encourage PVDs everywhere but also lead to the inclusion of PVDs into everyday church and community life.
All of this cannot be done by Compass Braille alone but we can endeavour to form new partnerships with organisations that have outreach programmes - who, at present, may not include PVDs - but with a little help from us may have the inclination to do so. We need to tap into the resources of such organisations that are already on the ground so that contact with PVDs can be increased.
Our vision has not changed. We still want to meet the needs of people who are blind. Neither do the challenges change. It is still difficult to convey the importance of this work to those who are busy with their own projects, but with a little help they could easily include PVDs.
The way God has worked in the Compass Braille family enables us to move forward with new ideas. I call Compass Braille a family because it is made up of many supporters, past and present volunteers, as well as staff and trustees; each of whom are constantly praying for CB and the people it serves. I would like to especially mention the Compass Braille team whose dedication has meant the achievement of so much:-
David Barnard - Senior Language Transcription Coordinator and Software Developer: David's work also encourages and enables people overseas to produce their own Braille.
Andrew John - Accounts: Andrew, who was originally a volunteer, is responsible for looking after the accounts and invoicing as well as dealing with any legal matters. He does this calmly and efficiently - in brief he's a rock.
Jake Kyle - English Transcription: Jake, who is RNIB accredited, looks after our English transcription work, i.e. our publications, transcribing Braille books for English speaking countries and Braille letters.
Del Woodley - Production Assistant: Del was originally a Ware volunteer, now carries out the Braille production and machinery maintenance as well as overseeing the volunteers.
Glennis Dowling: Glennis deals with the general Administration, Giant Print layout and formatting, Desk Top Publishing and updating the website.
Isaac Baker: Isaac our youngest volunteer has been with us since the relocation. I specifically mention him because he spends around 3 half-days with us each week and knows all the production processes.
Present Volunteers: We have about 17 volunteers at present and we could not possibly manage without them. As well as the inordinate amounts of Braille Bible volumes and Books they manage to produce each day, they are also a source of great encouragement to us.
Trustees: I want to thank the Trustees for their continued support over the years as together we seek God's guidance and as we seek their counsel for our future plans.
We still have a lot to do - the demand for Braille Bibles and Christian literature is increasing and the need for greater understanding by sighted people is as pronounced as ever. So please continue to pray for us and support this important work as we look forward with God's guidance to another 20 years.
Thank you for your part in all of this. Colin
Languages of Compass Braille
Africa · English (various destinations) · Kinyarwanda · Kirundi · Kiswahili
Americas · French (Haiti) · English (Jamaica)
Central Asia · Armenian · Azeri · Kazakh · Mongolian · Uzbek
Europe · Bulgarian · *French · Georgian · Latvian · Maltese · Russian
Oceania · Bislama (Vanuatu)· English (Papua New Guinea)
South Asia · Bengali (India) · Bengali (Mussalmani) · Burmese · Garo · Gujarati · Hindi · Kannada · Malayalam · Manipuri · Marathi · Mizo · Nepali · Oriya · Sinhala · Tamil · Telegu · *Urdu
South East Asia · Cebuano · Hiligaynon · Ilocano · Indonesian · Malay · Tagalog ·Thai * in progress
Finance and other bits!
Please note: In line with the UBS the term PVD is now used in place of VIP - see abbreviations below.
We were delighted to see so many people at the celebrations and trust you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Now that more of our supporters know exactly where to find us we hope you will visit us again when you are in the area - please feel free to bring friends and family with you.
With thanks for your participation and special thanks to those who left donations - the gifts amounted to just over £1,700 and these were designated to Braille production. Those who gift-aided for the first time helped us raise a further £107.50. This month HM Revenue & Customs returned £2956.18 to CB as a result of Gift Aided donations for the last financial year.
There has been a lot to share in this special edition and this is why we have included an extra page, which contains an article by Colin Dowling.
Please phone if you want to visit, you’ll receive a warm welcome.
With Grateful Thanks
Our sincere thanks to our supporters for your continued prayer and financial gifts. For new donors: gifts can be made by cheque payable to 'Compass Braille’, or via the Charity Choice website link, CAF, Direct Debit, etc. Gifts are used solely for the production of Braille Bibles unless otherwise designated. Giant Print is funded separately.
Gospel Cards
This is to give prior notice that we will be taking part in the Gospel Cards scheme again this year in order to raise funds for CB. We do not want to send the leaflets too early and we will therefore be distributing them with the next mini-Newscast. Those who are not on the mailing list for mini-Newscast can contact us for a copy of the leaflet if they wish or alternatively you can order on line at: www.GospelCardsEtc.com.
Gone Home
We have been informed that the following volunteers went to be with the Lord earlier this year:
Dr Betty Holt - Betty was one of our Telugu Readers.
Mary McDonald - Mary was one of our Bengali typists.
Horace Thompson - Horace was a Roman Script reader.
We offer our sincere condolences to their families and friends and praise God for the work that they did for Compass Braille. Their input continues to impact on the lives of people with visual disability and is a living testament to their much appreciated work.
Do you like to talk?
We have recently received a couple of legacies that have greatly helped with the financial situation. We also continue to receive regular gifts and one off gifts from our supporters as well as occasional grants. But we realise that the same supporters cannot keep giving more, so we ask you to pray that we can find ways to interest new supporters. We already try to do this through Newscast, mini-Newscast, the website and through talks in churches and we are extremely grateful to the band of supporters who also carry out talks on behalf of CB. This plays a very important part in projecting our work and we would encourage others to pray about becoming a CB Speaker. We have a speaker’s pack with all the information needed to give talks and presentations so please get in touch if you would like to do this.
Abbreviations
PVD = People with Visual Disability
UBS = United Bible Societies
BS = Bible Society
CB = Compass Braille
Compass Braille, 16 Crane Mead Business Park,
Crane Mead, Ware, SG12 9PZ, UK
tel: +44 (0)1920 413572 - website: www.compassbraille.org
registered charity no: 292625
members of: Global Connections
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