Woman learns Braille for daughter

She travels 85 km from her village to Bhopal to study for her blind daughter’s sake, spending Rs 250, every day — a huge amount for an underprivileged family like hers. But 29-year-old Govind Kunwar does not mind because her efforts are helping her daughter reclaim her confidence and live with dignity.

Kunwar, a woman with normal vision, is learning Braille so that she can help daughter Anita (7) cope with her studies.

Kunwar, who has passed high school, has ensured that Anita scored 86 per cent marks in Class II at the Nirmal Convent School in Peelu Khedi village, where she was admitted two years ago. Now Kunwar is learning advanced Braille to keep pace with her daughter’s studies. She has also taken admission in an undergraduate course to understand her daughter’s course material better.

Behind the love is also a lingering thought that it was her physical condition during pregnancy that could have led to her daughter’s disability. “I was two months pregnant when I was diagnosed with malaria and typhoid. When Anita was born blind, doctors attributed her blindness to the medicines I had taken when she was still in my womb,” Kunwar told HT. Her initiation to Braille was by sheer chance. Volunteers of Arushi, an organisation that looks after physically disabled children, had set up camps in her village. “Arushi volunteers inspired me to learn Braille for my daughter’s  studies,” she recalled.

Considering it takes an adult a lot longer to learn Braille code, Kunwar  would spend 8-10 hours everyday learning it.