If you can read this article you can see . So you should be very grateful as, 357,000 Australians ,of whom 3,000 are children are blind or vision impaired .
Marie Younan is one of those Australians and in her book “A Different Kind of Seeing.My journey she writes
“ Those seeing live in the light, while the blind live in fog and half alive “.
Marie knows what it is to be half alive for when she was a baby her grandmother accidentally blinded her. Born into an Assyrian Christian family in Syria in 1952 all her life she could only ever see a few vague shapes and colours. Even though she was one of 12 children , she lived a lonely, internal life with no playmates or schooling as no one ,including herself,thought she could ever learn anything. She said to herself “I will never read as I am blind “ fortunately her own strong faith in Christ helped her to face life’s challenges .
Marie’s childhood was so different to the children at the Sharpe Memorial Blind School in Japura Uttar Ranchel State , India where my wife and I have stayed on numerous occasions .Here children are educated and even play cricket with a ball that has bells inside. So they “ see “ the ball differently -with their ears !
Marie’s challenging life slowly changed when first her parents, moved to Lebanon but,because of civil war there, were accepted as refugees in 1975 to Australia. Then, as Marie was also a refugee, was able to live in Greece in 1976 and accepted to Melbourne in 1978 .
Since then she has painstakingly learnt to speak English,be literate in braille (the language of the blind) acted as an interpreter with refugees and counsellors at Foundation House (Melbourne) and be physically mobile using a cane . What inspiring achievements !
What we have to learn from Marie is :
Problems in life can be overcome .
Be eternally greatful for your sight and health.
Being a woman does not make you weak
Having a strong faith in Christ will help in lifes challenges .
This way we will begin to see life differrently!
Review A Different Kind of Seeing .My Journey . by Marie Younan .
Aus $24.25 Scribe Publications . Melbourne
by Peter Lane Rai
