Anchor:

Despite being blind, Sabriye Tenberken has crossed Tibet's formidable passes and plateaus on horseback. When talking, she looks directly at you and describes things by their colors.

She is the creator of Tibetan Braille. Over the last ten years, she has helped over a thousand blind Tibetan children get an education and learn skills to make a living.

Sabriye Tenberken was just chosen as one of "Top Ten People Who Inspired China in 2009" by China Central Television and dubbed by judges as a contemporary Prometheus. Follow our reporter Zhang Cheng to find out more about Sabriye Tenberken's story.

 

                                                                     Tenberken is one of "Top Ten People Who Inspired China in 2009". 

Reporter:

China's Tibet Autonomous Region is one of the highest places in the world. Its elevation is so high that people believe this place is close to God and dub its capital city, Lhasa, "Sun City."

In people's minds, this region deserve more light and hope, but in Tibet, there are over 10,000 visually challenged people out of its population of 2.4 million.

Back in the 1990s, there was no Tibetan Braille system. Blind people in Tibet had no access to books, the window to a beautiful world. However, a blind girl from Germany changed all this.

Sabriye Tenberken was born in Cologne in Germany. At age 12, she went blind. But she never gave up on her life and didn't think there was a big difference between blind people and everyone else.

With unsurpassed persistence, she passed the examinations of the prestigious Bonn University and became its first blind student.

As no blind student had ever before ventured to enroll in Chinese and classical Tibetan language studies, she had to develop her own methods in order to follow her course of studies. Out of this need, Tenberken developed the Tibetan Braille Script.

"I create the Tibetan Braille one by one. So now it is very easy to learn for people who know the Braille system."

In 1997, she first arrived in Tibet, a mysterious land 4,000 meters above sea level.

Because of its high-altitude exposure to the sun, Tibet has unusually high rates of eye disease. Tenberken witnessed all the hardships blind people suffer there and finally made up her mind to quit her job in Germany and stay in Tibet to establish a school there for visually challenged children.

"I think the environment of blind people is very important, and we try to create an environment where blind adults and children feel respected. I realize that I have other senses. I have ears, nose, I have my mouth and many other senses I could use, to orientate and to get along in the society."

In addition to developing the curricula and training teachers, she's responsible for fundraising and communicating with local officials and sponsor organizations. However, the school only enrolled six students initially, which was depressing for her.

Because of the prevalence of Buddhist beliefs, blindness is often regarded as punishment for misdeeds in a previous life. A majority of families with blind children hid the truth and had no idea what to do with their blind children.

Tenberken realized that she needed to persuade these families to accept the truth, so she personally visited each family to convince parents to send their children to her school.

Step by step, her school enrolled more students whose ages ranged from 4 years old to 18. She and her staff didn't just teach the kids Tibetan, Chinese and English, but also practical skills like making beds and operating computers.

Tenberken says:

"And they know, ok, I have a place in society and I have a task to do and I have responsibility to do things and I can do things as normal people."

After graduating from the school, some students became singers, some now herd sheep on the grasslands, some created their own businesses and many became translators. Yu Zhen, one of Tenberken 's students, says:

"She opened a window for me and helped me see a brand new world. She taught me to be confident and told me 'nothing is impossible to a willing mind.'"

Here are the words Tenberken 's students want to say to her:

"Sebriye, I love you."

"I will go to Japan to learn computers and I will be back to teach more students like us."

"I love you. I'm very happy at school."

Tenberken 's latest project is establishing a center in Kerala, India, where trainees from developing countries can learn to set up similar schools for the blind. She says the most important things blind people need are knowledge, confidence, and the acceptance of society. Tenberken says she will work to help them achieve these things until the end of her life!

For China Now, I'm Zhang Cheng.