“LODGE FELLOWSHIP RESOURCE ROOM FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED”

During the visit of M.W. The Grand Master, M.W. Bro. Justice Devendra Gupta, OSM & R.W. The Regional Grand Master, R.W. Bro. Vasudev Masurekar to The Lodge Fellowship Braille Language Lab, in January 2008 the brethren of Lodge Fellowship expressed their desire to set up a unique resource room for the visually impaired. Both M.W. The Grand Master & R.W. The Regional Grand Master immediately endorsed the project & assured us of their full support.
.The ball was set rolling with The Regional Grand Board of General Purposes, in an unprecedented move assuring a financial commitment of Rs. 1.10 lacs for the project. The project cost being over 2 lacs, the brethren of Lodge Fellowship came forward with their generous contributions for the balance amount.
.Lodge Fellowship Resource Room for the Visually Impaired” was finally inaugurated by lighting the lamp by R.W. The Regional Grand Master of W.I., R.W. Bro. Vasudev Masurekar amidst much fanfare on 4th January 2009, a day after the birth anniversary of Louis Braille. The press & media were present in large numbers.
Blind people are not able to conceptualise the world due to lack of sight.  Blind children have to be taught about things which normal sighted children learn automatically – like shapes, sizes, colours, depth, height, width, discrimination between different objects and sizes etc.  Blind children have to be taught all this through models which can be touched. 
Lodge Fellowship Resource Room for the Visually Impaired set up at BPA, Ahmedabad will prove to be useful for the concept development and clarity of blind persons.  This Room has the following contents.
  1. Tactile and raised diagrams and maps
  2. Models of Science, Geography and other subjects which can be explored
  3. Toys like models of animals, vehicles, other objects which will interest and educate
  4. Body parts
  5.  Models for teaching sizes, shapes, 3-dimensional and other concepts
  6.  Five computers for computer education with talking software, a scanner and printers
  7. Complete kitchen with utensils etc. to teach cooking to the visually impaired
  8. Low vision devices attached to computers
  9. Tactile maps & human torso etc.

This Resource Room is very useful to blind children in preparing them for life.  They will get an understanding of the world which we sighted people get without much efforts.
After the inauguration, addressing the gathering, R.W. The Regional Grand Master appreciated the efforts of the brethren of Lodge Fellowship in setting up yet another sustainable project which will serve the society in general & the visually impaired in particular. He was particularly impressed by a visually impaired child operating a normal computer in the resource room.

Mr. Tarak Lohar, Principal, Blind School & Dr. Bhushan Punani of BPA explained the utility of the Resource Centre, mentioning that it is one of its kind & thanked the Regional Grand Master & the brethren of Lodge Fellowship for their support & compassion for the visually impaired.