JAN 04 2008 – “WORLD BRAILLE DAY”
CELEBRATION BY Vikasa Tarangini Seva & JET Australia
“Their fingers have eyes…Their ears have vision…
Their hearts of courage…Their lives are full of zeal.
They are deprived of vision.
Yet their vision is fair and realistic. Lets encourage them !”
Commemorating the birth of Louis Braille Jan 4 1809, the inventor of Braille script, the World celebrates Jan 4 as ” WORLD BRAILLE DAY “. For the first time JET & Vikasa Tarangini Seva have organized a walkathon in a grand scale in India and Australia to bring awareness of the blind people under the guidance of HH Sri Swamiji.
World Braille day, Walkathon in Australia
Walkathon in Brisbane – Australia – Jan 4 2008
The Vikasa Tarangini Seva of Brisbane, conducted the first walkathon in commemoration of world Braille day on Jan 4 2008. Inspite of unexpected bad weather conditions, the event took place as scheduled. It was a very wild stormy day with heavy rains pouring down all day long. Considering the most inclement weather and difficult walk under the circumstances, it was great to see the spirit of all those dedicated attendees.
But, that didn’t dampen their spirits, and 25 people gathered at Forest Lake Community area at 4 PM and commenced the walk after the listening the special guest message from Sriman Rajaraman about message about bringing awareness of the visually challenged brothers and sisters of the world. They walked about 2 Km (1.2 miles) around the lake, with orange and green shirts chanting ‘Jai Srimannarayana’.
Around 6 pm people assembled to listen to Sriman Rajaraman.
Walkathon in Sydney – Australia – Jan 4 2008
The Vikasa Tarangini Seva Volunteers of Sydney under JET Banner, conducted the first walkathon in commemoration of world Braille day on Jan 4 2008.Walkathon went on very well as scheduled without any interruptions, with the blessings of HH Swamiji. About 65 participants marched their way, to mark the first international event in Sydney, under the new banner of JET Australia. All the bhagavad bhandus (participants) recited ‘Vishnu Sahasranamam’ and chanted “Jai Srimannarayana” in this walkathon.
The event coordinators informed the enthusiastic and dedicated gathering about the importance of the Braille day and determination with excellence shown by the visually handicapped children across the world. The event coordinators Smt Padmaja Gudipati and Smt.Veena in their speech assured their support to visually challenged students of Nethra vidyalaya schools in India.
Walkathon in Melbourne – Australia – Jan 4 2008
The Vikasa Tarangini Seva Volunteers of Melbourne under JET Banner, conducted the first walkathon in commemoration of world Braille day on Jan 4 2008 at 4.00 PM25 Bhagavad Bhandus (participants), including young kids, walked in the event which started at the Federation Square.
The volunteers walked holding placards and displaying badges from “Flinders Street Station” until “Shine of Remembrance” and came back to Federation Square where we concluded our program at around 8:45 pm. They also conducted fund raising event to support the visually challenged students of Nethravidyalaya schools in India.
During walkathon many people from the streets, willingly dropped money in the charity boxes, and applauded this charity work undertaken by Vikasa Tarangini Seva.