A Call with A Friend. After having a WeChat call with a blind person...
2021-08-01
Zhikai (Oscar) Wang
Rising Senior, Kent School
Program Director, I Love Tibet, 2021
After having a WeChat call with a blind person around my age in Tibet, I start to think about how much I take for granted as a sighted person. A friend calls you; you call a friend. These are very ordinary activities, and we participate in them mindlessly often multiple times a day. Up until this moment, I have enjoyed my autonomy in this regard without a second’s thought. I have always been able to call whomever I want, whenever I want. But my friend in Tibet considers it a truly big event just to make a phone call, because this friend is blind. She has to wait until someone is available to help her make or receive a call. On the phone, she tells me how ecstatic she is to be able to connect with me, her overseas friend.
All people are bestowed at birth with unique talents and skills that, if circumstances allow, they are able to build up and refine over the course of their lives. My Tibetan friend and others like her have the same innate talents and skills as everyone else, but these capabilities often remain hidden or underdeveloped due to the stigma and prejudice surrounding their physical disability. It goes without saying that it is not these children’s fault that they were born blind. Through our volunteer work, we aim to deliver the message that it is okay to be born different—that it is precisely our uniqueness that makes us human. As long as the children in our program are able to love themselves and continue to strive for their own goals and thrive on their own terms, they can live a life just as fulfilling as the next person.
We are fiercely passionate about adding color to the lives of blind children in Tibet, and we are confident that they will receive our heartfelt message. We, too, will learn from them in the process, as I learned from my friend through just one phone call.