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Ray Enstam displayed photos from exchanges to South America >









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We met at Chimneyhill Clubhouse on December 14th to celebrate 20 years as a club. Founding members in attendance were Brud Kisner, Jackie Bluhm, and Zia Shamsy. Many long-time familiar faces were seen there to share the memories of our past 20 years. It seemed like yesterday seeing the photos in the presentation given by Mary Williams. Newcomers got an overview of how active our club has been and what we have accomplished.

Paula Rose thanked members of the Board and committee chairs with a card and gift to Heifer, International in their names. She financed five flocks of chickens to help those less fortunate set up farming ventures.


Paula was thanked with a present of gift cards and an FFI mug by the Board, presented by Felicity Sentance, incoming President. Thanks to helpers who set up and took down, and to Mary Latham who arranged decorations and Felicity who ordered the festive cake for the occasion. Mary Williams remarked: "I was struck in researching this presentation at how active our club is and what wide participation and volunteering we have. Love this group!"

History
(written 2002)

One program supported by the Dallas Friendship Force club is a Bridgebuilders program whereby we send computers to institutions for blind persons in other countries. It all started during an exchange from Vina del Mar, Chile to Dallas several years ago.

Maruja Corona from Vina del Mar, Chile heard about a Dallas Ambassador, Bob Langford, who happens to be blind and uses a computer. Bob also happens to be the president of International Services for the Physically Challenged which supplies computers to the blind and visually impaired in the U.S.

This is just what Maruja wanted to find. Her grandson, Pablo, is partially blind and he was not doing well with sighted friends. Maruja thought if he had skills that sighted children had, it would bridge the gap.

Maruja and her home host, Ray Enstam, came to see Bob’s computer and to talk about how to help Pablo. After several conversations and discussions between Friendship Force Ambassadors, it was concluded our club was interested in helping. Many telephone calls and e-mail messages produced a plan that could help Pablo and the community of Vina del Mar. This was to be a computer center for the blind.

Finally, the school for the blind in Vina del Mar, the Rotary Club, the local Catholic University, and the Friendship Force Club there were each involved in using their resources to create a room at the school for the blind with computers, a teacher, and technical assistance from the computer department of the university. The Dallas Friendship Force provided the computers and the know-how to have an ongoing computer program for blind children and adults.

One year later, Ray Enstam and Doris and Bob Langford went to Vina del Mar for the dedication. It was a major event covered there by local television and newspapers.

Next, the Trujillo, Peru Friendship Force learned of this and the school for the blind there became very interested. Ray, Doris and Bob visited Trujillo and from this visit another computer center for the blind developed. The Helen Keller Foundation in Lima wanted to do the same for their students and this has happened with our help.

Cuba became an interested participant when the Dallas Friendship Force visited Cuba and talked with Rev. Noel Fernandez who continues to be very interested in developing a Computer Center for the Blind there. Legal restrictions on shipments to Cuba require prior approval of the US and Cuban governments, which complicates things. Nothing has been sent there yet.

Ray, Doris, and Bob with others hope to go to Costa Rica and Nicaragua this fall to take more computers and to work with officials to complete the computer center plans in both countries.

In April, 3 computers were sent to Sierra Leone for a school for the blind. A group in Dayton, Ohio has adopted the school for the blind there and sends a shipping container of clothes and medical supplies each year. They heard of our program and asked for computers that could be placed in the shipping container, avoiding customs problems. One of the big problems has been to get the computers into these countries. Customs can require a lot of paperwork even when the gift may be exempt from tariffs. Shipping can also be a problem.

Air freight is too expensive. We have shipped some successfully by sea when the size of the shipment has been big enough to cover a substantial minimum charge. For small shipments of one or two computers, the most successful method has been for Friendship Force members to take the computers in their airline baggage. The computers have been collected as gifts. They mostly come from businesses that are upgrading their systems, but the used computers are more than adequate for the use we make of them, which does not require the latest technology. This worked well the first few years, but the demand now outstrips the supply and the International Services for the Physically Challenged now must buy computer components at an average cost of $150 per computer.

Bob Langford, President of the International Services for the Physically Challenged, has provided all computers for the Bridgebuilder program at no cost. His organization has benefitted from the computers donated by Friendship Force contacts and activities and from an auction that netted financial assistance.

A donated computer must undergo cleaning, testing, adding and replacement of components, downloading of many software programs, additional testing, packing and shipping. In the five years that computers have been sent to blind persons all over the world, a total of 625 computers with computer training material have been shipped to date by International Services for the Physically Challenged.

About 20 of these have been in connection with the Friendship Force of Dallas for the computer centers for the blind described above. Another 10 are scheduled for delivery this year.

The cooperation between the Dallas Friendship Force and the International Services for the Physically Challenged has made it possible for blind persons in other countries to obtain training in an area that will enrich their lives and lead, in some cases, to employment.

We in Dallas have, at a small price, helped other countries to help themselves thus creating a true bridge in the spirit of Friendship Force International.

See the BridgeBuilders page for more information and results of this project as the years have progressed.

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