Making the load lighter

Reuben Matthews will never forget the satisfaction he felt when he and a blind partner completed a famous cycle race while tandem cycling.

“The feeling of doing something in union with another person, the communication and the sense of achievement that one feels, the joy and expressiveness that comes with succeeding – it's exhilarating,” he remembers.

But for Matthews, who has been a volunteer helping blind people for over 30 years, the cycle race is also a metaphor for life in general: “It is great to interact positively with people and to get that sense of relief they feel when they realise you know what you are doing, but also the sense of achievement when you both accomplish what you set out to do,” he says.

Arriving in a foreign city can be intimidating at the best of times, but perhaps even more so when you are blind or visually disabled. When delegates start pouring into the country for the World Blind Union (WBU) Sixth General Assembly in December, a small army of volunteers from all over Cape Town will be waiting to make sure that they quickly find their bearings and are welcomed with true South African hospitality.

“The WBU Assembly is a great opportunity for South African volunteers to interact with and learn from people who come from other cultures with customs that differ from our own,” says Matthews. ”I encourage everyone, but especially the youth, to take the time that they would've spent just hanging around and being bored, and to do something productive and helpful with it instead.”

Some 200 volunteers will be the backbone of the WBU Assembly event, which South Africa has the honour of hosting in Cape Town , from 6 to 10 December this year at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The volunteers have been trained in sighted guide skills and given orientation to working with blind people by the League of Friends of the Blind (LOFOB), a non-profit affiliate of the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB), who is administrating the event.

Co-ordinators have been appointed for each type of task that the volunteers will perform. Volunteers will welcome delegates at the airport; assist at the CTICC reception and exhibition areas and at the desks of the various hotels where the guests will be staying. They will also act as drivers, guides, microphone runners and stage managers and will help with the registration and office administration process.

Philip Bam, Executive Director of LOFOB and General Manager of the Assembly, says that it would have been impossible to staff such an event without volunteers, as the cost of hiring people for this event would have been prohibitive.

Volunteers are sourced through radio programmes, the print media, advertising and community organisation networks, churches and groups such as the Lions and Rotary Clubs. The Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur Vereniging (ATKV) in Bellville also provided volunteers

The General Assembly, which will be opened by President Thabo Mbeki, will be preceded by the Africa Union of the Blind (AFUB) Women's Forum (29 to 30 November), the 5 th General Assembly of AFUB and the World Blind Women's Forum (3 and 4 December). Between 800 and 1 200 delegates and observers from over 160 member countries are expected to converge on the Mother City during that time.

The WBU is the only organisation entitled to speak on behalf of blind and partially sighted persons of the world, representing 180 million blind and partially sighted people. During the General Assembly the WBU's progress over the past four years will be discussed, a new constitution will be adopted, resolutions on the way forward will be drafted and new office-bearers will be elected. Dr William Rowland, National Executive Director of the SANCB has been nominated by South Africa as a Presidential candidate.

People who are interested in offering their services as volunteers for this event are urged to call (021) 705 3754.

Prepared by: Anina Immelman

On behalf of: The SA National Council for the Blind

Telephone number: (012) 346-1171

Fax number: (012) 346-4699

E-mail address: anina@sancb.org.za