A lighthouse is a tower or structure designed to emanate and radiate light. Light houses are land marks and they exist because storm exists. Light house is the symbol of hope, enlightenment, guidance, safety, integrity, comfort and satisfaction. Every human being has the right to enjoy safe, independent and productive life. This privilege is equally valid for visually impaired persons who face problems in various activities of daily life like reading newspapers, moving around at home, identifying money or paying bills, medication identification, use of mobile phones and recreational activities etc. With proper training, guidance and motivation, visually impaired people can learn to administer these problems. ‘Light House’ at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, an international concept for rehabilitation of people suffering from incurable visual impairment by enabling them to live a safe and independent life through provision of latest technology, speaks of the efforts that Al-Shifa Trust Eye hospital has made to enable those who can not ‘see, to see’. ‘Light House’ is a ray of light in a bewildering night. It is moon in a starless night. It provides light of hope in the lightless and hopeless lives of people. It is a resource center which provides facilities for blind or nearly blind people. Patients in the Light House undergo a thorough assessment, therapy, counseling and then training on various devices according to their visual status, requirements and level of education. People of all ages including children, adults and senior citizens can benefit from facilities provided in the ‘Light House’; computers, Braille computers, scanners, TV monitor, magnifying devices and specialized softwares like ‘Jaws’ and ‘magic’. ‘Lighthouse’ at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hpspital aims at training low-vision, blind and clients with any type of visual impairment to become independent. Equipped with these modernized facilities, ‘Light House’ enables the clients to read newspapers, magazines, and books, use computers efficiently, read and write emails and design presentations and execute jobs and duties performed by other normal human beings. People like Abid, Fatima and Zakriya, Rabbia, and Samira, belonging to different walks of life, being benefited from the ‘lighthouse’ stirred us the most.
Zakriya, an eleven years old boy from Rawalpindi, left his school four years ago, because of partial sight and inability to see white board in the classroom due to problem in retina of his left eye. After being operated he could not attend the school because of his weakening eyesight but he didn’t want to miss the golden opportunity of learning new things and live like normal children. Advised by a doctor to join Light House at Al-Shifa, his mother brought him to Light House a month ago and now he is able to use MS-word, MS-excel, MS-PowerPoint and play games on computer.
‘Lighthouse has brought me back to life. Now I can play computer games like my brother which I always wished but could not,’ Zakriya.
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Another exceptionally gifted young girl of fifteen years from Multan, Fatima, is suffering from low vision by birth due to problem in the cornea of her eye. She was being treated at Al-Shifa Trust Eye hospital when was referred to Light House to learn computer skills under the supervision of benign instructors and trainers and now she has learned a lot in merely a week.
‘Lighthouse has filled my life with light. I am delighted at the prospect of learning how to operate computer,’ Fatima.
Mr. Abid, a twenty eight years old young man, Masters in Political science and Islamic studies, lost his eyesight gradually and was deprived of the opportunities to get a job and be an active partaker of daily life, even though able and qualified. He belongs to Lahore and was recommended to Light House by the doctors of al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi where he used to come for regular checkup. He is well aware that now a days it is impossible to get a job without computer knowledge. The concept and efforts of Light House motivated him a lot. So he joined Light House to be trained in computer skills to get a job like other skilled people and the benevolent staff at lighthouse is helping him to achieve his dream.
‘Before coming to lighthouse, my life was surrounded by darkness, despair and disappointment. Lighthouse has given me a new hope to live and play a part in life. Lighthouse has given me an opportunity to learn the use of computer and get a respectable job,’ Aabid.
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Samira Muzaffar, twenty six years of age, lost her eyesight due to a car accident at a very young age. She is highly educated i.e. Masters in Psychology and B.Ed. Though she lost many career opportunities due to low vision, yet she did not lose her strength. Someone told her about Light House and that how it is working to facilitate visually impaired people and low vision patients are given training by different devices for enhancement of their visual skills. She visited Light House and was really inspired to see how proficiently low vision and blinds learn and then use computer. She took two week training of Magic software and found it very effective.
Now she is doing a job and participating in mainstream life keenly. She said,
“Light House is doing a great job. It is a beacon of light for those hopeless low vision people who are spending aimless lives and consider themselves burden on society and think themselves as good for nothing. I suggest those who have eyesight problems to visit Light House and hope that they will get solution to their problems.”
An eleven years old girl Rabbia who came from Chakwal, is also being trained at Light House. She had low vision or partial sight by birth. Her mother says that a team of Al-shifa Truat Eye Hospital visited their neighboring village by which she got her checked. The doctors recommended her mother to take her to Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi. She brought her to the hospital where she came to know about Light House where she is now being trained in the use of computer with the help of special devices and softwares as her mother wants her to live a normal life like other children and hopes she may become a support for children like her in her future.
“I have learned the use of computer and can write, draw shapes, paint pictures and play games. I had never thought in my life that I can dot it. I’m just loving it.
Some people are lighthouses in the dark and gloomy lives of others. ‘As light workers, we are the light in the dark.’
Different special education teachers, trainers, and social workers are performing there duties honestly to enlighten the dark lives of these people. Miss. Sameela kanwal and Mr. Asim are few of those for whom Lewis Carroll has said,
‘One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others’.
As we traced our steps out of the lighthouse, only one thought was reverberating in our minds: ‘never give up’. That is what we have learned after spending few hours with remarkably kind and tremendously courageous people who are given rehabilitation facilities at lighthouse as lighthouse is
“The opportunity to shine your light for the others, May be the only light they will ever see is coming from YOU”.
The efforts of Light House to facilitate the visually impaired persons are commendable. It is now the responsibility of society to make these effort more fruitful by guiding the deserving persons as there are thousands of people who may be benefited from such treatment.
