“Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk
with you again,”
Daniëlla and I met André very early one Monday morning in
Witpoortjie, Roodepoort. I remember I was still aching for coffee and bought
some Lucozade as I knew I needed to be wide awake and since I didn’t eat that
morning I needed every vitamin and mineral I could take in. You might say I’m
not a morning person.
Little did I know how difficult this assignment would turn
out to be… but immensely rewarding.
“People talking without speaking,
People hearing
without listening,
People writing
songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound
of silence.”
On this assignment we got on a bus with André, travelled
around 30km’s to Gandhi Square,
walked through the CBD to another point where we got in a taxi, who then took
us to Newtown
where Dialogue in the Dark is. It was difficult for André to navigate through
the CBD as he explains in the story. I felt I needed to illustrate the
difficulty involved in this ‘feat’ that is his daily life. Its because of this
that I included a pic of where he walked into a dustbin that was standing on
the sidewalk – not out of disrespect, but with great respect.
“In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,”
After we did the story, Daniëlla and I walked back to the
Bree-taxi rank in Johannesburg CBD, so that we could take a taxi back to our
car. Being the only white people in thousands of black commuters, was somewhat
intimidating, but they were very friendly and it turned out as a very
liberating experience.
Here is Daniella’s story, hope you enjoy it.
(I used Google Translate, so excuse some of the grammar)
-Cornel van Heerden
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeing in the dark
Daniëlla du
Plooy
It's hardly
light, but the Monday morning traffic on Ontdekkers, one of the busiest routes
city is already noisy.
Andre Manders, the cars swept past, not seeing, nor the drentelende school
children on the pavement not. But he could hear it.
The first bus just before 6:00 roars around the corner at the stop in
Witpoortjie outside Krugersdorp.
"It's not mine," says Andre. "It was the first bus, I
caught the second bus."
The 50-year-old waiting to greet the people around him friendly and make small
talk. He already knows many of the people who Metrobus 438-day city take
to Gandhi Square.
The second bus stop, and people's voices began to move. Andre walked
together, using only his guide rod - a pink, not white - to the door of the bus
way. He climbed the four steps and greeted the manager.
Andre paid with a slice of that money and pre-loaded on the bus are scanned and
then shuffled feeling back. The bus is not full, and it's easy to find a
seat to be found.
He has been blind since birth, said Andre.
"My mother had jaundice when she was pregnant with me, and my retinas were
damaged. I can see nothing. "
At that time there was only one nationwide school for the blind, and he had all
six year old boy than to Worcester,
where he also wrote matric.
He wanted to be a physiotherapist - a course which was not yet in South Africa is presented.But in London to study, was not
a possibility. "My father worked on the railways and it just was not
financially viable."
Andre went to Pretoria,
where he studied psychology through Unisa - just towards the end of his second
year to hear the blind are not allowed to practice it. As it distance
learning, his staff did not realize he was blind.
"It was then said that we can not see, can not be blind to read body
language and that it is important for this profession."
He thought a while back still. "So far, this plan also the
court."
This rule has been amended since the blind's other senses and intuition often
better than that of wise.
"I went on to include the switchboard of the department of information
work," he said when the bus stop and got the next group. Andre sits
along the path, turning his head to the block - school bags of children and
large bags found easily.
It's nice to ride bus, he said, but there are also challenges. People can
be rude.
"I have often climbed, and when I asked the driver where he drove, he
asked irritably:" Can not you read? '"
He gave a laugh.
"And then I have to say that the character unfortunately is not in
Braille."
It is not at first sight obvious that Andre is not blind. He was not
wearing sunglasses and his staff are pink rather than white. A conscious
choice, although he could not distinguish colors. "I do not like
stereotypes."
He shook his head. "If you were to ask someone a picture of a blind
man to say, it is usually someone with a stick and glasses. Maybe a dog. But
we are not all the same - all we have in common is that we can not see. We
do the same work and not have the same hobbies. "
Andre does have many hobbies: "Especially gardening, and cooking. I
make delicious food. "
The bus drove through Johannesburg. Outside
the City Press has become the flowering jacarandas.
How he makes his garden as the plants can not see?
"I can feel the plants, smell, and know. I can match textures, and
different herbs planted together. "
He is an active sportsman - one of the reasons why he never had a guide dog
had.
"It would not be fair to the animal. Pretoria was my tiny apartment. I
regularly go out on weekends, and it is too difficult for an animal with them.
"
People often ask if he is not bitter because he is not blind, or he did not
count life owes him something.
"And yet it is ironically exactly my disability my many wonderful
opportunities given ..."
Andre was once an athlete and to sprints, high jump and goal ball, a Sport with
ball for the blind, participated. He was in Spain
to athletic participation and Germany
for goal ball.
He was also a member of the South African cricket team for the blind, who in
1999 at the World Cup for the blind in India participated.
"I would not all necessarily have experience as I could see."
The bus drove past the University of Johannesburg in Auckland
Park and then turn on the Nelson Mandela
Bridge and the CBD's
rate. "I'm always more or less exactly where we are.After a couple of
times bus drove to know a person but the stops, and I know when the bus turned
and how long it will drive every street. "
He often cast in the bus, sometimes not. "People act differently. Some
are scared, some scared, some are curious. "
For sighted people aware of the life world of the blind, was something he did
in his position as liaison officer with the South African National Council for
the Blind, a position he kept until four months ago held. It was there
where he had heard of Dialogue in the Dark in South Africa will be presented. This
program offers a unique experience where roles are reversed and the blind
guides for those who can see. It is now for the first time in Africa, the
SciBono Centre in Johannesburg
hosted. Andre has applied for the post of chief guide, and before the
opening helped other blind as guides to lead.
"We are now near Gandhi
Square," he said when the bus twice in quick
succession left. He pressed a button on his armhorlosie and a monotone
voice, like a GPS, beep, "Half. Past.Seven. "
The people jumped up, presses to get to the bus to arrive. It's peak.
Andre waited until last, get off. Buses drive back and forth over. The
air is filled with the smell of exhaust, coffee from McDonald's on the corner
and spices street vendors peddling.
Some people looked curiously at the man with the stick that feels its way from
the bus takes. He waited until it was quiet and then walked across the street.
He was on his way to Jeppestraat, where he was a taxi will take the last few
miles into Newtown
to go. This is where the center is SciBono.
This piece of the journey is difficult, he says, because the inner city seems
never the same. The informal stalls every day at a different location. Human
waste on the sidewalks. Bins fallen, not just pick up.
With the stick he could find his way, but it does not protect his body. "This
is somewhere for a plate which I head a few times when bolt hit," he said.
And a month ago there was one day suddenly a hole in the road at which people
could not warn."I was inside the case, hurt. People had me help out,
"he said. "But what, but it happens that one can do."
He stopped at a traffic light waiting for it to be green. "In this
regard, the movement to make my way is actually easier. I can listen when
driving cars and buses and stuff, I know whenever I can walk. "
At the corner of Jeppe he stood on the edge of the pavement and raised his hand
- five fingers down to show he wants the street. A few taxis raced by.
Finally a stop a few feet further down the road. Andre walked to the door,
ask the driver will stop at Newtown
and then climb.
His fellow passengers save eight minutes - two to talk about work and most other
types of music listening on their mobile phones. Andre took as long as his
money, to feel the coins and count down R8.
He spoke a few words with the Zulu driver. Andre the language almost
fluently when he learned to speak for a while in Newcastle worked at Eskom. "I
jogged with my co-workers and so when they learned Zulu."
The taxi stopped and got out Andre. There are fine stone on the pavement
and he almost stumbled, but then walked the last few hundred meters to the
SciBono Centre.
He was the first morning of the guides that clock to Dialogue in the Dark - the
first group that he will lead will have an hour here.
Each of these people will also find a guide rod, and Andre will in a dark room
meeting. The participants know their cheap only by his voice and touch,
and see him or her even when they are finished.
Some of the guides has been blind since birth, others not. One of Andre's
colleagues was a taxi driver who lost his sight after being shot in gang
violence is.
The participants in the program learn how it feels to be blind - even if only
for less than an hour.
And people's reaction is great, says Andre. "They learn not to feel
sorry for us, but is rather impressed by our skills and how we use our other
senses."
This is precisely what he wants to accomplish his work here. "I want
people who can see, we must realize the blind can do whatever they do.
"We just do it in a different way."
