Blind SA hosted its 75th anniversary and officially opened doors to its new Alrode premises on October 26.
It was based in Johannesburg since 1979 and at the end of August, it moved to its new Alrode premises referred to as the Blind SA House.
Masses gathered to celebrate the non-profit organisation’s many years of existence in championing the cause of blind people.
The prestigious occasion commenced with an awareness walkabout around the industrial area, followed by the official opening of the Blind SA offices.
The walkabout was to create awareness of the entity, as well as the blind community.
The event brought together member organisations from across the province and dignitaries. Several entertainers also kept attendees glued to their seats as they took turns in sharing the stage.
According to Jace Nair, CEO of Alrode’s Blind SA, the NPO was established in 1946 by blind and partially sighted people.
“It was started by those who saw a need to try and get blind and partially sighted people employed. At that stage, a source of employment was being a switchboard operator. When a blind person gets employed, they then try to look at networking with other blind people to find them better opportunities,” he said.
Blind SA currently has 31 member organisations throughout the country and four new organisations that have applied for membership.
As Blind SA, Nair said they have a general assembly that meets every year where they report on their activities for the previous year, and every two years they elect five committees.
“The committees are involved in representing blind people in trying to advocate for their rights and things that affect blind people in everyday life. Just last year, we launched a series of activities called Listen to Blind and Partially Sighted Women. We had stories from about 25 women,” he said.
Upon completion, they then compiled these stories into a booklet.
As an NPO, Nair told the RECORD that they also look at access to education, early childhood development and basic and higher education.
“We found that 97% of blind people are unemployed. We, therefore, started a training programme into entrepreneurial training. We focus on employment and economic empowerment as a means to create employment for them. We again focus on creating reading material in accessible formats that blind people can access,” he said.
During the lockdown, they also helped set up a special economic fund that supported some small businesses owned by their beneficiaries.
