MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN): Sayed Ahmad Yazdan Parast is blind, but the 22-year-old resident of Balkh province refuses to accept the definition, saying he lives a much fuller life than most people who can see.

Yazdan Parast lost his sight when he was still a boy, but he hasnt let that stop him. He is an active member of the Blind Association in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, and a well-known journalist.

For the past two years, Yazdan Parast has edited a monthly magazine called

Aumid Hamzesty, or Hope in Friendship.

Sitting on a chair, with his white stick across his knees and wearing dark glasses, he explains why he objects to being defined by his disability. I am not blind. Those who are blind are unable to use their vision to find ways to eliminate the suffering and sorrows of society.

He says that because he and his friends live fuller lives than many of those who can see, they are the ones who should be called blind.

However, he asks for better training and education so that those who are without sight can have the same access as everyone else.

 Yazdan Parast says he is able to edit his magazine because the stories are first written in Braille script, the system of bumps that create a language for the blind, and then once he is happy with the stories, it is translated into Dari and Pashtu.

He says that if a blind person can run a publication, then imagine what he can do if he receives the right training and facilities.

According to Yazdan Parast, there are more than 500 people, both male and female, who have lost their sight in the province.

He says he has repeatedly asked the government to set up a special school for them, but so far, they have not responded.

Instead, dozens of girls and boys are struggling at conventional schools in Mazar-i-Sharif, which have neither the facilities nor staff to help them.

Yazdan Parast says he records all his teachers lessons and when he listens to them at home, he translates them into Braille.

If special schools were set up for the blind, they could accomplish in six months what at conventional schools takes one year to achieve.

Educational officials in Balkh also say that a lack of schools for the blind has disadvantaged those who cannot see.

Director of Education in Balkh,Mohammad Zahir Pinhan, says so far, they have not received any official request from any association to establish special blind schools.
Once they do, they can pass it along to the Ministry of Education and other related ministries in Kabul, he said.

Mohammad Sharif Zarif, 21, is also a member of the Blind Association in Mazar. "If the government provides us with the same facilities as those who can see, we will be able to get on with our lives and not need help from anyone.

Already hundreds of blind people have received vocational training in different professions, always through Braille, he says.

Some of those courses include how to make brooms, chairs and wash cloths.

However, he says the government should do more to set up a market for their products.           

Marzia Balkhi says blind women can make handicrafts as well as those who can see. She says that every day, women are busy making bracelets, necklaces and other handicrafts, which is a way for them to support their family.

But without a market for their products, the handicrafts are going to waste.

If the government helps them to establish a market, then dozens of blind women will be able to work alongside their husbands to improve their family life, she says.

Officials at the Ministry of Womens Affairs say their door is always open for any suggestions that might help improve the lives of women.  However, they say they have nothing planned so far.

Fawzia Hamidi, head of the social welfare, disabled and martyrs department in the province, says they have established a learning centre for the blind in their building where 200 people have receiving training. 

She says they are also trying to get extra finding from international nongovernmental organizations to support the training.

The people on the training are still learning, she says, and arent ready to sell their products professionally. However, when that time comes, she hopes to open a shop in Mazar-i-Sharif, for the handicrafts the blind produce.

Munir Farhad, a spokesman for the governor of Balkh, acknowledges that not much had been done to help the blind in the province. He says in the past, the government of Atta Mohammed Noor, had made promises to the people of Balkh during his visits to blind associations.

He says the governor pledged to give each blind person a plot of land, a vehicle and a computer.

Farhad says that so far, the blind had received computers; that the process of distributing land is in progress and following the completion of that, they will receive vehicles.

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