Biblio Files: talking about books

Sabriye Tenberken became interested in Tibet on a class field trip to a museum, in which the curator allowed Tenberken and her classmates to touch the exhibits in lieu of seeing them. At the time, Tenberken didn't know what she could give to Tibet. That question was answered when Tenberken began studying Tibetan at the University of Bonn. In order to study for her classes, Tenberken needed a way to read the Tibetan texts. Nobody had come up with any Braille form of Tibetan; the only way Tenberken could read the texts was through the use of the Opticon, a difficult, loud, and time consuming task. So Tenberken came up with her masterpiece; she invented a system for writing Tibetan in Braille.
The Braille version of Tibetan was what Tenberken had to give to Tibet. However, Tenberken could find no organization to help her deliver her system to Tibet. There were no schools for the blind in Tibet, and the Red Cross would not take blind volunteers. In 1997, Tenberken went to Tibet, and in 1998 she opened a school for blind children in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Originally, the students lived in a building shared with an orphanage. They studied Chinese, Tibetan, Braille, artithmatic, and basic self care skills. Eventually, the school moved into its own buildings, and studies expanded to include English and trades. Tenberken left the school in the hands of Tibetans and founded Braille Without Borders with her partner Paul Kronenberg. This is Tenberken's account of how the school was founded.
Tenberken is a somewhat strange narrator. She is blind but synesthetically sees (numbers have color to her), and describes what she sees. She is German and German is her native language, yet this account is her own English. Tenberken's descriptions include small details, but often the big picture (such as the year or what has happened to last chapter's financial crisis) is omitted. Tenberken has a sense of drama that sometimes overrides attention to practicalities. Her account is centered around her own experiences. Tenberken is addressed as Kelsang Meto by most of the Tibetans in this book. There are 19 pictures inside this book, taken by Paul Kronenberg.