There are about 12,500 visually impaired people living in Armenia, including the blind. With its multiyear “Bible for the Blind” project, the BS of Armenia tries to help the visually impaired by printing Bible books in Braille or in Giant print.
The project started in 2004. Meeting the request from the Blind People’s Union of Armenia (BPUA), N 14 school in Yerevan for visually impaired children and province communities, during the past 16 years the BS of Armenia has published and distributed the following books in Braille and Giant print: The Gospel According to Luke, the Psalms, OT Stories, NT Stories, The Acts of the Apostles, Innocent Shushan, History of the Armenian Church, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Tobit, Proverbs, Sirach. Each year the Word of God has reached approximately 500 people.
All the books were received with great enthusiasm by visually impaired schoolchildren and inhabitants of provinces.
Due to this demand our goal is to keep this project going and enrich school as well as private libraries, as there is no other organization in Armenia that would seek publishing Bible books in Braille or in Giant print.
Encouraged by the books they already have people want to get the whole Bible, which can be available only in audio device.
During 2020 COVID pandemic, when distributing food and books in Braille and in Giant Print to visually impaired families, the BS of Armenia found out that many visually impaired people in the provinces are not familiar with the Braille alphabet.
Due to this concern, the BS of Armenia has planned to organize Braille alphabet studies to enable these people to read the Bible in Braille. Trainings will be held both in the capital Yerevan and various provinces of Armenia.
In 2021, the BS of Armenia plans to publish and distribute the Judges, 1, 2 Samuel in Braille.
“I know that the main mission of the BS of Armenia is to make the Word of God available for all. I was excited to see the BS of Armenia in a new role in these days, when you extended your hand to 67 families in need by distributing food and Bible literature. One of them is Hovik Shahgeldyan from Storin Dvin. It has been 30 years he has lost his eyesight. He was encouraged and felt appreciated that he got a Bible book in Braille apart from food. Hovik is a carpenter and after losing his sight he remained attached to his profession and continued making wooden objects. Extending gratitude and in a perplexed smile he confessed that he didn’t have the opportunity to study Braille. He said, “When you gave me the first book in Braille, the Bible, I felt obliged to learn the Braille alphabet to be able to read the Holy Scriptures”. Definitely the existence of the Bible in Braille will be yet another stimuli for these people to learn to read in Braille.”
Fr. Yeghishe Nourijanyan, Masyatsotn Diocese
