The sighted had a chance to “see” what it’s like to be blind during a dinner in pitch darkness last week.
About 70 guests were led by the hand into a darkened room at the Cape Town Society for the Blind’s office in Salt River for the Dinner in the Dark, which followed the non-profit organisation’s annual general meeting on Thursday September 26.
They were served by blind members of the society, but many of them had a hard time pouring juice or water themselves and eating from their plates.
The society’s CEO, Judith Coetzee, said the experience gave the sighted a brief glimpse into the world of the blind.
“Just for an hour you see what they go through, you see what it is like to eat, and just like that you won’t discriminate because living their life for an hour makes a difference,” she said.
The society’s awareness officer, Sergil January, who is blind, said: “We wanted everyone to have the experience of entering the world of the disabled.”
The society’s new board member Jonathan Jacobs, of Surrey Estate, who attended the dinner with his wife, Nikki, said: “I wanted to experience what our beneficiaries experience.”
Ms Jacobs said she had new appreciation for being sighted and the dinner had made her aware of the faith that the blind have to place in others.
Another guest, Suritha Blake-Pietersen, from Pinelands-based St Dunstan’s, a non-profit helping blind war veterans, said: “It was insightful to experience the other side of things. I feel I do have a better understanding of what blind people go through and how they experience the world.”
On the evening, the society received a R100 000 donation from a Paarden Eiland electrical and plumbing company.
To find out more about the Cape Town Society for the Blind, visit capetownsocietyfortheblind.co.za or call 021 448 4302.
