SLFVH White Cane Day 2014

White Cane Day 2014 was celebrated by Sri Lanka Federation for the Visually Handicapped on the 25^th of October 2014. The Lion’s Club was the main sponsor. About 100 visually impaired persons got to gather in the Independence Square and walk towards the main hall. We had our lunch at the Independence Square. We carried different banners showing the public that a vision impaired person should also be treated equally in the society. There are many things a vision impaired person can do, that others think they can’t do. White canes, refreshments and entertainment were provided for all vision impaired people. We had a great day.

All Island VIP Chess Tournment

The national Chess tournament for the vision impaired 2014 was organized by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind. This was my first tournament in Chess. I started to learn Chess in end of 2013 and I had to face this challenging tournament in January 2014. Before the tournament I had some practice games with students from Rathmalana School for the blind and with my team members of The SLCB. I was able to win against them. The biggest challenge for me was to play against the Army team. Mr.Rathnayaka from Army was the previous champion and Mr. Indrajith was another strong player who was consistently among the top 3 VIP chess players in the island.

The competition was a knockout tournament. Where my first two games I played against Mr. Priyantha and Mr. Waruna. I was able to win those two games. There were about 32 players. The opponents were selected by picking up numbers randomly by players and I got number 7 for a start, where I thought it was a lucky start for my chess tournament career. In my 1st game I moved my Queen only once in the entire game, that is to deliver a checkmate in “d” file. The road to the top 8 was not so difficult. Then I had to play with Mr.Vichithran, a good chess player. Both played well but I was able to trap his Knight and win a piece up and win the game. In the semi final, my opponent was Mr. Ashanth. I sacrificed aRook to win the game. In the finals I lost to Mr.Indrajith, a player from the Army team.

I couldn’t be the champion in my 1st All Island Chess Tournament, but I’m happy I played well with experienced players. 1st place was Mr. Indrajith from the Army team, I placed 2nd from the SLCB and Mr, Nuwantha placed 3rd from Rathmalana School for thee blind.

Eye Care Tips

Making Life Count

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe 14th Octomber 2014..

Stories of people achieving unusual successes despite many challengers never fall to capture our attention. They asre inspirational to be sure, but they are much more than that if we study them closely. Goals are what drive them to be such exemplary characters and the story that follows is one of an extraordinary individual who is on his journey to success.
Tuan Mohammed Rushdi Cassim, 27, is a charming young lad from Enderamulla, Wattala. Having had his primary education at Carey College, he was among the many other students who had a vision to succeed in life. Yet, like for every other human being, life was not easy for him. Suffering from faint vision and night blindness ever since he was small, Rushdi had difficulties in doing his day-to-day work specially in dim light. When he consulted several local ophthalmologists none of them could identify his condition.
Without giving, he left to India where he was able to find what has come up to be his biggest challenge. According to doctors, Rushdi was suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is an identified eye disease in which there is damage to the Retina and would often cause severe vision impairment and often blindness. Although he was thoroughly disheartened by this message, he was not willing to step down from his journey. In the preceding years, he graduated from the National Institute of Business Management with a BSc. In Management Information Systems, along with an Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management and Diploma in Psychology from the American College of Higher Education (ACHE), Dehiwala. He was a member of the Sri Lankan Council for the Blind(SLCB) where he learned Braille, how to use the white cane and also came across many visually impaired individuals who were engaged in business. When looking at them he was motivated in giving them a hand and in turn he came up with an idea to develop an online marketing store.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror about his idea, Rushdi said “ I Want to give a hand to all visually impaired individuals in the Island. People are more oriented to work online nowadays. This is an online marketing store in which all visually impaired persons will be able to market their product and find a living. I started it this month and with the help of my friend I am in the process of finding the contact details of all visually impaired persons who are doing business. Their details will be up on the web site and anybody willing to donate or buy their products is more than welcome to visit the web site and make their contribution”.
In addition to tech skills, Rushdi is also a talented sportsman. He was a participant at the All Island Visually Impaired Chess Tournament, where he was placed 2^nd and received his certificate from Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. He also a swimmer being trained under Julin Bolling and a member of the cricket team at SLCB. With such talents, Rushdi’s only wish is to complete work on his web site by January, 2015. Yet, it is something which he cannot do on his own. In addition to his initial idea, he said, “The software and the magnifiers are use to magnify images on the screen rather expensive. Also I want to continue my studies as well. I would like if someone could support me in my studies in the future”.
This vision, this dream, this goal, invisible to the entire world except the person holding it, is responsible for perhaps every great advancement and achievement of humankind. Everything worthwhile achieved by every human being is a dream come true a goal being reached. It’s been said that whatever the mind can conceive and believe will be achieved. On a concluding remark, giving a valuable message to all individuals, Rushdi said: “Go ahead in life without expecting any sympathy from anyone and do not complain about your weaknesses. Take maximum use of what you have, Without the help of some individuals I would never have come this far. Therefore I would like to thank Mr. Sanjeewa who helped me in Chess, Mr. Julian Bolling, the SLCB and Ms. Manique Gunarathne from The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon who gave me immense support to be who I am today”.
Anybody who wishes to give a hand to Rushdi could contact him via his email address tmrcassim@gmail.com.