AlManarah - Association for the Advancement of the Blind in the Arab Society in Israel

This month AlManarah’s Social Awareness Project conducted 14 workshops in Nazareth and throughout the North at the Galilee High School (6), Sisters of St. Joseph School in Nazareth (3), Al-Faraby School in Tamra (4), Al-Bayan School in Tamra, and Al-Zaraa School in Nazareth, which were facilitated by Jalal Hareesh and by Mohammed Diab.

The workshops, entitled ‘Accept the Different Other’, entailed both theory and practice. The theory section gave general information on the rights of the blind in particular and persons with disabilities in general. It also discussed the negative attitudes and stereotypes held against people with disabilities, and exchanged them for some positive ones. The practical part included activities like using the blind cane, the Braille machine, and other everyday life activities in order to expose participants to the world of the Blind.

As a completion to our school workshops, AlManarah organized eight field trips to the ‘Dialogue in the Dark, which is based in Holon, near Tel Aviv. The Dialogue in the Dark project gives visitors a unique and realistic sense of what a blind person feels like in the world of seeing people. AlManarah took students from Boaina Nogidat School, Ebn Khaldon School in Nazareth, Al-Faraby School and Al-Bayan School in Tamra, Galilee High School, and Um el Fahm High School.

Seminars & Lectures:

On May 3rd AlManarah Association joined a delegation of the Inter-Agency Tack Force on Arab-Israeli Issues for a seminar at Nazareth’s Golden Crown Hotel. Adv. Abbass spoke on a panel led by Jessica Balaban, Executive Director of the Task Force. A coalition of North American Jewish organizations, foundations, private philanthropists and international affiliates, the Inter-Agency Task Force delegation also included members of the recently launched British sister organization, the UK Task Force.

Abbass presented a model of Arab social leaders on the issues of persons with disabilities in which he discussed the challenges he faced from childhood to adulthood, to founding AlManarah Association, the first self-help organization for Arab people with visual disabilities in Israel.

The ‘Empowerment and Developing Skills’ Project:

The ‘Parents Hand to Hand Support Group’ for parents of blind and visually-impaired children continues to meet every week in Al-Manarah’s Multi-Services Centre. The group is facilitated by social worker Mahmoud Khatib.

The ‘Life Light’ empowerment group, facilitated by social worker Tagrid Abbass, is continuing its weekly meetings.

AlManarah’s empowerment group in Kfar Kana, the ‘Hope Light’ group, continues to meet every Wednesday. The Hope Light group is facilitated by social worker Mahmoud Khatib, who is himself blind, and has a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work.

Our empowerment group for blind students at Haifa University continues to meet. The group is facilitated by social worker Mahmoud Khatib.

This year AlManarah facilitated an empowerment group that trained participants for the Israeli Psychometric Exam. This group of twelve people took the exam on April 16th. We are please to report that their results were very good, and the majority of participants will be attending university this October.

The new empowerment group in Toraan village continues to meet every week. The group is facilitated by Mr. Mohammed Diab and Adv. Abbass Abbass, and will nurture the participants’ social initiative skills.

The Phone Assistance Line:

This month the phone assistance line has continued to receive dozens of confidential phone calls every week from the Blind and their parents concerning various issues, such as rights and services, emotional support and legal advice. AlManarah is planning to increase our service hours from ten to twenty hours per week in early June.

Personal Consultancy:

Following the high number of queries to Al-Manarah’s phone assistance line, we recently initiated a new project – personal consultancy – which answers the requests for information and advice we receive from the blind and visually-impaired, from their parents, and from professionals working in the field, through face-to-face meetings at our Multi-Services Centre. Social worker Mahmoud Khatib, who has an M.A. in Clinical Social Work, is facilitating this project, which reaches approximately 5 clients per week.

Legal Advocacy:

Following a long process of advocacy by AlManarah, we are pleased to announce that the National Roads Authority has finally installed audio traffic lights on Nazareth’s main streets, including locations beside the National Insurance Institute’s building, and AlManarah Association’s Multi-Services Centre. These audio traffic lights will be indispensible for people with visual disabilities to be able to cross the streets safely and independently, and will make a huge difference to their mobility. This is the first time audio traffic lights have been installed in any Arab town or village in Israel.

]AlManarah continues to represent several blind and visually-impaired people in their appeal against denying their right to receive accompaniment benefits from the Welfare & Social Affairs Ministry.

AlManarah is currently representing the Visual Disabilities Community regarding the Welfare Ministry’s change in policy in providing mobility grants to the blind and visually-impaired. Without informing its clients, the Ministry has transferred the grants system to the privately-run Center for the Blind in Israel. AlManarah has sent a letter to the Welfare Ministry and The Center for the Blind for clarification on this issue.

AlManarah’s Website:

Al-Manarah’s website, www.almanarah.org is accessible to the blind and visually-impaired, describes Al-Manarah’s activities, contains an audio library, and also acts as a resource for the general public and professionals working in the field.

AlManarah’s Recording Studio, Library and Computer Project:

AlManarah’s recording studio, the first in Israel for Arabic audio-books, is operational and being developed by our staff. The recording studio is coordinated by veteran Al-Manarah volunteer Mohammed Iktelat and Al-Manarah is planning to recruit additional volunteers such as actors or artists to read the books to be recorded. This is a great opportunity for Al-Manarah to expose this community to the world of the blind, and to encourage volunteering within the Arab society.

AlManarah’s computer room for the blind contains six computers with screen readers in three languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English; screen magnifiers; a screen reader; and two Braille Displays. AlManarah is planning to launch several courses for people with visual disabilities in specialized computer technology.

AlManarah has also newly refurbished our Multi-Services Centre and installed an Educational Kitchen. This new space will be used to train people with visual disabilities to navigate the kitchen, and to make hot drinks and meals. This is an unprecedented project that will develop the practical everyday skills of people with visual disabilities.

Publications

AlManarah has published the third edition of our biannual magazine ‘Manarat’ in Braille, and is distributing it through our workshops and seminars, to local government offices, to schools, colleges, and businesses.

Special Events

On May 25th AlManarah Association celebrated its 5th anniversary at a big event at Nazareth’s Mawal Theatre Hall. Over 500 guests attended the event, including members of the blind community and their families, Nazareth Mayor, Mr. Ramez Jaraisi, Dr. Nir Tsuk, Director of Ashoka Israel, representatives of the JDC, and many activists, school teachers, supporters and friends. Our guests were welcomed by AlManarah’s staff, who showed a video illustrating our projects and activities. AlManarah also presented awards to children and adults with visual disabilities who have contributed to society. Everyone on the night was thrilled by a performance by the famous singer Dalal Abu Amneh and great night was had by all.

The Lions Club Israel held a special event on May 13th in Ranaana, where they named Adv. Abbass Man of the Year. Lions, the biggest volunteering organization in the world and active for 100 years, started its activities in Israel 50 years ago. Ever since, the organization has grown and expanded across the country and today has more than 900 members in its ranks.

Media Attention

Two events attracted large media attention recently for AlManarah Association. The first event was our fifth anniversary celebrations in Nazareth. In addition, after returning from the US in early May, Adv. Abbass gave numerous interviews discussing his participation in the Social Enterprise Alliance Summit 2010 in San Francisco, where he spoke about social entrepreneurship in the Middle East – and was the only participant from the Arab world. With over 730 attendees this year's Summit was the biggest ever. Social entrepreneurs and enthusiasts from over 30 countries around the world convened for three days, attended sessions and panels, shared ideas and made connections. But most importantly, they were inspired to become part of an expanding movement to address some of the world’s toughest challenges.

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