Describing her search for blind children， Sabriye uses one-oneexample to illustrate how people normally regarded the blind as goodfor nothing… When she entered villages on horseback， the villagers236 could hardly believe that a blind person could ride a horse. Sabriye explainedthat the horse could lead her to where she wanted to go. Peoplelaughed at her. Sabriye wrote in a letter to her mother： I would liketo be transformed from a blind person who is able to do many things，to a headmistress who can teach blind children to be capable of doingmany things.
Braille Without Borders was founded the same year with supportfrom private funding companies and travelers from many places.
The “Three-Independence” Concept of the School for the BlindThe school enrolls students aged five to thirteen. Students are dividedinto four classes based on their age： Mouse， Rabbit， Snow Leopardand Tiger. Courses available include： Tibetan， Chinese， English，math， computer technology， music， and drawing （including kneadingto strengthen the touching sense of fingers）。
Sabriye’s objectives for setting up this school are： to nurturean independent spirit in her blind students， and train them in specialskills. These include practical skills such as fund-raising， PR， management，program designing. Adult students are trained in the followingvocational skills： massage， music， animal husbandry （milk-， yogurtandcheese-making）， agriculture， horticulture， handicraft （weaving ofcarpets and sweaters， wood-carving， etc）， clerical work （accounting，etc）。
Mike， Sabriye’s Canadian friend and member of an NGO， operatesa school for the blind， as well as a farm， in Shigatse. The farmoccupies 20 hectares of land， with a training center， a food processingfactory and a printing factory for books in Braille.
“The operation of the farm acts as a tool to support the survival ofthe school，” says Sabriye. The school in Shigatse mainly trains blindadults， and provides a survival test field for unemployed students， whouse the farm as a rehearsal zone before getting jobs outside.
Sabriye motivates her newly-enrolled students every year witha three-pronged developmental program： Independent Spirit， Special Skills and DIY.
“Your parents will definitely die before you， and therefore youmust depend on yourself to survive，” she exhorts.
Zron， a Vietnamese doctor， now employed by the internationalNGO One Heart， is in agreement with the “Three-Independence concept held by Sabriye. He understands that the school for the blindis not the Garden of Eden and the students must learn how to make aliving for themselves. “Public welfare programs are just like the Bodhisattva，Guanyin， who taught people how to help themselves， andthen she would disappear，” he says. Zron teaches massage to the blindchildren.
When the Medical Massage Clinic was set up in 2003， Paul madeit clear to Kyila， the person in charge of the clinic， that the initial investmentwas made by the school， and she had to repay it in the future.
Paul thus put the onus on Kyila to depend on herself instead of relyingon the school. When the time came for her to leave， however， her lovefor Sabriye and Paul， and her fear of the outside world led to her refusalto leave. She wanted to stay on as a volunteer worker but Sabriyeturned down her request， and pushed both Kyila and Derjee into society.
In 2005， the Clinic was transferred to Losung and then Tashi， andPaul gave them the same responsibility of repayment…
“Please throw away the crutch of the school as early as possible， Sabriye would tell the clinic， which is a partly independent affiliate ofthe school. Before the opening of the clinic， she asked Kyila， Tenzinand Tashi to contact the travel agency， design and distribute advertisementson the street and to hotels all by themselves， and thus promotethe clinic. After the clinic was set up， she told them to deal with therelevant departments such as the electricity department， banks， the industryand commerce bureau， and tax bureau.
Whenever Derjee needed to come back to the school for somebusiness， Ciluo would pick her up and drop her back. One day， Sabriyeadmonished Ciluo and told him that his help was not necessary. Sincethen， Derjee began to travel back and forth by herself.
The school for the blind is located on a busy street on Jiangsu23 8 Road， with cars passing by quite frequently. Seizing the opportunity，Sabriye gave Losung an assignment， asking him to negotiate withthe transportation police for a zebra crossing and traffic light near theschool.
“I can’t do that，” the words escaped Losung’s lips immediately.
Sabriye countered by saying that if she could， then he definitely couldas well. Losung gave in. Now studying massage therapy at a school forthe blind in Beijing， Losung recalls that the captain was very nice… I did not expect that everything would go so smoothly and successfully. Cilo adds， “It seemed at the time that whatever Sabriye asked usto do exceeded our ability， but looking back， she was right， and sheforced us to get away from inertia and cowardice as early as possible. Discrimination towards these children was the primary obstacleto be overcome in order for them to survive. Although they had alreadybeen made aware that blindness was not divine punishment fortheir evil-doing in past lives or the result of demonic possession， butinstead a product of genetic defects， illness and accidents， they realizedthat it was quite difficult to change local prejudices.
“My defective eyesight is inherited，” Yuzhen once told villagers.