NLAB School for the Blind

By RCHi President Henry R. Onia 

Last July 16, 2008, the Rotary Club of Hundred Islands (RCHi) signed with the Northern Luzon Association for the Blind, Inc. (NLAB) a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that will assist NLAB's service to the Visually Impaired Children (VIC) in Western Pangasinan. RCHi also promised to contact their sisterclubs and other rotary clubs within NLAB's territory for similar assistance.

MANILA (27 July) -- August 1 is White Cane Safety Day in the Philippines, but few people understand the significance of this important event in the life of the visually impaired brethren.

The celebration of White Cane Safety Day started when the Congress of the Philipines passed into law Republic Act No. 6759, more popularly known as the "White Cane Act" and signed into law by then President Corazon C. Aquino.

Throughout history, the cane, staff, and stick have existed as traveling aids for the blind and visually impaired. Dating back to biblical times records show that a shepherd's staff was used as a tool for solitary travel. The blind used such tools to alert them to obstacles in their path.

For centuries, the "cane" was used merely as a tool for travel and it was not until the twentieth century that the cane, as we know it today, was promoted for use by the blind as a symbol to alert others to the fact that an individual was blind.