A member of the Rotaract Club of Caltanissetta, Sicily, records a section of an audio book.

By Mirko Gangi, Rotaract Club of Caltanissetta, Siciliy

There are many visually impaired children in Italy and Sicily who lack teaching materials and educational aids. The purchase and distribution of books in Braille is difficult, there is only one distribution house in Sicily, and the cost of audio books is very high.The present economic crisis and lack of public funds also does not help.

So as members of Rotaract, we joined together with the Rotary Club of Caltanissetta to record and produce three audio books which we distributed to 750 children with visual impairments in primary, middle, and high schools in Sicily. We intend to make the audio books available to schools free of charge as a teaching tool.

We held 15 different events, including a concert by the renowned master Luigi Mariani, who is himself blind, to raise money for our project. We worked closely with the ministry of education, the City of Caltanissetta, and the Braille Printing House of Catania.

We are also putting the files of the audio books on the Internet so they will be available to blind children anywhere in the world, and not just Italy.

Through Rotary and Rotaract, we are able to accomplish so much more than we could ever accomplish on our own. It gives us a platform to work with other groups, like the ministry of education, to really make a difference in our communities.

Learn how you can support a Rotaract club today.