Mid-Day Lions gift of Braille Bible a blessing to blind teen

Hannah Wedel said she is anxious to read of Jesus’ miracles in the New Testament of the Bible.

The 16-year-old Halstead girl hasn’t ever been able to do so. She has been visually impaired since birth.

But Hannah received a miracle of her own Wednesday when the Newton Mid-Day Lions’ Club presented her with six boxes that contained her own Braille Bible.

Wedel has a rare disease called Alstrom’s disease. She is one of only 500 people to be diagnosed with the illness in the world.

It left her significantly visually and hearing impaired from birth. She also is diabetic and has problems with her kidneys, heart and pancreas.

“I’m not different than anybody else,” Hannah said. “I just get up and hit like everyone else.”

Her mother teased her, “After you do your chores.”

Hannah sees some shapes but not colors and can’t read the printed word.

Until now, the member of River Point Church in Newton had to listen to her Bible stories.

“I hear parts of the stories, but I want to be able to read them by myself,” she said.

Her father Russ said Hannah is self-conscious of being different, and he looked forward to her being able to look up her own verses in the Bible.

Her mother said she saw Hannah growing more independent.

Two years ago, Hannah, a high school freshman, started to read Braille.

Hannah now has her own Braille writer. She does her homework in Braille, and a school worker translates them back into English for her teachers. She is an “A” and “B” student.

“I feel like I can do more,” she said. “I am more independent.”

But Braille books are expensive. Hannah’s math book contains more than 50 volumes. These books can cost as much as $1,000.

Newton Mid-Day Lions Club member Dan Heinze knew the family, and, with the help of incoming president Kevin Pouch, sought to find Hannah, who had been newly baptized, a Bible.

The men searched worldwide via the Internet looking for a Braille Bible when they found an organization that makes the text in their own back yard.

Lutheran Braille Workers is a national charity that creates religious material in Braille. The organization has a workshop in Wichita associated with Holy Cross Lutheran Church. The center is one of 200 Braille work centers of its kind in the United States.

Joanne Edwards is one of about three dozen volunteers who work at the Braille center. The workers produce about 120 books per month. Edwards was on hand at the meeting Wednesday to talk about the Braille printing process.

The Braille texts are set on zinc plates then placed in a press that is run through a device much like an old-fashioned wash machine ringer, where the pages are embossed with the Braille dots, Edwards said.

The dots are organized into groups of six that make cells that make numbers, letters, words and even music. One cell can be used as a contraction, such as V standing for the word very. There are 192 contractions in Braille. The dots on the pages are offset so pages can be printed doubled sided.

“A book of Braille can be one of the most precious things to a blind person,” Edwards said.

Hannah’s Bible is the English NIV version, but Braille can be translated into any language, and the workers ship free religious materials worldwide.

Many of the books go to foreign countries, such as Africa, India and Russia, where there are large schools for the blind.

“They have learned that educating a blind person can be very productive,” Edwards said of other countries. “People return to their families and villages, and even the blind educate other people.”

The workshop is supported completely through donations.

As with all their clients, Hannah was provided the Bible free of charge. The Newton Mid-Day Lions Club provided a donation to the organization to offset the cost of the Bible.

“I am so excited to see one of our Bibles presented,” Edwards said. “We don’t often get to meet the people who receive our Bibles.”

For more information on the Lutheran Braille Workers, contact Joanne Edwards at 1102 N. Armour, Wichita, KS 67206, or call (316) 683-0209.