The Lome Center for the Blind is a Christian non-profit institution providing education and vocational training for the visually impaired. It is located in Lomé, Togo, in the region of West Africa.
The center’s mission is to enable students to become full participating citizens and contributing members of society. The center also advocates for the visually impaired, including combating poverty, promoting independence and dignity, advancing education for blind women, and prevention.
Above all, the center represents a tool to share the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ with the visually impaired.
“Learning to read and write Braille gives new life and new hope to a visually impaired individual, who can dream again for new opportunities and for a better future, as nothing can replace the basic ability to read and write.”
Koffi Amegadzie, principal
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Togo is one of the poorest countries in Africa, where many families live on just a few dollars per day. Most visually impaired children are from poor families, and only a small percentage have access to education.
Many parents do not believe these children are able learn, and do not invest their limited resources toward their education. They often need to be convinced to send their children to school.
In Togo, there are no government schools for training the visually impaired. Resource centers like this provide critical educational and life skills.
TRAINING
The program is based on educational, social, and professional inclusion, providing rehabilitation, educational integration, and vocational training.
The center has assisted over 100 visually impaired students achieve a variety of skills: assistive technology specialists, transcriptionists, teachers, social workers, physiotherapists, sociologists, telephone operators, cereal mill operators, and trade craftsmen.
REHABILITATION
Both adults and children are trained at the center to learn how to read and write Braille. They also learn orientation and mobility using a white cane, and how to use a computer with text-to-speech software.
For adults, this program provides basic literacy skills.
For children, this program serves as the basis for continuing their education in the regular school system.
INTEGRATION
The center prepares and facilitates the inclusion of visually impaired students into the regular school system, with the assistance of teachers for the visually impaired.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
The center provides opportunities for vocational training, such as furniture and doormat weaving.
HISTORY
The official name for the Lome Center for the Blind is the Centre d’Enseignement Spécialisé pour Aveugles (CESA), which translates to the Special Education Center for the Blind.
It was established in 1993 from an initiative by William Doulome (head of the Togolese Association of the Blind), along with other blind Christians in Lome. Many were former students of the Village of Light (a christian mission training center for the blind – the first in the country – located outside the city), which inspired them to share a similar goal – to able to share the Good News with every visually impaired student at the Center.
To this end, at the heart of its daily activities, the center puts emphasis on prayer and Bible reading.