Project Description

In 2005, Ann Moideen traveled with Ann K. Parsons, a teacher with visual impairments from Rochester, N.Y., to the Mercy Home orphanage in Bangalore. Parishioners at Parsons church, Our Lady Queen of Peace, had raised funds to send her to India. While there, Parsons trained visually-impaired students to use window eyes software donated by the Ann Foundation. Back at home, Parsons continues to provide training for the students to at Mercy Home through online instruction.

Parsons later went to India for a second time to conduct workshops on computer training for blind students at Loyola College in Chennai, India. The college contains a resource center for the visually challenged, where software donated by the Ann Foundation is put to good use. Parsons also conducted five days of workshops for the teachers at Jyothi Seva, Bangalore, a school run by Franciscan Nuns from Poland. The Ann Foundation donated two software packs, teddy bears and oral care products to the school children.

One of the most enriching moments of the 2005 mission, though, was the time that Ann Moideen shared with the then-President of India, the Honorable Dr. A.P. Abdul Kalam. The president has always considered India’s youth to be of great importance, and took time out of his busy schedule to discuss the plight of the country’s disabled children with Moideen.

During the mission trip, a group of women from the Rotary Club of Bangalore presented a $1000 donation pooled together over the preceding year. They were inspired by the Ann Foundation’s work, and decided to donate the money towards a new computer for the Jyothi Seva School for the Blind.