Hundreds gathered in a cathedral on a southern European island south of Sicily to celebrate the first printed volumes of Scripture in Maltese Braille.

|TOP|The United Bible Societies (UBS) announced last week that on Nov. 5 at St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valetta, more than 300 people attended the launching of the new Braille Scripture. Prior to the completion of the project, Malta’s visually impaired Christians had to read the Scriptures in English Braille.

“This has been a dream I have cherished in my heart for 30 years,” Charles Borg, who proofread the Braille text before it was printed, told UBS.

The Society began producing the Scriptures in Maltese Braille last year with the help of Ingrid Felber-Bischof, UBS Coordinator for the Production of Scriptures for the Visually Impaired; David Barnard, Senior Programmer and Braille Transcription Coordinator; and the Rev. Paul Sciberras, who checked that the Braille version matched the printed one.

Borg read from the new Braille Scripture at its launch ceremony.

|AD|“Everybody was visibly moved at this moment,” said Grace Cilia, General Secretary of the Malta Bible Society.

Cilia believes that the Maltese Braille scripture cannot be underestimated because of its significance to the visually impaired community in Malta. She explained that in the past, Malta’s visually impaired had often felt overlooked, but with the extensive media coverage for the ceremony, all the island’s residents were made aware of the Maltese Braille Scriptures.

“May the outcome of these Scriptures be a strengthening of the community,” Cilia said. “It is our hope that this venture undertaken by the Bible Society will inspire other organisations and policy-makers to embark on similar projects so that our people with special needs will enjoy the same rights and opportunities as the rest of society.”

The Bible Society has started the project to translate the book of Romans in Maltese Braille and hopes to complete the New Testament in 2006 if sufficient funds are available.







Michelle Vu
Christian Today Correspondent