Tsunami Joe Author Reads For Vision To Read Project

Bandar Seri Begawan - Eight-year-old Uma Roy lent her voice to reading for Standard Chartered Bank's "Vision To Read" programme yesterday at the bank's main office in the capital, according to a press release.

The programme is an internal staff voluntary project, where bank staff can volunteer to read a book that is recorded into an audio book.

The programme, launched by the Minister of Health in conjunction with World Sight Day 2007, is part of the bank's commitment to its "Seeing Is Believing" initiative, which aims to assist visually impaired individuals around the world.

All audio books from the project will be donated to the Special Education Unit, under the Ministry of Education as well as the Brunei Darussalam National Association of the Blind for the benefit of the visually impaired community in the country.

There are currently over 200 visually impaired students in schools alone.

The book that Uma chose to read for the programme was "Tsunami Joe", which she wrote with illustrations by her mother, Santhi.

When Uma was five, she was inspired by the story of how a young hippo, was rescued off the coast of Kenya during the 2004 tsunami disaster, and later formed an unlikely friendship with an old tortoise following its rescue.

The book, published by Brunei Press Sdn Bhd, is on sale at all bookstores in the country, and for every book sold, $1 will be donated to the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Fund.

Members of the public who are interested in the programme may contact the bank's Corporate Affairs Department at 236 6024 or 236 6082. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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