VALLETTA, Malta, December 1, 2005 — 'O Happy Day,' sang the Joy Gospel Singers at the launch of the first printed volumes of Scripture in Maltese Braille. This was indeed a joyous event, particularly for one blind man, Charles Borg, who proofread the Braille text before it was printed. "This has been a dream I have cherished in my heart for 30 years," he explained.
Until the four Gospels, Acts and the Book of Psalms - a total of eight volumes - were launched at St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta on November 5, Malta's visually impaired Christians had to read the Scriptures in English Braille. In fact, there were no 'official' publications in Maltese Braille at all until this date. So, through this launch, the Malta Bible Society marked two important landmarks.
The Society began producing the Scriptures in Maltese Braille last year. With funding from the United Bible Societies (UBS) and technical assistance from UBS Coordinator for the Production of Scriptures for the Visually Impaired Ingrid Felber-Bischof, it supplied the text in the appropriate digital format to Compass Braille of the UK, where Senior Programmer and Braille Transcription Coordinator David Barnard oversaw the writing of a software program to create the Maltese Braille code. He also handled the subsequent transcription and embossing of the text.
Then, back in Malta, it was necessary to proofread the Braille text, a job carried out very willingly by Mr. Borg. Biblical scholar the Rev. Paul Sciberras took responsibility for checking that the Braille version matched the printed one. "This was a long and tiresome job which the two men carried out with much care and patience," says General Secretary Grace Cilia.
Mr. Borg read from the new Braille Scriptures at the launch, which both Mr. Barnard and Mrs. Felber-Bischof attended. "Everybody was visibly moved at this moment," says Miss Cilia. In total, more than 300 people attended the launch, including a number of tourists and others who were passing the cathedral and were drawn by the atmosphere of excitement and rejoicing.
The visually impaired community in Malta is relatively small (there are 1,800 people registered as blind out of a population of 400,000), but the significance for them of the launch cannot be underestimated. And extensive media coverage in the run-up to the ceremony ensured that all the island's residents were made aware of it, too. In the past, the visually impaired of Malta had often felt overlooked, but, now that the Braille Scriptures are available, a more positive future is ahead, Miss Cilia explained in her address at the launch:
"May the outcome of these Scriptures be a strengthening of the community," she 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."
Looking to the future, the Bible Society has already embarked on the work required to produce the letter of St. Paul to the Romans in Maltese Braille. It hopes that, if sufficient funds are available, it will be able to complete the New Testament in 2006. It also hopes to find funding to work on a speech engine so that the visually impaired community can use the Bible on CD-ROM through their computers.
"This happy day marked the beginning of a story that will continue," concludes Miss Cilia.
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