International press articles

The article gives a brief summary of FORCE's mission and activities and explains that the foundation was set up on an initiative by the Friends of the Braille- and Spoken Book. "So far, we have been active in over 40 different countries in the developing world", Matthijs Balfoort is quoted.  

The article shows a picture of Matthijs Balfoort, director of the FORCE Foundation, watching blind children kneading wet clay at a contest in Ho Chi Minh City on 29 April 2004. The accompanying text gives information about the contest for 20 blind children which was organised by the General Sciences Library and sponsored by FORCE.

The article prizes the opening of the first reading room for visually impaired at a non-specialised library in the country. It explains how the manager of special reading services got into contact with the FORCE Foundation at a workshop in Chile and how the foundation subsequently funded the low vision reading aids for the Cuyo library.

According to the article, the Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister confirms that all new library buildings would provide the necessary facilities to assist visually impaired, deaf and otherwise disabled readers. He is quoted to mention the FORCE Foundation as one of several international organisations with which the Sabah State Library has successfully cooperated in order to develop and upgrade the services.

What our project partners say: 

“We are very grateful to the FORCE Foundation for the computerisation of our Braille Production Unit from 1999 and the sponsorship for four conferences and training workshops in Southern Africa , Uganda , Kenya and Zambia for management and staff between 1999 - 2002. Thank you, FORCE Foundation!”

John Sithole
Director, Zambian National Library and Cultural Centre for the Blind
Lusaka, Zambia

“FORCE gave me the great opportunity to attend the seminar in Nairobi and the workshop in Lusaka , organised and presented by FORCE, and through that I met a lot of people from different African countries working in a certain manner, with specific equipment to reach the same goal. To me it was a huge experience to see and hear how other organisations in the same field operate and to discover new operational methods that I could apply at our production unit.”

Schalk Hugo
Manager , Pioneer Printers
Worcester, South Africa

“May I take this opportunity to express our deep and profound thanks for the embosser FORCE sent us. It is quite difficult for me to put into words the appreciation of the Board of Trustees, staff, students and all the visually impaired persons in Botswana . We also had a chance of sending 2 of our staff for a training workshop in South Africa . We acquired Duxbury and we are already doing some students notes. Again, thank you.”

Innocent Magweva
Rehabilitation Specialist , Puredet Pudulogong Rehabilitation and Development Trust for the Blind
Mochudi, Botswana

“On behalf of the General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City , we express our gratitude for the support of the FORCE Foundation which we have enjoyed throughout the last three years. Your contributions have helped our library become more accessible for visually impaired people and an example to all other public libraries in the country.

Nguyen Thi Bac
Director, General Sciences Library
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

”Considero que las acciones emprendidas por la Fundación FORCE son de real importancia para el mejor aprovechamiento del recurso humano que labora en las instituciones que se dedican a la elaboración de material para ciegos y los conocimientos que por medio de cursos, talleres y otros adquieren los mismos. Es necesario fortalecer acciones como éstas, pues, sólo teniendo todas estas condiciones favorables e instituciones que las generen podremos alcanzar un día el ideal de hacer accesible la información y la cultura a los ciegos alrededor del mundo.”

Otto Rene Pereda Sosa
Coordinador de Jóvenes, Asociación Nacional de Ciegos de Guatemala
Mixco, Guatemala

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