Sabriye Tenberken

German-born Sabriye Tenberken became blind at the age of 12. Life was not easy for her at her first school. She was desperate to fit in, but other children were often cruel to her and her teachers did not understand her needs.

She often tried to hide her blindness until she went to a special boarding school for the blind. Here she realised that blind people were capable of doing the same things as everyone else. The school taught her to come to terms with being blind. She learnt various sports including horse riding and she also learnt how to read Braille. She quickly grew in confidence.

She later studied Tibetan at Bonn University. She learnt that many Tibetan people had problems with their eyesight, partly because of their diet but mainly because of the damaging sun at high altitudes. There was no Braille in Tibetan, so she decided to write a Tibetan Braille system. At first, she did this to help her with her own studies, but then she realised its potential to help people in the mountainous region of China.

She had always wanted to go to Tibet and when she was 26 she decided to pursue her dream and visit the country to introduce her Braille system to local people.

Although she travelled with two Tibetans, it was tough for Sabriye to travel around rural parts of Tibet, but that did not put her off. Many people did not believe she was blind because she travelled by horse, and she was shocked to find how blind children were treated. Some were never allowed outside because their parents believed they would hurt themselves. So, she became determined to help them and word was quickly spread about the blind woman who also wanted to set up a school for the blind.

Sabriye later met Paul Kronenberg, who became her business partner. Together they set up a school, called Braille Without Borders. It has a vision to help blind children to adjust to their blindness and to learn many of the same skills that she had learnt as a girl.

Sabriye realised that blindness has given her the opportunity to help people like herself. Her work has become famous and she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She has also won awards for her work and has also written a book called My Path Leads to Tibet about her life and work.