Saigon School of the Blind Massage Center

The School for the Blind of Saigon was established in 1926. In 1976, it changed its name to PTDB Nguyen Dinh Chieu. In the past year, VNHELP helped the school by donating a Braille Printing Machine able to print special text books for the students. The school has been able to provide many students in Ho Chi Minh City with text books as well as many students in surrounding Southern provinces.

Currently, the school has more than 200 students that follow a curriculum approved by the Department of Education in the areas of vocational training. In the past years, the students have studied weaving, broom making, music and massage therapy. Of those vocational skills, massage has proven to be one of the best suited to the blind students. According to one theory, when one's sense of sight is diminished or lost, then the sense of touch is heightened allowing students to quickly learn the techniques of massage.

After building up the massage program, the school enthusiastically opened a massage room for students to practice their skills. The room not only provides students with hands-on learning, but also financial compensation to support their daily expenses. As the students' massage techniques have increased, so has the number of clients that come to the room making the business quite successful. This year the school received funds from Germany to add two more rooms to the existing massage center. VNHELP will provide funds to equip the new rooms, which also provides employment for ten blind graduates of the school. Current vocational students also intern in the center.