Last Wednesday evening, every table at 137 High Street was occupied by sighted people who couldn’t see. Blindfolded guests were given the opportunity to dine and experience a tiny piece of the world through the ‘eyes’ of a visually impaired person.
Last Wednesday evening, every table at 137 High Street was occupied by sighted people who couldn’t see. Blindfolded guests were given the opportunity to dine and experience a tiny piece of the world through the ‘eyes’ of a visually impaired person.
Dining in the Dark, an initiative of Gadra Advice and Community Work, was an event raising funds for the organisation’s skills development programme for the blind, at the same time as raising awareness about visual impairment.
“This is a new experience for all of us,” said Carol Venter, director of Gadra Advice who organised the event. “We’re taking a step into the unknown. That’s why we’ve decided not to go with pees and corn.” The three-course meal comprised of food that couldn’t easily be flung around the restaurant and was placed in a particular order on the plates. “You’ve got your potatoes at 12 o’clock, your meat at six o’clock, and your veggies at three and nine o’clock,” said Venter, easing the challenge for the diners in the dark.
Guests ate with upside-down knives, became more aware of their taste buds, and participated in unusual dinner talk, making comments such as “It’s a good thing we’re not eating fondue” and “Oh, that wasn’t chicken – that was potato.” While they poked around for the food on their plates, they were entertained with songs by Kerry Hiles, a lucky draw, auctions, and a speech by Richard Nzwana, the beginner’s braille instructor at Gadra Advice.
“I’m totally totally blind,” he said. “I can’t see you, but I’m capable. I can cook and I can wash my two daughters.” He was delighted that sighted people were prepared to experience being blind, to realise that with a bit of practice, they could be capable too.
Funds raised will be used for the skills development programmes already in place to improve the blind’s standard of living, develop their sense of self-worth, and learn skills that will render them employable. These include teaching braille, computer literacy and financial skills; providing a space for income-generating projects, such as bee-keeping, food gardens and egg production; as well as offering an extensive social programme which includes hiking, gyming, swimming lessons and marimba drumming. “As NGOs, we can’t sit with our hands out. We need to get our hands dirty,” says Gadra’s Venter.
The event was inspired by The Darkness Restaurant, a business in Berlin, Germany. There, visually-impaired people work as waiters and waitresses, serving meals to sighted people in a completely dark room. “I had trouble identifying marrow. I didn’t know what I was eating,” said Virginia David-Engelbrecht, a member of Gadra Advice’s management advisory board when she ate at the Berlin restaurant. “Who’s blind here? It’s not the blind people. It’s me, who needs eyes to taste what’s on my plate.”
