Visit to the School for Blind Children - Towarzystwo Opieki nad Ociemniałymi in Laski just outside Warsaw, Poland

                              Click on photos to enlarge - far superior rendition




An emergency call was received by the CCC from Jerzy Bylica, a new member and chairman of the Austin Healey Club in Warsaw. Would we be able on the shortest notice to offer any cars for a charitable event they had organised at a school for the blind. Some Healeys had dropped out at the last moment.

As he put it in his email to me : 

Talk to the Center’s pupils about classic cars, let them touch it , hear it, drive in them. I can’t promise you an attraction (sometimes is hard even for adults) but it could be something which will really touch your heart and you will remember for a long time.

I put out the call. Three of us CCC members turned up - a new CCC member Michael Kenny in his red MGA, Kuba Owoc in his BMW 635 csi and me in the 1949 MG TC. This together with three superbly restored Austin Healeys (details later).

I thought this a most unusual and generous idea, something owners of classic cars would hardly ever think of in a million years, possibly even dread! The MG TC not the RR would be the car of choice for me to bring for the kids. I definitely had some reservations as this is a pristine, highly polished concours car and would be 'fondled' and climbed into by a large group of blind, some additionally disabled, schoolchildren. They would try and build up a picture of the car simply through touch, asking questions followed by a short drive. What a quite extraordinary idea!

Pause for thought...risk of damage, scratches or whatever to my beloved classic...never straightforward and difficult to rectify. Would my Polish be up to dealing with the stress of disabled schoolchildren's often odd and unexpected questions? Then my conscience kicked in. 

'Don't be such a bloody wimp Michael! Just do it!' 

I decided this was a very worthy cause and a highly unusual use of a classic car. A rather different motivation to the millionaire investment industry it has presently become. The event would be the absolute opposite of being displayed under guard at a museum or Concours d'Elegance event. Also rather different to the sybaritic pleasures of summer pic-nics and semi-glamorous outings I usually engage in with the car! 

It evolved into a desperately moving occasion and I think has changed my entire attitude to my classic and in addition was a shock exposure to the appalling disability of child blindness. I admit to having the horrors as the children first descended on the car doing things that would have drawn the ire of myself, concours guards followed by suitable parental chastisement in any other context! 

There were about 35 children of various ages from I guess perhaps 6 to 16 years accompanied by professional adult teachers, helpers and a group of Franciscan nuns who have been especially trained to educate and assist them. It is a type of boarding school with branches in the UK and I believe in Australia too. I soon got used to 'the violations' and developed a more charitable 'philosophy' to the whole thing. I admit being a selfish old bxxxer concerning my classic cars!

The children were extraordinarily enthusiastic, good humoured, friendly, thoughtful and delicate in their touch as they tried to build up a picture in their mind of a 67 year old motor car. How do you do this when you are blind from birth or severely disabled? What image of a MG TC, Austin Healey, MGA or BMW (the marques present) would you construct in your mind only through the feel of your fingers? 

Of course an MG TC is nothing like even a normal 1960s classic with all the odd dashboard features, instruments and funny horn. One asked me if he could start the car. This we did but of course starting a TC is rather different to a modern car with its separate key and stiff pull starter. This caused the lad some confusion and fun. Another asked technical questions concerning engine capacity, horsepower and petrol consumption. What an extraordinary scene was taking place in front of me and something I will never ever forget. 

After exploring the cars through touch we then took them for a short circular drive around the centre. I explained aspects of the car in Polish as we proceeded. Even getting into a TC is different to other cars (you need great flexibility), the doors open in the opposite direction to a conventional vehicle (so-called 'suicide doors') and the catch to open and close them can be confusing even to the sighted! The cart suspension of the TC gave them some fun (and me some stress) on the rather rough and dusty path.

We were kindly invited for lunch but pressure of time and short notice at the weekend unfortunately prevented it.

The Educational Centre in Laski Towarzystwo Opieki nad Ociemniałymiwas was created by Elżbieta Roża Czacka. She considered her loss of sight as a vocation. In 1911 she founded The Society for the Care of the Blind and a couple of years later - the Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross. Both of these, in the second decade of the XXth century, became foundations for the creation of the Institute for the Blind.

Mother Elżbieta Czacka was aware of the need for the proper education of the blind to enable them to live independently and responsibly. This is why The Centre in Laski educates blind children from their first months of life until the Baccalaureate and Professional Exams in an atmosphere of self-respect and openness to others. In the future, this will enable the blind to live independently amongst their family, work environment, and in a society of sighted people.

Probably best now to simply let the pictures below move you beyond words.

The entourage at work - 1949 MG TC, Austin Healey 100/4, MGA, Austin Healey Mk III

A couple of the Polish Franciscan sisters were rather 'feisty' (no better word for it) and insisted on taking the wheel and enthusiastically driving the children around the 'circuit' themselves in clouds of dust! 

Such a vision only in Poland surely! 

Fortunately not a health and safety regulation in sight to 'protect' these 'vulnerable' blind children from injury and enjoying themselves. Powerful classic sports cars without seat belts being driven by nuns! My goodness, whatever next! We have to put a stop to that immediately! 

I thought it quite wonderful and perfectly life enhancing.

Of course I could still be ensconced in the increasingly absurd nanny-state UK , mired in a plethora of puritanical regulations designed it seems to prevent the experience of life's joys.

The preservation of  human warmth in life is one significant reason I like living in Poland. 

 Kuba Owoc in his BMW 635 csi

Michael Kenny in his newly acquired MGA

Jerzy Bylica,the organiser of this selfless event in his immaculate Austin Healey Mk III

Yes a life changer for a couple of hours...and a useful shock to ingrained ideas. 

Fortunately ages ago I had ordered and am waiting for the costly Swissvax Discovery Kit With Mirage Wax to arrive next week. The car will need it! 

But my heart will not.

Ośrodek Szkolno-Wychowawczy dla Dzieci Niewidomych im. Róży Czackiej
Laski, ul. Brzozowa 75, 05-080 Izabelin

http://www.laski.edu.pl/en/node/418

and

http://www.laski.edu.pl/pl/gluchoniewidomi-kontakt