Gujurati speakers sought for talking news service 30.01.08
A charity for the visually impaired has issued an urgent appeal for Gujarati speakers to help revive its talking newspaper service.
Volunteers at Vista have been providing a 60-minute recording of local, national and international news, short stories and features in the language for the past 12 years but fear it could come to an end if extra help cannot be found.
More than 250 blind and partially-sighted Gujarati speakers from across the county currently subscribe to the talking newspaper. Spokeswoman Lynda Shaw said: "It is extremely important that we get new volunteers so that we can keep the service going into the future and, hopefully, expand it."
The charity currently has one volunteer, Vinod, working in his spare time to produce the cassettes.
He said: "This is a valuable and much-needed service that needs to be continued and I just hope that other people will come forward and offer their services.
"It offers a window on to the world to those people who would otherwise have no way of finding out what is going on at home and abroad."
Vinod has been recording the paper since 2006, but for the last few years he has manned the project entirely by himself and the tapes have had to be cut from 90-minutes to just one hour long.
Reading and recording takes place every fortnight at Vista 's recording studio, in Gedding Road , Leicester.
Volunteer readers should ideally be able to translate from English to Gujarati, but they must be able to speak, read and write Gujarati to a good standard.
Recording volunteers should also have a good understanding of Gujarati and, where possible, some computer skills, although full training will be given on recording software.
For further information, or to offer your services to the charity, telephone Vista on 0116 249 0909.
Source: Leicester Mercury
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