Aurora, BROADCASTER
© from the text Aurora the Broadcaster: Eva Latonda 2010 © from the illustrations: Maru García, 2010
About blindness
Did you know that 80% of the information that our brain receives is received via our eyes? This means that a lot of the abilities that you have, you have learnt thanks to your sight.
It's amazing, right? Sight plays a very important role in our lives. What would happen if you could not see or if you could see, but with difficulty?
Blindness is the lack of sight. It is possible to be completely blind or to see some shapes and colours. Those who are blind develop other senses much more to compensate for the ones they are lacking. In this story, you will meet Aurora and you will see that she is a girl full of imagination and hope. Knowing her you will get to know a true heroine, capable of coping on her own.
I am like afeline, I move silently, no one knows where I am, in what part of my house I am...
But I can hear them all, Ha!I have an ear more finely tuned than anyone… My father gets angry when I hide but I have such fun.
Being like a feline isn't popular with “Skinny", my guide dog, either. I think it's because of that hassle that there always is between dogs and cats.
I don't know who said that they don't get along but since that day the feud started which is a complete nonsense.
Incidentally, I gave him the name “Skinny” because he is like a barrel.
I try and convince my faithful friend that cats are warm and affectionate.
“Look at Pirlo, my great aunt Cecilia's cat.
When I touch him his fur tickles my fingers and his tongue is so funny, rough and tiny, it makes me laugh so much”.
But Skinny doesn't pay any attention. But only concerning cats, because in everything else he is the best and most obedient dog that has ever existed.
I find it hard to see with my eyes, so I see in a different way. For example, I can touch something and know what it's like or listen to the sounds... It's like I am in a very special cinema where you have to be guided by your imagination, and that's great fun.
I imagine everything… I imagine my mother when she cooks her wonderful potatoes, that make you want to lick your fingers!
I imagine my teacher running after Alfonso who is a very naughty boy in my class. I imagine the clouds full of rain drops and the rainbow warmed by the sun. I imagine so many things!
But with a difference, what I am best at is imagining the football games that my grandfather and I listen to every Sunday on the radio.
Because, as well as animals, I love sports and, among all the sports, the one I like the most is football because it is so exciting.
When there is a match we sit near the old radio, the two of us very close, just like the penguins do when they are very cold, and we listen carefully:
“ADVANCES FROM THE RIGHT SIDE, TACKLES AN OPPONENT, MOVES TO THE GOAL AREA AND… GOOOOAAAAAL!!!..
Whew! What a rush! Granddad and I hug and jump with joy, this time like the penguins when they see the sun come out after a blizzard.
We shout together “Hurrah hurrah!”, and meanwhile mum tells us not to shout so much, I think about how beautiful it would be to make people jump with joy when hearing my voice saying “¡GOOAAL! “
It is true that I am still a bit young to make decisions, even though I am 10, I guess? but I am very sure of what I want to be when I am older: a radio broadcaster.
I will broadcast the matches with Granddad at my side and we will be a great team. He will whisper in my ear what is happening and I will say it with passion over the mike.
There are people who think my dream is impossible and try to put me off. That is when I tell them in a loud, clear and distinct voice:
“The impossible… is the goal of those who believe”
And I do not know what it is about this phrase that I heard one day in class but after saying it and feeling so good, everyone comes to give me a big kiss.
And that's when I feel it. Their cheeks next to mine, they talk to me about how I can do anything I set my mind to because my sight goes so much further. I can see beyond the horizon.
The End
