Social experiment in Taldykorgan: to taste darkness

Corporate Fund “Erekshe Tandau Shelek” hosted social flash mob “Dark café” in Taldykorgan on February 15, 2018.  The event was organized jointly with Almaty oblast akimat.

The goal was to attract the attention from the part of society to the problems of PWD, to see problems blind people face in their everyday life, to help them find jobs.

«We are breaking stereotypes that people with disabilities cannot work well. We made a research and studied the problems that prevent a disabled person to realize his/her rights as a citizen of the country. Currently in Kazakhstan live over 671 000 people with disabilities, more than 1300 people with visual impairment in Almaty oblast. And there are only 29 specialized enterprises where people with visual impairment can work. Our goal is to eliminate barriers and create equal conditions for all», - said Zakhira Begaliyeva, the head of the project “Public services – available to all”.

The venue was the restaurant “Skazka”. Participation was free and opened for any citizen of the city. The action was that customers had to lunch in full darkness. They felt what they were eating only through ability to taste. When lunch was over the lights turned on, and participants exchanged their impressions.

«Those were unusual feelings, when you are in full darkness and try to see anything or anybody. Try to taste smell, to feel how plates are placed on the table. We tried to eat but failed….», - said Murat Tuganbayev, flash mob participant.

This is the first time when such social flash mob was held in Kazakhstan. The idea to host a social flash mob came from Almaty oblast akimat. It was a result of study tour to Finland (September, 2017) in which akimat representative took part. Study tour was initiated within the frames of GGIF’s component on capacity building.

The article includes the information posted on nur.kz. (https://www.nur.kz/1717284-v-taldykorgane-poprobovali-temnotu-na-vkus.html).