Venezuelan collaboration creates the first SEED computer lab for the blind

Students using the new PCs wear headsets that help them navigate by sound.

Venezuela made SEED history on July 16, 2008, with the inauguration of a new SEED Lab at the Joaquín Goecke Special School for children with special needs. Located in Maracaibo, Zulia State, the school has the first SEED computer lab in the world dedicated to visually impaired children. This achievement was only possible due to the outstanding cooperation between PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company) and Schlumberger. PDVSA has developed special computer software for visually impaired people.

The Event began with a sincere welcome from Angel Nunez, the Corporate Production Director of PDVSA, and Iván Betancourt, our Schlumberger VTT GeoMarket Manager. Many West Venezuela Operations employees from both companies attended the event.

“This event symbolizes the spirit of cooperation achieved by SEED,” commented Iván Betancourt, Schlumberger VTT GeoMarket Manager. “Our work with PDVSA has resulted in a gift that we hope will provide many visually impaired children, like the students in this school, with the opportunity to achieve their full potential in life.”

School Principal Noemí Wilhelm expressed a very warm greeting to the audience. For her, this was a special day because she was not only celebrating this magnificent gift, but also the 31^st anniversary of the founding of the school and the opening of its new library. The students were extremely excited and motivated. They sang the Venezuelan National Hymn, and we enjoyed a beautiful poem and Venezuelan songs performed by two students.

Inside the Lab, Jorge Ortega, an IT specialist from PDVSA Technical District in Mérida State, presented the new GNOME-ORCA software, which provides access to the blind. Visually impaired himself, Pedro helped develop the software and now he is training the teachers and students to use it. The computer keyboards are in the Braille System, and the students know from memory the position of each key. Each keystroke has a specific sound so they can hear as they type, and the software “reads” the information on the websites visited while the students listen through earphones. The system has been installed on the 20 SEED Lab computers, all manufactured in Venezuela and benefiting more than 100 students.

I want to give special thanks to all the people who participated in this event and who made this fantastic achievement possible, particularly to Iraima Ojeda, our Social Development Manager in West Venezuela, and her team.

—María Auxiliadora Torres
    SEED Coordinator – VTT

Check out the story and more photos in Voices.

Cooperation among the members of the team from PDVSA, Schlumberger and the Joaquín Goecke Special School made this achievement possible.

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