PAVI wants meeting with Minister

She said the group is yet to receive renewal of the subvention, which was last given in 2015.

“It was our expectation that it would be renewed for the next three years, but that did not happen. We have been trying to meet with the minister to find out if Government is interested in funding our work, which we think is very important, because blind lives matter.

But we have not been able to secure that meeting,” Campbell said.

“We thought we would go to the media, make a fuss and hopefully get the meeting so we would know exactly if Government is prepared to fund us and to what extent so that we could continue with our work.” PAVI had been receiving $520,000 a year. However, Campbell said it submitted a new figure of about $1.5 million, as the group is in the process of training new officers.

The funding was previously used for PAVI’s major initiative - the Adjustment to Blindness Programme.

“People who lose their sight are disoriented, miserable, hopeless, lose independence, are dependent on family and generally have difficulty in coping. We bring them through it and help them to use the cane, use the stove again, look after their personal hygiene and so on.

“We do other things with corporate sponsorship that would expand from that,” Campbell said.

She said the group tried to force the minister’s hand last December when a group showed up unannounced at her office.

While they did not meet with the minister, Campbell said the minister’s personal advisor assured them a meeting would be arranged in January.

“So far we have not gotten that meeting and we are not getting any assurance as to when we would. We always planned that if we don’t get the meeting we would go public,” Campbell said.

PAVI has a membership of about 150- 200 members, but there are also support groups in Couva, Siparia, Port-of-Spain and Curepe where people who have lost their sight can get together to support each other.

Contacted for comment, Minister Crichlow- Cockburn said she is quite willing to meet with Campbell.

“I tried contacting her over the weekend because one of my colleagues indicated to me that they were trying to meet with me. I was given a number, but it seemed that it was not her personal number, but the organisation’s number, so that is why I wasn’t able to touch base with her,” Crichlow-Cockburn explained.