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"The Future is Now" On March 21, Kyiv's Central Library for the Blind held a ribbon-cutting and demonstration of three new Internet workstations for the visually impaired. A USG grant through Embassy Kiev's Library Electronic Access Project (LEAP) provided three workstations, Braille and standard printers, a Braille display, and a scanner, as well as one year of connectivity support. Ambassador John E. Herbst represented the Embassy at the event, attended by Ukrainian government officials, library staff, and about 50 patrons and well-wishers. A library employee demonstrated the technology, and printed a text in Braille from the Internet. A blind student in the audience volunteered to read the Braille text; when he finished, the crowd broke out in applause. After the ceremony, visually impaired students mobbed the machines, sitting four to a terminal, to try out the new technology. Library director Yuri Vyshniakov said, "Thanks to the U.S. government, the future of Ukraine is here, now." Pictures from the LEAP-Equal Access Internet Center Official Opening in the Central Library for the Blind Kyiv, March 21, 2006

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	Ambassador John E. Herbst congratulates the Central Library for the Blind on the presentation of Internet workstations for the visually impaired
	Ambassador Herbst and Oleksandr Osadchy, Head of the Rehabilitation Council of the Ukrainian Association for the Blind, cut the ribbon to officially inaugurate the Library's new Braille printer, scanner, and Internet workstations
	A library technical consultant explains how a blind person can surf the Internet, while two staffers demonstrate
	More than 50 people -- government officials, l ibrary patrons, journalists, and well-wishers -- gathered at the Central Library to celebrate this new resource for Ukrainian citizens
	A blind student reads a Braille text printed from the Internet
	A blind library staffer demonstrates how to navigate Internet sites with the Focus 40 Braille Display
	Visually impaired students crowd around the new Internet workstations