For her Tikun Olam project, an aspect of a Bat Mitzvah that requires the student to help support her neighborhood through an act of community service, Palisadian Zoe Appelbaum-Schwartz, taught a beginner’s coding class at Palisades Branch Library on Saturday, Feb. 28 to benefit Tropical Health Alliance Foundation, an organization dedicated to restoring sight to the blind.
Over the past two years, THAF has done more than 6,400 cataract surgeries and aims to achieve 20,000 restored senses of sight. In countries like Ethiopia, which has one of the highest percentages of blind people per capita in the world, 80 percent of this blindness is either preventable or treatable. In addition to the challenges of blindness, many children fall into a life of servitude to their blind parent or family member, making the impact twice as severe.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
“I to support this cause because my little sister GiGi was born with a cataract in her eye and without surgery, she would have been permanently blind in that eye,” the 13-year-old said. “People in Ethiopia don’t have the same access, so I wanted to support an organization that can change that.”
Appelbaum-Schwartz has taught numerous coding classes through the Los Angeles Makerspace, at The Archer School for Girls (where she a student), and has acted as a panelist representing Scratch, a coding language, at an online conference for prospective MIT students.
“Coding is something anyone can learn. No matter your passion, you’ll find it very useful” she said. “By learning how to code, you’re able to build your own websites, video games, animations – you can do anything.”
Donations can be made directly to Tropical Health Alliance Foundation at http://thaf.org/donate.
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