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Sabriye Tenberken: (1970)
Sabriye Tenberken was born in Cologne in Germany. At age 12 she became blind. She studied Central Asian Sciences at Bonn University. In addition to Mongolian and modern Chinese, she studied modern and classical Tibetan in combination with sociology and philosophy. As no blind student had ever before ventured to enroll in these kind of studies, she could not fall back on the experiences of anyone else – and had to develop her own methods in order to follow her course of studies. Out of this need, Sabriye developed the Tibetan Braille Script. Sabriye initiated the project for the blind in Tibet and is the co-founder and co-director of Braille Without Borders. Next to fundraising and communication with official and sponsor organisations she is responsible for the development of the curricula, training of teachers and trainers and initially she also taught blind children herself.  “My path leads to Tibet”, “Tashis neue Welt”, “Das siebte Jahr”.

Sabriye is also the author of three books:  "My path leads to Tibet" tells the history of the project and about the way Sabriye dealt with becoming blind. The book has been published in 12 languages (English version: Arcade Publishing house, New York). More infos on this book click  here. Further she wrote “Tashis neue Welt” and the latest book is titled  “Das siebte Jahr” ("The seventh year") which tells the story of Sabriyes and Paul's seventh year in Tibet.

Paul Kronenberg: (1968)
Paul was born in Venray in the Netherlands. He has a technical background, graduating in the following studies: mechanical engineering, computer science, commercial technology and communication system science. During his studies, Paul gained practical experience while working for different organizations in development projects in Africa, Eastern Europe and Tibet. Together with Sabriye Tenberken Paul is the co-founder and co-director of Braille Without Borders.  Paul is responsible for all technical and maintenance aspects in the project. He trains staff in bookkeeping, office work and the use of computers. In addition to communication and fundraising, Paul is responsible for the designs of the buildings and supervises all construction activities within the project.