Seychelles: Blind singer raises money for children

Cecile Lablache, who now lives in Australia, and her partner, Lance Collins, provided remedial massage therapy to the general public in an activity last month where participants were encouraged to donate at the end of each session. Lablache and Collins are both qualified masseurs with eight years of experience and their own clinic.

Their massages help reduce stress and improve circulation while also easing and toning the muscles. They also provide deep relaxation that allows the mind and body to recharge and rejuvenate.

Eager to experience the magic touch of the blind artist, more than 30 people took part in the activity which raised about $295.

“People feel that because I am blind, my sense of touch is better than others, and hence they enjoy my massage,” Lablache said .

After a one hour massage with Lablache, Terrence Dingwall said: “I had severe pain in my shoulders and could not raise my arms, but now I feel fine.”

Cecile Lablache, as well as her sister Brigitte and brother Hans, were born with a rare genetic eye disorder that affects the retina – called Retinitis pigmentosa – for which there is no known cure.

The three siblings and two other blind artists, Thomas Knowles and Robert Chetty, took the Seychelles music scene by storm in the late 1970s and 1980s with the band ‘Blind Faith’.

The chief executive of the council, Jean-Claude Matombe, said the funds collected would help boost activities such as parenting sessions, anger management for kids as well as for a sensitisation and awareness campaign on children’s rights.

“We had hoped to attract children with disabilities or muscle problems or even pregnant mothers but we are satisfied and eager to do more next time,” Matombe said.

Lablache left the Seychelles for Australia in the late 1990s after working for many years as a telephone operator with telecommunications company Cable and Wireless. It was there that she developed her sense of touch through a course at the Swinburne University of Melbourne.

“I worked hard at it because it was something I wanted to do,” she said, adding that that is how she coped with the 18-month course despite her visual impairment.

Lablache has visited her homeland of the Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indin Ocean, frequently and has collaborated with local organisations to help others, especially people with disability. 

This article was first published by the Seychelles News Agency.