Wish Stories

Anabella Prints her Childhood Stories in Braille

A woman wearing dark glasses laughs in a library

From a tiny bedroom in El Salvador that she shared with two younger sisters, Anabella told stories that brought her imagination into the real world. There, each night before bed, Anabella invented wild tales that she’d recite out loud in Spanish for her sisters, providing an escape from daily chores and responsibilities. Her voice would drift over the half-walls that didn’t reach the ceiling, allowing her parents and two brothers in other rooms to share in the magic, too.

“Everyone in our family would listen, and I would say a blessing before we went to sleep,” Anabella, now 79, remembered.

In the years that followed, the stories from her imagination became even more precious, as her eyes grew weaker and weaker. In elementary school, Anabella first noticed she couldn’t read the chalkboard from the back of the classroom. A set of thick glasses helped, but her eyesight continued to worsen.

Gradually losing her sight

At 22, Anabella immigrated to the United States and lived with her uncle in California while studying English. She remained in the San Francisco Bay area for many years, married, and welcomed her daughter, Sasha. For 15 years, she worked at a local university as her vision declined.

“I had to use a computer. The paper was off-white with green lines, so it was hard for me to read. In the room where I worked as a program secretary, it was difficult because the lighting was not very good,” Anabella described. “After a while, I just couldn’t continue there.”

An older woman in sunglasses sits indoors

Trees stand in front of a historic government building with a dome roof

Someone touches the arm of a woman wearing dark glasses

When her daughter was still young, Anabella was forced to retire early and apply for disability benefits. She worried how she would navigate the world and motherhood with failing eyesight and the loss of her career.

After going through a divorce in 2010, Anabella moved to Arizona to be near one of her brothers, where she attended the Phoenix Center for the Blind. Anabella was immediately drawn to the writing course offered by the center. In the process, all her childhood stories came flooding back.

A return to storytelling

During her years in El Salvador, Anabella had never written down any of her stories. Through the writing course, she began to record them on the computer and shared them with the class. It was then that her teacher pointed out how few books were available to the visually impaired in Braille, especially in other languages. This inspired Anabella to begin dreaming about sharing her stories someday.

By 2012, Anabella was completely blind. She moved back to the Bay area and joined LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, where she learned how to use computers designed for the blind.

“It gave me a different perspective that I could continue writing,” Anabella said. Her dream of printing her childhood stories pushed to the forefront of her mind. With the help of Wish of a Lifetime, Anabella’s longtime dream was realized through printed and illustrated children’s books in Braille, Spanish, and English.

And older and younger woman stand next to one another holding Spanish and English versions of the same children’s book

A spiral-bound book in Braille with illustrations sits on a table

Sharing her stories in community

Sasha first assisted her mother with editing and translating the stories she had typed up while living in Arizona; a Wish of a Lifetime staff member volunteered her time to illustrate the book. Wish of a Lifetime then coordinated with the San Francisco Public Library’s Talking Books and Braille Center to find printing resources in Braille. Anabella presented her book during a patron spotlight Q & A session at the library.

“It was a dream come true. I felt like I was floating. I couldn’t get back down to Earth because of the emotion of having so many people around and applauding.”
—Anabella

: A blind woman sits with a man in front of an audience in a library

Two women talk with a man while sitting indoors

At the event, Anabella had the opportunity to share both her life’s journey and her love of storytelling with the community. Sasha surprised her mom by gathering other relatives to attend. Individuals from LightHouse came as well, encouraging Anabella to continue writing.

“We’ve been working on this for a while, but other people coming together to celebrate it meant a lot—it raised up excitement for us,” Sasha added. “It was wonderful to see that collective excitement and how inspired other people were with my mom’s experience.”