Noemi arrived from Budapest to get to know her prospective guide dog, Gerbeaud. Noemi has been visually impaired since an early age. As a child, she attended the Elementary School for the Blind, where she learnt to walk with a white cane. Relying on the cane and her low vision, she travelled independently for nine years. Then came a corneal transplant, which did not help anything, and the world became somehow even more obscure for her. Although she had loved dogs since childhood, she decided then that she would like to have a guide dog more than anything else. The decision was followed by action and after endless waiting she received her first guide dog, Morzsi, who, however, due to eye decease, had to retire after five years of service. Then, although Noemi returned to the white cane, she started off only tentatively and fearfully, even on well-known routes as well. She felt that she would need another guide dog, the wound left by the loss of Morzsi only slowly healed.

After more than a year and a half, finally the long awaited day, meeting with her new guide dog, Gerbeaud, came on last Tuesday.

This is what Noemi said about her new four-legged friend:

“Gerbeaud’s personality immediately enchanted me. She is very playful and relaxed and incredibly docile at the same time. We solved a lot of tasks during the week we spent in Miskolc, which was not easy sometimes, but I feel we both learnt a lot. With her at my side, I finally feel safe again. I already love her so much!”