Volume 5, Issue 1
September 2011 www.discoveringdeafworlds.org
Humble Hearts:
The Story of a Bilingual Kenyan School for the Deaf Demolished and Rebuilt
Primary school Deaf students attend class at Humble Hearts School.
By Beatrice Anunda Humble Hearts School started in 2003 with the objective of reaching out to Deaf children who did not have the opportunity to go to school. Many of these children were denied the right to love and education due to either poverty or local cultural beliefs that deafness was a curse and an embarrassment. In 2004, we realized that a place to house these children was a necessity. Many Deaf children attending the school lived far away and constantly missed school due to a lack of money for commuter buses. The older students would at least walk the long stretches to school, but the littlest ones would be left home hoping that their parents or guardians would bring them to school. This rarely happened. The challenge of transportation led to some dropping out of school. Most parents from poor families cannot afford to employ someone to take care of their children when they go out to search for jobs. As a result, children are left outside, locked inside their homes, or left under the eye of a neighbor who at times ends up sexually abusing or subjecting them to child labor.
A brightly painted sign adorns the entrance to Humble Hearts School in Kenya.
It was a relief when a small room was created behind my parents’ home to house the first three Deaf students. The need for space grew each day and before long, there were 40 children. By 2005, we realized that there was a communication barrier between Deaf children and their hearing siblings as well as the community at large. We decided to open the school to these siblings. This decision influenced the community’s members, who had previously distanced themselves from what they called “that school for the deaf,” to embrace the concept of giving Deaf children a voice through education. Sign language classes were quickly introduced for both parents and the community. Before long, hearing children wanted to come to Humble Hearts. By the end of 2006, enrollment increased to 300 students, with more than 150 hearing children turned away due to a lack of space. Having Deaf staff was another way of boosting Deaf students’ morale and erasing negative cultural beliefs about deafness. Humble Hearts strongly believes that “disability is not inability.” We have seen children at Humble Hearts advance both morally and socially, September 2011 1
Humble Hearts School founder Beatrice Anunda
2
Discovering Deaf Worlds
Davin Searls and David Justice with Humble Hearts students.
bringing a new understanding to the community that they, too, can compete in the hearing world. In 2009 at 3:00 a.m., Humble Hearts School was demolished without warning by the Kenya Pipeline Company; the building was located on the path of a new pipeline to be built. All that we had worked for crumbled to the ground, and we didn’t know what to do. We found shelter in a nearby church but had to move out after three months. We then came to what is our current site, which at that time was still under construction. Temporary structures for classes were quickly built.
With the help of numerous well-wishers, especially the volunteer-run NGO Angel Covers—dedicated to caring for orphaned and destitute children around the world—Humble Hearts School was rebuilt and carried on. Today we have numerous facilities, beds, a library, and classrooms with teachers on standby. As a result of Angel Covers’ sponsorship program, many of our children have been given a chance to stay in school, and some of them have even received needed heart surgery. They have been provided with love and fulfillment of basic needs so that they can pursue a bright future. Currently, Humble Hearts School has services for children from infancy to age 3, primary school for ages 5-14, and secondary school for ages 15-20. We also hope to have a vocational training college eventually. Although Humble Hearts School began in 2003 with my mother Doreen and me, our vision has been passed on and shared with the community, including parents, caregivers and teachers. They ensure that our school will continue for many generations to come. Beatrice Anunda is the founder of Humble Hearts School and can be contacted at humblehearts04@ yahoo.co.uk. To learn more about how to sponsor a Humble Hearts Deaf student for $20 a month, visit www.angelcovers.org/humblehearts.html.
September 2011 3
My Side of the Story:
A Sudanese Deaf Orphan Advocates for Change By Atim Caroline Ogwang Atanga I am a Deaf 24-year-old lady born in the southern part of the Equatoria Region of Sudan. We are recovering from 21 years of civil war that robbed our region of social, economic and cultural development. During the war, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels attacked my village by surprise at a time when my uncles were taking arms against the Khartoum government. As a result of explosions from this attack, I happened to lose my hearing in infancy; my sister, who was running to safety with me, was killed. We were forced to flee. Of all the countries that accommodated refugees, only a few people with highly educated relatives had the chance to attend primary school. Many who went to Khartoum, Egypt, and Ethiopia only have stories of living a refugee life and trying to stay alive. Those who went to western countries never came back, or at least we never heard from them again. Many from my village escaped to Uganda or Kenya. While in Nairobi, Kenya, it was proposed that I receive a cochlear implant. Some doctors objected, advising that it was a risky operation that could lead to facial deformity like many previous recipients. My mother, working as a teacher, then sent me to a primary school in northern Uganda. I had lost my father in the war, and when I was in primary school grade seven in 2000, I lost my mother and became an orphan. She had been the focal point of my education. My relatives who had some work in Uganda turned their backs on me by saying it was a waste of time for me to attend secondary school. A church supported me in joining a local catering institute; I received my certificate in 2005. That same year, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, and we had no option but to accept repatriation back home. A group of Southern Sudanese Deaf people had the idea of helping with sign language training and eventually started a Deaf church in Southern Sudan. We received $600 from the Uganda National Association of the Deaf, and we carried out the training in Western Equatoria. We then set up a nongovernmental, non-profit organization; Southern Sudan Deaf Development Concern (SSDDC) aims to provide sign language training, adult literacy in the Deaf community, capacity-building for self-reliance, vocational training, moral guidance, and Deaf rights advocacy in education, health, representation in government, and access to information on television.
4
Discovering Deaf Worlds
SSDDC members participate in a sign language and civic education session in Juba.
Teaching Deaf students Sudanese Sign Language. We later managed to get $7,000 from the United Nations Mine Action Office (UNMAO) for sign language training. United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) also helped support us during the 2010 presidential elections for civic education and sign language training, but its support was limited because its staff did not know how to supervise our activities. Results were minimal. Even so, during this time we successfully advocated for interpreters on televised news, as well as recognition of sign language as the national Deaf education language in the newly drafted constitution. Even though we are volunteers, we see major achievements being made. We are now working to improve Deaf education by ensuring the seemingly reluctant government meets its obligation to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and provide communication support. We seek support in numerous ways and need your help! For example, assistance is needed to create a
sign language dictionary, establish an office, pay for interpreting services ($500 a month), organize workshops, train Deaf teachers, and provide advocacy to SSDDC members to ensure that we meet all of our goals. In all of Southern Sudan, fewer than five people have attained an education beyond primary school and completed secondary school class four. Since 2005, 54 schools have been constructed in our region and about 1,200 teachers have received critical training—but no ear or eye has been lured to support the education of children with disabilities. It is upon us to do it ourselves. I personally have been awaiting a scholarship to attend the Human Rights Training organized annually by Equitas International Centre for Human Rights Education in Canada. Unfortunately my visa was rejected, so attendance this year is not possible. In lieu of this, I am looking for high schools to complete my education. I invite you to visit Southern Sudan with accommodations in Juba and witness firsthand the work we have accomplished. We dream to help the Deaf people of our country and hope always for a change. Thank you.
Atim Caroline Ogwang Atanga
Atim Caroline Ogwang Atanga is the director of SSDDC, a sign language instructor, and a gender and human rights officer. To learn more about the current situation in Southern Sudan or to extend support, email atimca26@yahoo.com.
Did You Know? • There are at least 42 tribes in Kenya. Kenyans’ national identity coexists alongside their tribal affiliations. • Some of the oldest known paleontological records of the history of mankind on earth have been found in Kenya’s Rift Valley. • Kenya is one of the largest rose exporters in the world. • Kenya’s flag and coat of arms was adopted in 1963, when it won independence. The flag’s black stripe symbolizes the Kenyan people and the green stripe symbolizes agriculture. The shield and two spears symbolize the defense of freedom. Kenya’s coat of arms bears the Swahili word for “pulling together.”
September2011 2011 55 September
LVCT Clinic Offers HIV/AIDS Services for Deaf People in Kenya
DDW visited the LVCT Deaf clinic last June. By Josephine Shisia Liverpool Voluntary Counseling and Testing (LVCT), Care and Treatment is a non-government organization that set up a HIV/AIDS Clinic in Kenya in 1998. A Deaf VCT clinic was established in Nairobi in October 2003 to meet the local Deaf community’s HIV prevention and care needs. Today, it remains the only HIV/AIDS service provider for Deaf people in all of East Africa.
6
Discovering Deaf Worlds
Little continues to be known about HIV/AIDS and the Deaf community. However, disabled people in Kenya have a four-time higher risk of being infected with HIV. The LVCT clinic offers HIV education, counseling, testing and support services to Deaf clients. All of services are run for Deaf people by Deaf people. Well-trained Deaf counselors and peer educators handle all responsibilities within the VCT site. In addition, there are hearing counselors for hearing clients, although Deaf counselors also serve hearing clients through writing. VCT helps Deaf people understand their HIV statuses, provides counseling services, helps Deaf people reduce risky behaviors, supports clients’ future plans, offers early referrals for appropriate health services, and helps protect sexual partners of those who test positive. Josephine Shisia is a field officer, peer educator, and community mobilizer for the Deaf VCT clinic in Nairobi. For more information, visit the LVCT website at http://www.liverpoolvct.org.
NTID w nts de
iv
f-H d-o r a
Postsecondary Education Network - International
y Educati
PEN-International
on o fS tu
earing
d ar
Pos it
n co
ng uenci the Pos n fl I t se y el
ho are De a f or H
PEN-International For Students Who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing http://www.pen.ntid.rit.edu
PEN-International is pleased to support Discovering Deaf Worlds
PEN-International is funded by grants from The Nippon Foundation of Japan to NTID Rochester Institute of Technology | PEN-International | National Technical Institute for the Deaf 52 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623 September 2011 7
Welcome, New DDW Board Members!
Marilyn Smith
Marilyn J. Smith is the founder and former executive director (1986-2011) of the Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS) in Seattle. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Gallaudet University and has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1977. She has served on the boards of the National Association of the Deaf and Deaf Women United and is currently on the Gallaudet University Board of Associates. She lectures on leadership issues, anti-violence work and fund development, and coaches executive directors throughout Northern America.
As principal of Hiller Consulting Group and Partner with Hiller & Servaites, Marty Hiller has worked with free and charitable clinics from start-up activities to board and program development. With expertise in strategic planning, he designed a planning model for clinics facing the challenges of health reform’s changing environment. He also shares years of experience as an executive coach and mentor. Marty spent the majority of his career with the Free Clinic of Cleveland, including 20 years as executive director. He was a founding board member and the first president of the National Association of Free Clinics, and also founded the Ohio Association of Free Clinics. Marty has a master’s degree in counseling from Miami University and a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Bonaventure University, as well as a certificate in non-profit management from Case Western Reserve.
Marty Hiller
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
8
Discovering Deaf Worlds
Shout-Outs! Shout-Outs! Shout-Outs! Sarah Wegley: Congratulations on winning the 2011 Oticon Focus on People Award! Choosing DDW as the charity recipient of your $1,000 award was an extremely generous thing to do. Thank you! Meredith Wehrle and Rob Troy: We are so touched by your willingness to give back, especially given that you are former DDW Journeys participants. Thank you for your ambition and generosity! We received incredible hospitality from the following organizations this summer. Thank you all for inviting us to learn about your work: [Cambodia] Deaf Development Programme, Epic Arts; [Kenya] Africa Deaf Education and Development Foundation, Deaf Ministries International, Federation of Deaf Women Empowerment Network, Humble Hearts School, Kenya National Association of the Deaf, Kenya Sign Language Research Project, Kilindini Deaf HIV Post Test Club, Liverpool Volunteer Counseling & Testing, St. Mary’s Primary School for the Deaf, Fr. Ouderaa Secondary School for the Hearing Impaired, Sahajahand Special School, Ziwana School for the Deaf; [Tanzania] Buguruni School for the Deaf, CHAVIZA - Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam Deaf Women’s Club, Deaf Women Handcraft Project, Global Deaf Connections, Help the Poor Organization, MEVIDO - Dodoma Deaf Club, Signs of Hope, Tanzania Association of the Deaf (CHAVITA), UMIVITA, University of Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar Sign Language Interpreter Group; [Thailand] The Foundation for the Promotion and Development of Thai Deaf Persons, National Association of the Deaf in Thailand.
Deaf in DC
By Madan Vasishta Now on sale!
To order a copy, visit http://gupress.gallaudet.edu Fifty percent of the royalties from this memoir will be donated to Discovering Deaf Worlds.
What is DDW? Discovering Deaf Worlds is a 501(c)(3) non-profit international deaf advocacy organization dedicated to empowering deaf and hard of hearing communities in developing countries. DDW strives to advance the capacity of local deaf communities around the globe to meet their social, educational and employment needs. For more information, visit: www.discoveringdeafworlds.org.
Newsletter services provided by T.S. Writing Services, LLC www.tswriting.com A Deaf-Owned Company
September 2011 9
Travel Tidbits •
• •
A rubber doorstop is a good way to ensure additional security in your room (when you’re in it, of course), and it takes up next to no space in your luggage. If you’re storing any valuables, it doesn’t hurt to bring a lock. Even a cheap padlock is a good deterrent as anyone attempting to steal from your room will likely be in a hurry. Spray tissues with air freshener, or use dryer sheets, and put them in your bag to ensure that your clothes smell nice and clean when you arrive! Floss can be used on more than just your teeth. It’s perfect for tying things off, whether it’s your pant legs during a sudden onset of bad weather, or securing a plastic bag over a wine bottle as an impromptu cork. You can even use floss to tie your shoes if your laces break, which could buy you just enough walking time to find replacements. Best of all, it makes a better cheese knife than an actual cheese knife. Source: www.lifehacker.com
View DDW’s weekly vlogs Check out DDW’s weekly vlogs at www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/videos/frontpage.html!
I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. – Nelson Mandela, 1994 Long Walk to Freedom
Follow DDW on Twitter! Our handle is @DDW_Team, or go to www.twitter.com/DDW_Team 10
Discovering Deaf Worlds
480 print, LLC 3446 Old Green Rd. Suite 204 Cleveland, Ohio 44122 440.781.2773 ksbain@roadrunner.com