Uganda School for the Deaf: A warm visit

Sharing Nonviolent Communication with Deaf Children in Uganda
October 28, 2009

First, I would like to express my appreciation to all the members of the networks of trainers and trainer candidates of the Center for Nonviolent Communication who provided suggestions and support for my meeting with students at the Ugandan School for the Deaf a few days ago. Feeling really “out of my element”, not having a lot of experience working with children, or deaf people or Ugandans, it was very helpful and meaningful to me to receive so many thoughtful ideas and words of encouragement.

Some background.
The children at this school are among the most privileged of deaf children in Uganda in that they are in school and in what appears to me to be a very caring environment. (The school was founded 50 years ago by the mother of two deaf children and I suspect her passion, commitment and love have influenced the direction of the school tremendously. Her son is employed as an accountant in the United States; he and other “successful” graduates are held as important models for the children of what is possible.) Nationally, fewer than 10% of deaf children here are in school. It is very difficult for many parents here to pay for the educational expenses of their “normal” children, let alone find the resources to support children with special needs. And there is also the stigma of having a disabled child. Many deaf children are locked away in rooms and hidden from others. At the end of our time together I asked the children if they had any questions that they would like to ask of deaf children from the United States (I am hoping to get an interchange going) and one of their questions was “Do the parents of deaf children in the United States oppress them?”

The children are prime targets for all sorts of abuse from family members and people in the community. And because of communication problems they are especially susceptible to victimization; the perpetrator of the abuse can easily think he is invulnerable. On the continent as a whole, there is the belief among many that having sex with a virgin can cure or prevent AIDS. This leads to rape of children and young women who others may think are virgins. And, of course, the transmission of HIV to them.

The school is a very safe, protective environment for the children. Unfortunately, there are very few educational opportunities for them after they receive their primary education (7 years) unless their parents have substantial resources and determination to support their children. Most return to their home villages and have substantial struggle to meet their basic needs. Right now the Uganda School for the Deaf is fund-raising to open a vocational school for deaf students. Let me know if you would like to make a contribution and I will find out how you can do that.

I was given a tour of the school by a teacher who interpreted for me. I saw the one of the girls' dormitories of 40 bunk beds in one large room with barely room to walk around the beds. It was all very clean and neat. I saw the children dancing to music and playing games. I visited the special unit for deaf-blind children (5-10 of the children are so categorized) and also met some deaf children with additional handicaps (emotional disturbance, retardation, etc.). Then the interpreter gathered together half a dozen of the most advanced students and we went into a classroom. I explained that I had brought with me some words from children in the United States which describe some things that are very important American children and I was curious whether some of these things are also important to Ugandan children. The words were printed one per page and when I held up each work the children signed that word to signify that they understood it. As the children signed each of the words (the interpreter helped as needed) I noticed how excited the children were – they seemed so eager to take in these values that were important to American children and also, it seemed, very meaningful to them.

I asked the children to choose two of the values that they expecially liked and to say what they would like American children to know about why that value was important to them. Their names and what they said is as follows:

Ajaji Mwenda              Beauty: God made everyone beautiful.
Moris Senyonjo                Peace: Deaf need peace everywhere they are and where they go.

Matha Naggino                Learning: Deaf can also go to school.

Namawenje Naome Respect: Our parents should respect our disabilities.

Tuhikayo Ndats                     To give to others; We give to others as they give back to us.

Monica Nyaco                        Rest: We need rest for what ever we do

They also had some questions that they would love to have answered by American children, including:

Is the learning system for the deaf in the USA the same?

Do the parents in USA oppress the disabled children as it is in Uganda?

Is the sign language in USA the same like that of Uganda?

Do deaf children in USA have the same understanding like the hearing children?
I was very moved by their eagerness to connect with deaf children in the USA and to learn more about our country. When I got back to the guesthouse I wrote to four residential schools for the deaf in NY and PA. A few days one (Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf) responded that they had a class of children who would love to correspond and be pen pals with the Ugandan children! I am very happy about that. There is such a sense of isolation I pick up from the Ugandan children that I am delighted to connect them with others eager to get to know them. I have had bouts of temporary problems which have affected my hearing and recently I lost my voice for a few days. In some small way this gave me a taste of what that social isolation from the broader society might be like.

And there is such a dynamism and expressiveness that I see in Sign Language, that I am really tempted to learn it when I get home. I see it as potentially enriching my experience both in connecting with deaf people and with my own desire for expressiveness and aliveness.