Update on the deaf children at school in Uganda

Thank you to all those who contributed so generously towards the sponsorship of Assumpta, Aluma, Alice and Alau.  I have no need to fundraise for more money for them for this academic year.  Please see my previous post, which shows where money is urgently needed at the moment.

From left to right: Alau, Aluma,
Assumpta and Alice

I took the four children, Assumpta, Aluma, Alice and Alau back to school last week ready for their new academic year.  We returned two weeks early because I was told by the headteacher of the primary school that the Audiology Department of Soroti Hospital had asked for all Hearing Impairment Unit children to come for testing.  This is an opportunity which has never come to Nimule, and very important.  Who knows if there might not be some residual hearing which could be tapped with a hearing aid?

Assumpta wept when parting with her mother.  The brother of Alau, who accompanied us to the border and has been taught sign language by Alau at home, gave Assumpta a ‘talking-to’ in sign language, that it was not right for her to cry; she was going to school so that she can do well in life and help support her family.  I think Assumpta had genuinely not understood why she was going to school previously.  She was fine after that.  For the rest of the journey she was perfectly cheerful.  It makes me very happy that Assumpta at last has a means of communication other than laughing, crying and pointing, and that people can now explain things to her.  The fruits of last year’s sign language lessons are now really showing. 

Aluma was diagnosed with epilepsy while at school last year after having several fits and is now on medication.  Fortunately, his return to Nimule for Christmas coincided with the setting up of an epilepsy unit at Nimule Hospital, so he is now registered there and will receive free medication, which would not have been possible before.  His father Angelo decided to accompany me to Uganda as he wanted to hear directly from the school and medical staff at the local hospital about Aluma’s health issues last year.  Out of all the children’s parents Angelo is the only one who speaks English and is able to communicate in Uganda.  In spite of all Aluma’s handicaps (profound deafness, paralyzed right arm, lameness and now epilepsy) he is always laughing and smiling.  He did very well last year at school, so intellectually he has no problems.

Alice was her usual peaceful, sensible self.  She lives with her grandmother as she is an orphan where they work making fishing nets and practice subsistence farming.  According to her grandmother she is very skilled at making nets and was missed during last year’s school year.  Last year Alice made the best progress out of the three children at primary school level, both in learning sign language and academically, and is to be in Primary 4 this year.  This is particularly good news because she is a few years older than Assumpta and Aluma. 

St Philomena’s Primary School is very holistic and will monitor all the children’s progress during the year, moving them to more appropriate classes as necessary.

Alau, the oldest of the children, is starting Senior 2 at Mbale Secondary School this year.  During the Christmas holidays he worked solidly at the local transport hub, loading and unloading vehicles, to help support his family.  Likewise, at school, I have been told by his teachers that he is extremely hard-working.  During school hours he has worked very hard academically and ended last year among the top students in his class.  After school, along with all other students, he does the vocational training of his choice.  He chose welding.  I spoke to his welding instructor, who was full of his praises.  On top of lessons, he spends a lot of extra time working in the welding workshop.  One of the great things about this secondary school is the fact that they expect all their students to leave school with a really good qualification in a vocational skill (of which they have a very good range).  Elsewhere in Uganda and South Sudan, it is very hard to find a vocational training course of more than one year, and most are only for a few weeks.  The courses at Mbale Secondary School are three year courses leading to recognized qualifications.  Parents are expected to make a one-off payment for their tools, but there are no fees for the actual vocational training courses, only for the school.  This makes Alau’s education a terrific bargain.  His tools, which have already been paid for out of the sponsorship raised for him, will remain his own, so that he will be able to take them home and work with them.  He will be a real asset to local society in Nimule, where there are no welders of the level he will reach.  I left Alau with the younger children because we were two weeks too early for the new term.  Before I left he told me very firmly (in writing) that he now knows the way to his school in Mbale and that there was no need for help in getting there, apart from the fare. 

South Sudan does not have the necessary specialist teachers to teach deaf children either in ordinary or special schools.  This applies to other disabilities as well.  The local culture sees disability as a ‘burden’ and sometimes even as a ‘curse on the family’.  Disabled children are hidden from public view and sometimes even turned out on the streets where they either die or become street children.  None of the local NGOs focus on disability, so I am very happy to have been able to help all these children through your help. 

Once again, thank you so very much for making such a difference to these children’s lives. 

Greetings from Nimule!

Dear all,

I have made a New Year’s Resolution.  Last year I was thoroughly overburdened with all my responsibilities, for the school (guiding, teaching and fundraising), for the deaf children (fundraising and taking them to and fro to school) and also for an increasing number of older children being discharged from their orphanage, where I used to volunteer, who are now coming to me asking for help to begin their lives.  By the end of the year I was completely exhausted and ill.   I have realized that I need to step back and look for people to share all this work.  If I do not do so, I will wear myself out, and then the school will collapse, the deaf children will have no school fees, and the former orphans will have nobody to turn to.  In short, my work here will not be sustainable.  The local people in Nimule are by and large without the necessary educational, computer or administration skills to take on my work.

An example of how overstretched I am, is as follows.  Just as we were about to start our school registrations, I had a call from the headteacher of the primary school for the deaf asking me to bring the four deaf children urgently as the hospital had decided to test the hearing of all the deaf children in their area the following Monday.  I therefore had to hurriedly inform the parents of the children that we needed to travel to Mbale two weeks’ earlier than planned.  This entails a ten hour bus trip, with a hotel stay at the beginning to allow us to catch a very early bus.  The headteacher and teachers were left to deal with our school registrations alone.  As none of them are trained administrators (unlike me), the results were that they made rather a mess of the administrative process, all of which needed to be disentangled on my return, exhausted after my ten hour return bus trip.

If you are able to help either from your own country with fundraising, or would like to come and volunteer even for a short time, please let me know.  You may have other ideas of how to help, which have not occurred to me.  In case you worry about coming to South Sudan, a peace agreement was signed last year, and it seems that the warring factions are serious this time.  Nimule, in any case, has not suffered from the war, apart from the resulting hyper-inflation and large numbers of internally displaced people from elsewhere.

In short, if you are able to help in practical terms, I will not be able to thank you enough!

In the meantime, here is my update. 

We are about to start our new academic year, after a very difficult registration period in which we have been deluged with new children, many of whom we had to turn away.  We accepted 55 new students altogether.  Some of our former pupils did not come to re-enrol, so it is not clear if they are returning or not.  Assuming that all the children turn up on 4^th February (which is likely), we will have an increase in numbers from 180 in 5 classes last year to 228 in 6 classes this year. 

Two teachers left us at the end of last year.  We also need more teachers to cope with the new class.  We advertised for new teachers and have had a good response.  Interviews will be held this coming Friday.  We are hoping for four new teachers, two to replace those who left us last year and two to help us to teach the expanded number of classes.  Altogether we expect to have eleven teachers including myself (unpaid) and our headteacher, who also teaches.

With these increased numbers of students and teachers, there will also be an increase in the need for food for the children and teacher salaries.  We are in serious need of increased regular giving from our donors so that we can continue in a stable fashion.  If you are able to donate a regular amount each month, it will assist us greatly.  If many people donate small amounts, we will be in a much better position.  If you are a UK tax payer, we will be able to claim 25p to each pound, which also makes a very big difference.

We have still not managed to roof the two outstanding classrooms due to lack of funds, so that one of our new classes will have to occupy the teacher room, at least at the start of the school year.  Please, if you are able to help with a larger one-off payment, we will be able to roof at least one more classroom.  If we can roof both, we will be able to divide our pre-primary class, which is currently much too big.  We have come so far, with foundations and walls in place, for which many thanks.  All that is needed is a roof!

As mentioned in my last post, our supporting charity Opportunity through Education has registered us through Give as you Live.  This website acts as a portal through which to shop online.  Each time you use it, a percentage goes to the charity of your choice.  Please note that Give as You Live cannot be used for donations. 

It is now possible to donate online by clicking on this link to My Donate.  My Donate will unfortunately be closing at the end of June this year, but please make the most of it until then. 

If you dislike online giving and wish to give direct through our bank account, please let me know if you are able to help by email so that I can send a gift aid form for Opportunity Through Education.  Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk .