More disabled children in need of help

The next academic year starts at the beginning of February in Uganda.  There are two children in need of special school education who are needing sponsorship.  Their stories are below.

Joel Simbe

Joel Simbe 

Joel Simbe is ten years old and completely deaf from birth.  His father is dead and his mother is struggling alone.  When I first met him in 2017 he was attending nursery at a local school and doing very well.  It seemed a bad idea to send him to boarding school at a huge distance with only one visit home each year at such a young age and when he was doing so well. 

Joel’s mother came to see me again a few months ago as Joel’s situation has changed.  Unknown to her he had been badly bullied at school throughout last year because of his deafness.  As a result he started to abscond from school.  It was only after two terms of absence that she finally heard from his school that he was not attending.  Apparently he set off each day in his school uniform and then hid himself somewhere.  She begged me to find a school for him in Uganda.

Joel is still very young.  However, I now know another school with a hearing impairment unit in Gulu, which is only 100 kilometres away from Nimule.  I would like to help him to go to the school in Gulu, which is called Mother Theresa’s Primary School.  That way, his mother can visit easily, and even fetch him herself at the end of each term.  The family has relatives in Gulu, which is an added advantage.

Peter Ngong

Peter (on the right) with
his cousin.

Peter has a long and very tragic story.  I first met him about three years ago.  At that time he was a completely blind fourteen year old street child.  His parents died when he was still a baby in their home town which is called Bor.  He is not sure if he was blind from birth or went blind while very small.  Apparently his eyes were checked when he was still small and his family was told that one eye was beyond help, but the other eye was operable.  For some reason nothing was done.  He was looked after by extended family, but maltreated by them so that he developed a habit of total distrust.  This type of behaviour to the disabled is very common in South Sudan.

In 2013 when the current civil war started, the vice-president’s army invaded Bor and committed a large-scale massacre of civilians.  Peter’s family fled on the back of a truck, taking Peter with them.  They settled in Nimule but soon afterwards Peter could take no more and ended up on the streets, begging.  Due to local attitudes to disability, he was regularly abused and often had his money from kind passers-by stolen from him immediately afterwards. That was his situation when I first met him.  It was obvious that he was very bright as he was fluent in four languages (Dinka, Madi, Arabic and English). 

Then things started to improve.  A local evangelical ministry became aware of him and invited him to learn the electric keyboard, guitar and drums at their church, as well as helping him to wash and giving him clothes.  A deaconess from another local church took him into her home.  I enrolled him in Cece Primary School.  At school Peter was hampered from making much progress by being in a non-specialist school.  I tried to persuade him to come with me to Gulu, where there are good hospitals, for an eye assessment.  I hoped to send him to a blind school in Gulu.  He completely refused, which I am sure was out of fear of more bad things happening to him.  I tried again and again over a three year period without success.  He was adamant and increasingly angry in his refusals, until things reached a point when he stopped coming to school at all.

A few months ago we finally had a breakthrough.  His relatives, seeing how he was being helped by strangers took him back and started to treat him better.  The lead pastor at the evangelical ministry managed to persuade Peter to allow me to take him to have an eye assessment.  We travelled there  together with his uncle’s wife.  Peter’s eyes were checked, but unfortunately both his eyeballs are now beyond help. 

The hospital referred him for blind rehabilitation, which includes ways to make him more independent, such as self-care and issuing a white stick.  They have also advised his family on how best to help him while letting him learn to be as independent as possible.  They also referred Peter to the deaf primary school in Gulu.  I queried this as he is now seventeen years old, but was told that the school teaches blind people of all ages.  Peter’s reaction was negative.  He said he would know nobody there.  Also, he was adamant that he must be able to continue his music.  The counsellor said that she thought they did music at Gulu Primary School.  Poor Peter.  It is very clear that the one bright spot in his miserable life up until now has been his music.  Who can blame him?

After leaving the hospital we went to visit the school.  The school office was open even though it was the holidays.  We were very warmly welcomed.  The Director of Studies was there and turned out to speak Arabic, which made Peter and his aunt feel at home.  The headteacher was also there.  Peter was told that there are several blind South Sudanese at the school.  We asked about the music issue and were told that music is taken very seriously.  We were even shown an array of gold cups from music competitions with other schools! Peter was given one to touch.  The school is run by the Church of Uganda, which has its cathedral right next to the school.  The headteacher told us that Peter can play the keyboard there every evening.  Adults do an accelerated learning course to enable them to catch up, starting with learning Braille.  Pupils transfer to a neighbouring secondary school with support, and some have gone on to university.

By the end of our visit Peter was really excited by the prospect of going to school there and has a new ambition: to go to university.  It has been a marathon, but the end is at last in sight.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring either Joel or Peter please let me know.  At this stage I am not sure of the exact costs, but will inform interested people when I know.  To give a rough idea, the sponsorship of the children at school in Mbale costs approximately £625 each per year.  If people would like to share sponsorship, that is of course possible.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.