Deaf Mentors for Deaf Children in Tanzania
Sensor Joseph Msimbete (BILAT)
August 2021
How Your "Best Day Ever" Turns into the "Worst Day of Your Life"
Imagine you are born deaf. You are the only deaf person in your family. No one signs. They all communicate by talking audibly. It is not obvious to the rest of your large family that you cannot hear but by age 3 it becomes clear that something is wrong. The doctor confirms that you are deaf but nothing can be done. No one knows why you cannot hear.
Back home in your family your brother who was born a year after you has started to talk. You and your family develop a few signs for things like food, drinking and shoes. That is all of the language you have.
At age 6 your father gathers up your clothes and some supplies. You and he go to the bus station and then take a long bus trip.
He has no way to tell you where you are going but you do not care. You enjoy staring out the window and seeing the sights. At various stops vendors come to the windows selling drinks and food and candy. Your father buys you some candy. This is your best day ever. You get special treats and you get to spend time with your father all by yourself.
At one stop you and your father get off and you watch the bus leave. You look at your father questioning in your eyes. He picks up your bag, takes you by the hand and you start walking. Eventually you go through a gate. You see lots of children and not many adults.
You go through a door and your father talks to some adults. They keep looking at you. Finally the older adult nods and shakes hands with your father.
You and your father walk outside. You are getting a bit tired and are anxious to get on the bus and go back home. However, he hugs you, puts your hand in the hand of the adult and walks away. You try to run after your father but the adult holds onto your hand. In a panic now you start crying and screaming. Your father walks away and doesn't look back. This is the worst day of your life.
The Situation
The vast majority of Deaf children are born into nonDeaf families. Most often the family members do not learn a sign language. The Deaf child does not meet a person who knows a sign language until s/he starts school. The teachers are usually not Deaf and often are not fluent signers so it is the other Deaf children who become the sign language teachers, your language learning family.
So many concepts and ideas are learned by children before they begin school. They learn about theory of mind and empathy. They get answers to many of their "Why?" questions. They learn culture and morals – what is right and what is wrong. They learn how to play with other children. Deaf children miss out on many of these things. There is no one to explain things to them.
Classrooms have many students and the teachers do not have the time to teach all of these skills and attitudes to the children. It is hard enough to teach the knowledge that the children need to get passing grades.
Some children learn to fit in and to behave acceptably well. Others do not do as well. They are frustrated and resentful. They may disrupt the classroom, steal and get into fights.
Deaf children usually have very little contact with Deaf adults. This makes it difficult to imagine what they will be when they grow up, to have hope and to have dreams.
In Tanzania approximately 50% of the population is age 18 or below. There are Deaf churches in many places in the country. These churches have Deaf leaders, the services are in sign language, songs are in sign language and they are a great place to meet other Deaf people. However, there are very few Deaf children. Most Deaf children are born into nonDeaf families. If the families go to church they go to a nonDeaf church. Nothing is in sign language and there are very few interpreters.
There are children in the Deaf churches but they are not Deaf. Most Deaf people have children with normal hearing. The children know a sign language because that is what is used in the home, but their classes in Deaf church are often spoken language classes.
The Solution
BILAT is a Deaf Tanzanian NGO. It is not just an NGO which works with Deaf people. The leaders and most of the staff of BILAT are Deaf. Growing up as Deaf children gives BILAT staff insight into the needs of Deaf children and the best ways to meet those needs.
Several years ago BILAT translated and published 15 portions of the Bible translated specifically for Deaf children in Tanzania. This series is called WoW, Words of Wisdom. The pictures are from a series by the same name published by the Hong Kong Bible Society. (Link)
BILAT devised a plan to use these Bible portions to teach Deaf children. The WoW videos were available on YouTube but many children do not have internet access. So, BILAT decided to bring the WoW stories to the children.
Eleven Deaf adult volunteers came to Dar es Salaam in March 2020. They were from 5 different regions. They worked on memorising the WoW stories and trained as storytellers. They composed songs based on each story. They also wrote and practiced acting in plays about each passage.
In addition to the arts there were classes in topics such as finances, documentation, leadership and about their language and culture. In addition they were sensitised to the abuse of Deaf children, which happens at a higher rate than with nonDeaf children. Some of the volunteers had experienced abuse and had friends who were abused.
Each team received a smart phone which had the WoW videos loaded. They also had training in how to take pictures.
After 3 months they returned to their home areas and approached 11 schools with Deaf children for permission to work with the students outside of classroom hours. Eventually they all received permission.
Results
The results were better than expected. The teams of volunteers had multiple opportunities to work with the Deaf children each week. The children enjoyed the stories and memorised them. They also enjoyed the songs and the plays, playing each of the roles.
An important part of the programme was for the Deaf adults to serve as role models for the children. The children get to spend time with Deaf adults who serve as examples of successful Deaf adults.
The programme has had a positive effect on the children. One story that has been powerful is the story of the unforgiving servant. Students who have acted out the story have decided to change their lives, to ask for forgiveness from the other students and to forgive others.
One student spent extra time with a volunteer to learn more of the stories. When the volunteer was sick and missed several weeks she was concerned for the students. When she was well enough to meet with the students again she found out that while she had been sick the one student had led the other students in the lessons.
Another important benefit of the mentoring programme is the effect it has had on the mentors themselves. Schools have recognised that these Deaf adults are a valuable resource. They have asked them to counsel children who have been disruptive in school. Parents have asked the Deaf volunteers to meet with their children. The volunteers have been asked to attend school graduations and given a seat at a head table.
The Deaf adult volunteers have also gained respect in their own communities. COVID came to Tanzania while the volunteers were in training. BILAT produced two videos about COVID and the mentors starred in both of them. They put their arts training to good use. There is a nice short handwashing song in the Information video below. The Ballad is a longer song about fighting COVID.
BILAT also arranged for Deaf volunteers to make masks. When the mentors returned to their home areas they took bags of masks to distribute. BILAT has also helped Deaf pushed into poverty by COVID by providing them with soap, sanitiser and with food. The mentors were involved in distributing these items in their areas. Some of them have been recognised as leaders in their communities.
Continuation
The original 11 volunteers are still working with Deaf children. The first part of August 2021 volunteers from 5 more regions came to the BILAT Centre in Dar es Salaam for three months of training. Some of the first mentors are back as teaching staff.
Some of the new mentors are from the area around Moshi and Arusha. In this part of Tanzania they use a different sign language. Using the WoW videos in Tanzanian Sign Language with these Deaf children who use a different sign language is not a good option. So, two translators came from this area in July to adapt the WoW Bible portions from Tanzanian SL into their own sign language. The project plan calls for them to finish the translation before the mentors finish their training. This will be the first Bible translation in their sign language.
Thanks
We in BILAT thank SIL GSLT, the TTT Fund, PBTI, DOOR and many others for providing funding, training and other support.
Videos about this topic can be found at the link below. There are videos in ASL, Romanian Sign Language and Tanzanian Sign Language.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/8295806