Joint Deaf Services & Fellowship and Deaf education support

Deaf Youth and children from St. Phillip’s and Eruba Primary deaf Unit have now enjoyed two of these joint events. Each time the service has been followed by food and sport or a film.

As I umpired the netball it was great to see the healthy competitive spirit of the older deaf come out. They loved it.

These shared events have been super and are great for developing community spirit amongst both the deaf and hearing.

We have recently provided educational support for three isolated deaf children, two of them at Eruba – Ivan and Samuel. In both these cases the local church of the child has also given a termly contribution to the fees because of the poverty of the parents. The third deaf child, Ronnie, circled, has intermittent hearing loss so has been re-located to a school with much smaller class sizes (25 rather than 80+) It is so encouraging to see how quickly they have settled and are picking up sign-language.

Friends from Our Deaf Church in Coventry, UK, visit us.

Thank you for visiting us Coventry Deaf Church. You inspired and encouraged so many of the young deaf here in Arua Town and Eruba. The inspirational books you brought are being used all the time and Temia is now making tentative preparations for  a visit to England in 2012. We mustn’t forget to thank you  also for your critical and useful advice.

Sign workshop for Eruba deaf boarders and parents.

Senior deaf students were encouraged to teach small groups of new deaf students, sitting alongside their parents.

Shyness and lack of hope soon gave way to laughter, pride and teamwork as they gained a new shared vocabulary.

Many parents gave thanks as they left afterwards clutching their new booklet of everyday signs.

Above, Austin, chair of Coventry Deaf Church encourages them all. achieve.

Deaf DTS graduate, Gatrude, gains training opportunity

Gatrude (circled) expressed an interest in working with deaf children whilst she was on her outreach phase of the DTS in Sudan. Then an opportunity arose for her to do some voluntary care work at the Eruba deaf Unit.

She raises the children for school each day, helps them to wash and gives them love and assistance as required. She is doing really well. Here, Gatrude) is standing with the new matron (in red) in a new dormitory funded by The Lions International..

Hearing DTS graduates reflect on partnering their deaf fellow students.

Beatrice (hearing) is a smiling, short in stature, single mother who is registered disabled because of curvature of the spine, How she carries 20 litres of water is beyond me. Now Beatrice in her words ‘availed’ herself as a hearing deaf advocate and supported the deaf in communicating on the outreach. She also assisted the deaf DTS students to the many neglected deaf in Labone, Southern Sudan. Beatrice is very supportive of the deaf ministry and sees how the deaf themselves are key players in reaching more deaf with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Local hearing DTS deaf advocate Banda Elly says that learning on the DTS was the most valuable learning experience on his voyage of salvation. “By no means was working with the deaf easy” he reflected. Repeatedly Elly found himself responsible for signing for a fellow deaf student on the outreach phase and said that the hearing often failed to recognise the times when information had not been clearly communicated to the deaf. Elly concluded ‘it takes loyalty to work with the deaf people nevertheless this deaf friend has helped me to grow in the area of serenity’

 

 

The above extract is from John Toboro’s letter of appreciation to us and those who supported him on the DTS. John has since become a wonderful advocate for the deaf. His nephew Sam whom many regarded as ‘mental’ only a few months ago is now thriving at Eruba Deaf Unit. Despite Sam’s additional complications of vision impairment he has been moved up a year group. Praise God. Last Sunday I saw him actively participating in worship for the first time using sign language

Three new deaf and 13 hearing building students enrol for Feb.2010/11 course.

This was possible thanks to local deaf advocate West-Nile Ecumenical Vocational Training Centre’s appointment of Deaf  building course graduate Temia, above, as  an assistant building instructor.

Above and below, hearing students show the sign-names and everyday signs they cheerfully accepted from the new deaf students(circled) as term begins

Draft Mission Outline Sept. 2011-2014:

News from the Kidz

Maria:

Over the past few weeks I've visited several of my university choices including Leeds (Inter-national Development & Politics) 

and Hull (Politics & International Relations). It looks like these are going to be my choices, so now just to choose between the 2!

Jerome’s life: 

A pretty mediocre month. I’m learning more songs on the guitar which is good and Attempted to write one song too. Arsenal went out of 3 competitions in two weeks which was gutting. I’ve applied for 6 Olympic 2012 tickets. The best being: Tennis at Wimbledon, Football and Athletics with men's 100m. I can’t wait.

          I’m looking forward to coming back to the UK. Sadly, we’re out of water in our top tank so no showers or flushing toilets. Our only option is a latrine and a bucket wash. Found out we had 2 male rabbits and need a female so I’m going to buy one soon.

Laurence’s: This month has been okay for me. I have done a lot with our American friends, including a cycle to the Congo which isn't as far as you'd presume. Also we have played a bit of footy with the hearing and deaf at Eruba, and want to again before we go. It is the coming weeks that should be eventful as we travel to Jinja then Kampala (which will include me having a trial at my likely future school), and finally of course England. I am looking forward to this.

               Like Jerome I am planning to apply for Olympic tickets 230 quid's worth to be exact. I’m not rushing because booking them early gives you no advantage. Guitar is going okay. I think Arsenal’s being knocked out of all cups is a blessing in disguise. It is now down to luck I believe over injuries whether we will win the title. I can’t wait to go back to England  but I have several things to fill my time before.