Ntinda School for the Deaf

These cuties performed an elephant poem in sign language!

Today we visited our new Community Development project, Ntinda School for the Deaf. Children come from all over the country to study with the specialist teachers here and board at the school, many of them having been abandoned once they developed the disability. Some of the children were born deaf, while others were left with impaired hearing or total deafness following simple childhood diseases such as mumps, measles or whooping cough that could easily have been cured or prevented, had their parents access to decent medical care.

When we first arrived at the school, we all felt a little alienated. We wanted to communicate with the students, but it was like being in a new foreign country, where you don't speak the lingo. Our children quickly learnt how to introduce themselves and managed a few exchanges with the deaf students. With my sore throat and crackly voice, I wished that I was fluent in sign language and could use it in class until I recover! 

The teachers are hardworking and talented and displayed a patience that I admired. This is one of the only places in Uganda where deaf people are valued and invested in; it is sad to say that in 2011, they are still marginalised in most aspects of society here. I enjoyed watching the fascination and enthusiasm from our children and felt like it was a genuine exchange. I am looking forward to the next visit.

Learning to sew on an ancient Singer!

Umuganda in Uganda?

With just three and a half weeks until Kili, it’s really time to step things up a gear. Even though I have done something almost every day, I am driving myself slightly mental with worries over the training. If I go for a walk, then I panic about whether it will get me fit enough to get up the mountain, but if I go for a swim or a bike ride, then I start worrying about whether my boots will be broken in sufficiently for the super long walk.

One thing about walking is that you have more time to take in your surroundings than when you run or bike past.  While it’s great to see daily life up close, it’s not always a bed of roses. The amount of litter and the way rubbish is dealt with here in Uganda is disgusting me. TIA is not an excuse – Nairobi city centre has litter bins AND people actually use them. Rwanda has something called Umuganda, which is a monthly community service where every adult resident is expected to make some sort of contribution, including taking to the streets and picking up litter. There is a now notorious story of when our secondary school kids went to Bukoto market to clean up some of the rubbish and found … wait for it … a rotting, dead dog! Yesterday, we literally held our noses and ran as we passed a stinking tip of burning rubbish. I pay 10 000 Shillings a month for my refuse collection, but have no idea what happens to it afterwards. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is loaded onto the truck and just dumped on one of the numerous tips in and around the city.

In school, we have a constant battle to get the kids to pick up their litter responsibly. Little wonder they leave a trail of snack wrappers behind them when they see adults throw their litter on the street or out of matatu taxi windows on a daily basis.

The other day I heard an interview on the radio with a politician and they were discussing the subject of litter bins in the city. The politician seemed to think that Ugandans wouldn’t bother using them, even if they were there. When is Uganda going to wake up to the fact that this litter is not just unattractive, but harmful to the environment and health of the people?