Learning in progress

The post-election violence that Kenyans are still coming into terms with drove many Kenyans including deaf children out of the comfort and safety of their homes.

And a good number of the children have found solace in a special unit of its kind in Eldoret Town of Kenya’s Rift Valley province. Thanks to Mrs. Susan Chepkong’a and Mrs. Hilda Opinde who responded to the challenge to take up courses in special education and particularly on deaf children.

As teachers at Atnas Kandie Primary School’s Special unit for the deaf, the teachers have developed an irresistible passion for the deaf children. Mrs. Chepkong’a explains that her experience with the deaf pupils has taught her many lessons.

“The deaf children just like any other children have special needs that if well met, can help the deaf lead happy and gratifying lives,” she says. However, she regrets that many parents and guardians have abandoned their children once they discover that they are disabled.

She reveals that some parents took advantage of the post-election violence to run away from their disabled children. They assumed that the children could be believed to have perished during the orgy of violence that rocked the country.

But, as fate would have it, some deaf children found their way to the special unit.

Mrs. Opinde picks up the story and adds that apart from teaching them at the unit, they also try to re-unite the children with their parents and guardians.

After having a glittering career in teaching students without disabilities for seven years in Uasin Gishu District, Mrs. Opinde decided to venture into the perceived murky waters of teaching the deaf. Although she admits that the work can be quite challenging, she has no regrets over her decision.

“Am very happy to be teaching the deaf, am enjoying every bit of it”, she proudly says.

The passion to learn sign language and to teach the deaf started in the year 2000. Her deaf neighbor was very friendly and this challenged her to think about learning the sign language.

The neighbor could always struggle to talk to her through sign language but no matter how hard she tried to understand, she could not work out what she meant.

“I really wanted to know what she was talking about but unfortunately we could not communicate”, she remembers.

One day she decided to go and visit her. Luckily, she found her brother who could help her comprehend the sign language. So through the interpreter, Mrs. Opinde realized what the deaf lady wanted to say.

“She wanted to braid my hair. She was requesting if I could accept to go to her house to have my hair done as she had a number of hairstyles in some posters for me to pick the one I preferred,” recalls Mrs. Opinde.

When she finally went for the service, the hairstyle came out so smartly that everybody envied her. From that day, they became great friends. Mrs. Opinde could go there after a couple of weeks to have his hair re-done. Her frequent encounters with the deaf lady prompted her to think about enrolling for a course on sign language.

“I felt let down relying on an interpreter who was not always available, whenever I visited my hairdresser. With time, we had to come up with common signs to let her know that I had come for my hair to be done,” explains Mrs. Opinde, beaming with a smile.

She adds, “With time, I realized that two of her brothers were also deaf. I wondered what could have been the cause and if it had anything to do with inheritance or a certain ailment.”

The encounter left Mrs. Opinde more interested and determined to learn about the sign language and people with disabilities in general, especially the deaf. She later enlisted herself for an in-service course on special education at the Education Assessment centre in Uasin Gishu district.

She was given permission from her former school, Race Course Primary and went for the course that lasted for two days in 2003. After being taken through the various stages of educational needs of children with disabilities, she was transferred to Eldoret School for Hearing Impaired.

While at the school, she took an initiative and applied for a course in special education in order to hone her skills and knowledge with regard to matters affecting the deaf.

She was admitted in the same year at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), Nairobi to pursue a holiday based programme, which was offered at her nearest centre, Mosoriot Teachers Training College in Nandi North district.

She passed through the mandatory two years training and on her graduation in 2006; she was posted to Atnas Kandie Special Unit for the deaf in Eldoret town.

“I feel good associating with deaf children in particular given that I am a teacher. Once you understand the sign language, it becomes absolutely easy to communicate with the deaf,” the teacher says cheerfully.

However, she notes that the sign language comes in various forms and this poses a challenge to the deaf and their teachers.

Some children she says are exposed to various versions of the sign language and we have to take them through regular lessons to teach them the universally accepted sign language in Kenya.

“The deaf also have their own mother tongue and when they come here, we have to ensure they use the Kenyan sign language so that we can communicate uniformly,” says Mrs. Opinde.

She explains that though they study special needs of the disabled lot in society, its better for one to concentrate in an area that one understands well and has an interest in so that one can deliver the best.

Mrs. Opinde notes that she always works extra hard so that the children can grasp some of the things she is teaching them.

“The pupils in the unit are not like the ones without disabilities though the curriculum is the same. A teacher must be fully committed and the pupils need individualized attention as their needs are varied,” she explains.

She adds that most often, teachers handling special schools rarely complete their syllabus on time because the pupils need more time to understand concepts and the sign language unlike other forms of communication are not fast enough.

“The pupil must be facing you and look at you to understand the signs. The movement of one’s body, hands and the lips is important in passing an intended message,” she reveals.

Mrs. Opinde challenges parents whose children have disabilities to value them and have their education interests at heart.

She says that irrespective of the challenges in bringing them up, the disabled have the potential to equally compete with their counterparts in the regular programmes if they are given the opportunity and the facilities.

Mrs. Jane Wainaina, the head teacher of Atnas Kandie Primary School says that they saw the need to incorporate the special unit to cater for the needs of the disabled in the society.

She recalls that before the commissioning of the special unit for the deaf, the pupils used to learn with their colleagues and teachers were finding it difficult to address their needs.

“There was no school for the disabled around and they wanted to learn. So they could come to school and expect to be taught. So the school management saw the need to set a side a section for them,” Mrs. Wainaina says.

She revealed that though resources and limited space for expansion had affected their operations, the government allocated the school Shs. 60,000 last year to purchase learning materials for the eleven pupils in the unit.

Mrs. Chepkong’a who heads the unit says that the pupils are learning from one class that has been set a side for them at the school.

“We have separated the pupils into different groups in the class and a teacher handling one class in one side of the room must ensure that his voice does not interfere with the comfort of other learners,” she says.

She points out the pupils need more learning materials like additional books and also food and uniforms as most of them hail from slum areas within the town.

“There are some pupils we follow up to their homes to return them to school. Some parents and guardian don’t care about the children whereas others just can’t afford their basic needs,” observes Mrs. Chepkong’a.

And as the deaf pupils confer at the school in sign language, the other pupils undertaking the regular programme are busy cheering each other and making noise during break and games time.

The noise and hearty clapping has nothing to do with the deaf pupils who only respond to instructions and share hearty moments in sign language with their teachers and fellow pupils.