One of our projects that we support in Senegal is a school for the deaf. Senegal has a high rate of deaf and hearing impaired people, calculated at 2% of the population. We felt the burden of these children and their families. This school is the only all grade school in the nation attempting to meet the needs of children who are profoundly deaf and mute, and upon arriving, are totally illiterate. There are 65 currently attending.

A large percentage of these children have a low socio-economic status, evident by the fact that 65% of our student’s parents are either physically handicapped, unemployed and/or sight-impaired. Many are from broken families, coupled with not having a standard language of communication and literacy leaving them amongst the most vulnerable in this society.

The school makes use of ASL (American Sign Language), adapted for the French African context, and enhanced by the use of facial expression, voice, appropriate body language, and the writing of standard French-therefore a strategy of total communication.

The vision for this school is a new one for deaf children to provide quality education in a Christian context. The hope is that the vocational training component will allow for socio-economic integration and stability for the student as a contributing member of their family and of society.

This is a great project as there are several ministries coming together to help these children; students from a local missionary school have visited and provided many hours of manual labor. Also, World Vision has also been helping with renting the present property. I love it when different groups in the field come together and link hands to accomplish more, depending on what each one has to give – a perfect example of the body of Christ.