Another day...another school!!! We'd never even visited a school for the deaf, yet today we were asked to observe and make recommendations. We questioned Francine's idea of sending us there but she was sure we'd be helpful...so off we went.
The school is one of only ten for deaf children in Egypt & houses 60 students—mostly from poor families. They have a K-10 program with class sizes between 5 and 10. Several teachers and staff were former students...two couples met there and now all 4 work there & their deaf children attend. The sense of caring and love permeated the whole campus!!
Besides teaching Arabic sign language and American Sign Language, they also teach math, carpentry, sewing, & crafts. The students were delightful and very excited to demonstrate what they could do and projects they had made. Especially enjoyed watching the maintenance many teaching two young men how to replace a door jam.
We spent over an hour with the director who is new and very determined to improve all aspects of the school but especially teaching reading. I never thought about how difficult that would be—how do you explain: the, but, what etc...when you've never heard a conversation???
Funding is a huge problem as well. There get no government money & very little money from the families. So they need to search for ways to cover the $20 per week it cost to teach and board these students. The Anglican & Coptic Church and Embrace Africa (UK NGO) are their main sources of funding right now.
The director picked our brains for suggestions: presentations to churches, organizations & NGO; Go Fund Me; Airbnb spare room; more selling venues for projects made by students; more sellable projects made by students; reach out to world wide deaf community.
We will have a follow up visit with the young lady, Youstina who is going to be responsible to raise funds. Her enthusiasm, love of the kids and youthful ambition will certainly be the key factors in raising funds!
After each of our school visits, we were asked to write a report so that has consumed much of my time lately. Kinda felt like the good ol' days writing reports!
A most interesting story we heard today was about a the deaf priest here who is translating the gospel of St Mark into sign language! He is also making a video with deaf kids acting the parts. He has just finished after working on it for ten years!! He's awaiting final editing and then it'll be available! Would love to see it!
