Teaching in Ghana
- Country:
- Ghana
- Organisations involved:
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- VSO
- Cape Coast school for the Deaf, Ghana
- Ghanaian Deaf Association
- Synopsis:
-
I am a BSL user and am very keen on travelling and meeting other Deaf people in different countries. I am active and like doing lots of new things and trying things out. I am really keen on learning different sign languages. Now I am working at the University of Central Lancashire in the Deaf Studies team. I am teaching BSL and Deaf issues.
I became deaf at the age of 2 from meningitis. All my family are hearing but we use BSL in the family. I went to hearing schools, I didn’t really enjoy going to school as I felt so isolated, so then at the age of 16, I finally went to Derby College for Deaf people where I had a great time for 3 years in my own Deaf community. I studied Performing Arts. In my gap year, I went to Brazil for 6 months and did voluntary work at the School for the Deaf, teaching drama to Deaf young people. When I returned, I decided to go to university; I went to the University of Central Lancashire and did a BA Hons Degree in Deaf Studies.
After University, I applied to do VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), I went to Ghana and was a Sign Language teacher there at Cape Coast school for the Deaf, which is in the south of Ghana. I stayed at the school for about 9 months, training the teachers how to sign and telling them about Deaf education methodology. It wasn’t easy for me to be there as the hearing teachers there did not like Deaf people telling them what to do as they had always been in power over Deaf people.
There were lots of other great things about being at the school and I was a role model for the deaf children there. At first they thought they would not be able to achieve for themselves because they were deaf. I explained to them, about my life and many of my friends who are Deaf and explained that we can do the same as hearing people.
During my time there, I built a great relationship with the deaf children and told them stories about the outside world in their own sign language which is Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL). They all were very keen on learning but they didn’t have the opportunity to learn in GSL as the teachers were not very fluent.Almost every evening, the deaf children came to see me at my home as I lived only about 1 minute from the school campus. They waited outside and sat round in a circle, watching me telling them the stories and sharing the Deaf issues - culture, community. Also they told me about their feelings - getting annoyed that they did not understand their homework, so I had to explain to them what to do and also translate it into GSL as most of them could not read English due to their lack of education. It was all linked to the communication barrier.
- Issues encountered:
- While I was working there, I have found one big issue at the school - HIV/AIDS. Many of the deaf children did not really understand about HIV/AIDS. Here is an example - one deaf child said to me “I won’t get HIV because I am deaf’. I was so shocked and explained to the child that anyone can get HIV and this child was really surprised about it. There had been lot published on HIV/AIDS awareness but it was all in English but most of them could not read well. It is most important they have access to their sign language.
- Recommendations:
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I proposed to VSO that we create materials on HIV/AIDS for young Deaf people. They agreed to go ahead with it. I became Project Development Worker; I went to another school for the Deaf which is the only secondary school for the Deaf in all of Ghana.
I trained the Young Deaf people there to do the Lyrics on HIV/AIDS; they were amazed as they didn’t know that they had the skills for doing this. Also, it was good education for them as they also learnt a great deal during the project while producing the video on HIV/AIDS. We also asked for a Deaf film crew from the UK to come and so they had more Deaf role models to show them that deaf people can produce their own video - it was all ‘Made by and For Deaf people’. On the week of the filming it was great with everyone sharing their skills and experience.
At the same time, I was working with the Ghanaian Deaf association on producing a Deaf awareness pack to send out to different deaf associations in the rural areas so they could use the information to teach deaf awareness - it is now used as part of the Deaf awareness materials across Ghana.
I left Ghana leaving lots of things - HIV/AIDS video, a Deaf awareness pack, having been a positive role model and leaving them feeling good about themselves and proud to be Deaf. I also gave ideas to the VSO programme office in Ghana about what still needed to be developed in the Deaf community in Ghana.The outcomes from working in Ghana were that - I gave positive empowerment to the young Deaf community. The video is not only used in Ghana, it has been used in many countries in the whole of Africa and also to a range of audiences - hearing, blind and Deaf people which is really rewarding.Now I am back in England and continuing to develop my skills to working at the University of Central Lancashire, Sometime in the future I am keen to go back to support other Deaf communities in developing countries.
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