Favour Dan
Favour Dan
Port HarcourtNigeria
About me
My name is Favour Dan and I was born deaf. I am a girl who is in Elementary 5. This is my story, starting with my enrolment at the Model School for the Deaf in Enugu state, and now studying at the St Joseph School for the Deaf and Children with Special Needs in Anambra State.
My Story
My mum's name is Ruth, she and I used to live on our own without my dad. My granny's name is Gladys. One day as my mum was at work, she saw someone who was talking to people using signs and speech at the same time. She asked about him. People told my mum that he works with deaf people. So mum told them about me and said that she wanted help to send me to school.
This man is called Kenneth Yali Diouf and he asked that I be brought to the house so he could see me. A few days later, my mother took me to the house. She took me to Kenneth's office. I was shy and afraid because I didn’t know him. He did some signs but I was puzzled because I didn't know what he was saying. In the days that followed, I continued to meet Kenneth and he spared time and started teaching me the manual alphabets. (I had already learnt from my sisters and brothers how to write the alphabets, I could write my name "Favour", too and some numbers).
Then Kenneth gave me English and mathematics books and used them to teach me. I was happy, I kept my books well and always looked at them. I learnt more and more, and then one day my grandmother Gladys started packing my clothes. She said she was taking me to school.
When the day came to go to school, I was very happy. Granny Gladys, Kenneth and I boarded the bus at the motor park. On the road I saw many cars and many other beautiful things. I was never tired of seeing and looking, but Kenneth and Granny Gladys read books.
Soon, I saw nothing except mountains and hills covered with trees. I saw tall and big trees, too. Some are oil palm trees, mango and cashew trees on farm or along the road. I saw cows eating and drinking water from ponds between the express roads. I saw children in villages and pointed at them. "Do they go to school?" I wondered. I think they go to school because I saw boys playing football and girls dancing on a big field. I saw classroom buildings and some children with school bags walking along the roadside, going home.
It was afternoon. When I became tired, I fell asleep. I woke up and saw more new things.The bus stopped. We were now in Enugu. This town is full of people like Port Harcourt. I saw great buildings that touched the sky. We boarded one taxi after the other until we entered a great building full of boys and girls. Their hands and arms did not stop moving when they faced one another but I wondered what they were doing. A deaf man came and greeted us, smiling. I was afraid and held Granny's arm. "Who is he?" I wondered.
Granny Gladys explained to me in local sign language that this is my school. She would leave me here. The next day, early in the morning, she left. But I didn't cry. Kenneth stayed on for some time. Then he too prepared to leave. When he was about to leave, he pretended that he wanted to take me back home, but I ran away from him. I saw the new deaf man (my school Director) laugh and speak to Kenneth. What did he say? "She likes this place". Yes, I liked the place because I saw children here. I would make new friends.
My school is a residential school for deaf children. The name of my new friends are Elijah and Chioma (you can see Chioma in the photo with me, she wears a white cap, we are in the same class. She is deaf like me. Elijah is three years and five months old. He is not deaf, but he is the son of the Director. He knows sign language because he lives in the residential school. He is my friend; sometimes we eat together. I am glad to be in school like all the other children; I love looking at my books. Granny Gladys comes to visit me. She brings me biscuits and bread and new clothes.
When you see deaf children who cannot go to school, please help them go to school. I was only able to go to school because a Christian businessman sponsored my school fees. But I hope that more children will be able to become happy like Chioma and me. Both of us know sign language now.
On Tuesday, 4th April 2006, my school relocated to Afikpo in Ebonyi State. There the school’s name changed from Model School for the Deaf (Enugu) to International Model School for the Deaf (Afikpo). I continued my elementary education until I reached Elementary 5 in 2008.
I would have gone on to Elementary 6, but I had to change schools. I was very sad. So again, on Saturday, 13th September 2008, Kenneth, Granny Gladys and I travelled to Oraifite in Anambra State where my new school is located. But I was leaving behind very sweet memories of my former school because two deaf girls from Italy visited us there. Their names are Chiara and Tiziana. Before they left for their country, they visited another Deaf School in Anambra State. When they returned to our school, they showed us photos of the school and deaf pupils. So as soon as Kenneth and my granny and I reached the new school I was being brought to, he informed me that Chiara and Tiziana had been here before. Oh, yes! I remembered parts of the outside and inside of the school as seen in the photos earlier shown us by Kia and Tizy! I was very glad and the new place became as if it is not new to me at all – simply because two loving deaf girls from Italy had been here.
My former school will again relocate to a new place at Abakaliki, the capital city of Ebonyi State. It is beyond Afikpo. If you are a deaf girl in Nigeria you can come to one of these schools to visit us and parents can bring their deaf child for his or her primary education.
You can find out more about the Model School for the Deaf where Favour and Chioma study by searching for it on The Directory, an online database of organisations working with deaf children all over the world.
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