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Mmegi Online :: Society for the deaf gets new office
An enterprising section of the deaf community, many of them graduates of the older and more established Botswana Association of the Deaf have formed their own organisation "of the deaf, by the deaf and for the deaf," officials of the organisation say.
The Botswana Society for the Deaf (BSD), for six years of its registration without a voice or an office, have finally secured temporary accommodation at yet another fledgling establishment, the Tshiamo Academy for the Deaf, based in Mogoditshane on the western peripheries of Gaborone.
Treasurer Nametso Selwe, and Secretary, Boitumelo Tshotlego wait for the opportunity to announce the plight of their organisation to the press outside the modestly equipped offices of the academy, seeking, despite their awareness that the writers will not be equipped in the language they use on a daily basis, to register their existence, and the challenges they face.
Their best instrument of communication, much in common with the journalists, is the pen. So they list their objectives: -
* To see the deaf united in fund-raising for the organisation. The Botswana Society for the Deaf have registered a bank account with FNB whose details can be secured through their office at Mogoditshane by well-wishers who wish to make donations.
* The deaf want ease of communication particularly with establishments such as hospitals. The police and courts where they often do not get ' a fair hearing' if they are listened to at all,
* The deaf want a friendly formal system of education that will be supported both by government and non-governmental organisations. There are no schools of higher learning for the deaf, they say. Even if the deaf are presently disadvantaged in a school system that places hearing students ahead of the deaf, the pupils who are disadvantaged at hearing can still excel at vocational training.
The Botswana School of the Deaf is affiliated to the World Federation of the deaf encompassing organisations from about 127 countries around the world but are unable to make the most of their membership on account of lack of a fully-fledged office with trained personnel and secretarial services.
The officials of the BSD say they are grateful to the Botswana Association of the Deaf even as they seek their own empowerment as people living with the condition to run their own affairs. "Without the Botswana Association of the Deaf, many of us would not be in a position to communicate," the officials say.
They want press publicity for their cause, access to physical education and participation in the arts. The officers, some of them employed in and around Gaborone, hold meetings at the Tshiamo Academy in Mogoditshane on Saturday mornings.
Officials: Chairperson, M Mapharing Vive, Pastor Emelang, Secretary, Boitumelo Tshotlego, Treasurer, Nametso Selwe, Tel: 3133642 Cell by SMS: 72532436, 72636379
An enterprising section of the deaf community, many of them graduates of the older and more established Botswana Association of the Deaf have formed their own organisation "of the deaf, by the deaf and for the deaf," officials of the organisation say.
The Botswana Society for the Deaf (BSD), for six years of its registration without a voice or an office, have finally secured temporary accommodation at yet another fledgling establishment, the Tshiamo Academy for the Deaf, based in Mogoditshane on the western peripheries of Gaborone.
Treasurer Nametso Selwe, and Secretary, Boitumelo Tshotlego wait for the opportunity to announce the plight of their organisation to the press outside the modestly equipped offices of the academy, seeking, despite their awareness that the writers will not be equipped in the language they use on a daily basis, to register their existence, and the challenges they face.
Their best instrument of communication, much in common with the journalists, is the pen. So they list their objectives: -
* To see the deaf united in fund-raising for the organisation. The Botswana Society for the Deaf have registered a bank account with FNB whose details can be secured through their office at Mogoditshane by well-wishers who wish to make donations.
* The deaf want ease of communication particularly with establishments such as hospitals. The police and courts where they often do not get ' a fair hearing' if they are listened to at all,
* The deaf want a friendly formal system of education that will be supported both by government and non-governmental organisations. There are no schools of higher learning for the deaf, they say. Even if the deaf are presently disadvantaged in a school system that places hearing students ahead of the deaf, the pupils who are disadvantaged at hearing can still excel at vocational training.
The Botswana School of the Deaf is affiliated to the World Federation of the deaf encompassing organisations from about 127 countries around the world but are unable to make the most of their membership on account of lack of a fully-fledged office with trained personnel and secretarial services.
The officials of the BSD say they are grateful to the Botswana Association of the Deaf even as they seek their own empowerment as people living with the condition to run their own affairs. "Without the Botswana Association of the Deaf, many of us would not be in a position to communicate," the officials say.
They want press publicity for their cause, access to physical education and participation in the arts. The officers, some of them employed in and around Gaborone, hold meetings at the Tshiamo Academy in Mogoditshane on Saturday mornings.
Officials: Chairperson, M Mapharing Vive, Pastor Emelang, Secretary, Boitumelo Tshotlego, Treasurer, Nametso Selwe, Tel: 3133642 Cell by SMS: 72532436, 72636379