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allAfrica.com: Uganda: Hope for Deaf Children (Page 1 of 1)
MAAMA wa bakasiru' (meaning mother of dumb children) is what everyone calls her. Scovia Nsamba, a resident of Kitengesa village in Masaka district, is no ordinary mother.
Hers is a family of 98 children, all deaf, dumb and most of them unwanted by people who should love them - their parents.
A mother to 10 children, Nsamba was born in 1950 in Sanje, Rakai district, in a family of 13 children. She attended Sanje-Kyanyungu Primary School in Rakai, before joining Nkoni SS in Masaka for Senior One and Kyamaganda S.S for Senior Two.
Nsamba dropped out of school at Senior Two due to lack of school fees, following her father's death. She got married in 1966. Like most village women, her life was centred on being a good wife and mother.
Today, she is a farmer who utilises her meagre resources to help unfortunate children. With the help of her husband, Edward Nsamba, she offers a home, education, and love to the children. Her big family, as she calls it, started with Nakibira in I989.
Nsamba went to visit her cousin and found his daughter Madalena Nakibira down with malaria. "She didn't respond when I greeted her, so I blamed them for bringing her up badly. That is when they told me that she had not said a word since she fell sick," Nsamba recalls.
She decided to take the child under her care. This girl was to change her life forever.
However, Nsamba's problem was communicating with the dumb child. She joined The Uganda National Association for the Deaf (UNAD) after realising that it was her only hope of making headway with Nakibira.
"I had no relative in Kampala yet I had to travel with her to Kampala every Wednesday for training at 8:00am. It wasn't easy, because I had to wake up early to prepare her. This went on for three years but I was never late," she says.
Nsamba's dedication impressed the UNAD officials and they offered to educate Nakibira up to P. 7 in Bwanda's School for the Deaf.
By then, Nsamba had started looking after other dumb children, especially those neglected by their parents.
"Most parents do not love such children. Many times, I have found them tied to a coffee plant like a pig. I once found a four-year-old girl tied to a tree. Her parents had put her food on a banana leaf, yet her family is not that poor. Others are so ashamed of them that they lock them up in the house," Nsamba says angrily.
Nsamba always asks such parents to bring the children to her home. Surprisingly, some parents are reluctant to let go of their 'burden'.
"There are times when I have to order the parents to give me the children," she says. Some parents simply abandon the children on her verandah at night.
Her husband always welcomes the children with open arms. Although he works as a taxi stage operator in Masaka, he always offers his little earnings to aid in running the home.
With time, their home evolved into a school, Good Samaritan Family School for the Deaf and Orphans. She started by converting her sitting room into a classroom as the deaf children shared bedding with her own children. She later converted her servants' quarters into classrooms and dormitories as she received more children.
This was the home and school of her big family until last year when she received help from Hope AIDS, a UK-based organisation that helps disadvantaged children.
The children follow the Ministry of Education syllabus. Nsamba is aware that most of them are not likely to get decent office jobs, so she introduced practical subjects. The boys take on woodwork lessons while the girls learn tailoring and weaving.
However, her problem is recruiting teachers who are willing to work hard for little pay. She employs 10 teachers, one of them an old student of the school.
Today, children from well to do families pay a minimum of sh130,000 as school fees. But only 13 of the 98 children can afford this amount."Some parents refuse to pay the money, claiming that they can't waste money on such useless children. Looking after them is difficult because they require a lot of patience. They have to be fed, clothed and treated when sick," Nsamba says.
For clothing, Nsamba gives them her children's old clothes. Sometimes, villagers also donate old clothes and shoes.
Nsamba also agreed with her husband to utilise the 13 acres of family land to grow food. They spend over sh1m on feeding per month.
"Saturday is our gardening day. We rarely buy food. Although we sometimes run into shortages, villagers help us out by giving us food," she explains.
Without a solid source of income, Nsamba, a staunch Catholic, attributes their survival to God.
News of her work has spread beyond the village and Nsamba now gets children from as far as Rakai and Sembabule districts.
One of her joys is that her efforts have paid off. One of her former students is now a teacher in the school while nine are employed.
MAAMA wa bakasiru' (meaning mother of dumb children) is what everyone calls her. Scovia Nsamba, a resident of Kitengesa village in Masaka district, is no ordinary mother.
Hers is a family of 98 children, all deaf, dumb and most of them unwanted by people who should love them - their parents.
A mother to 10 children, Nsamba was born in 1950 in Sanje, Rakai district, in a family of 13 children. She attended Sanje-Kyanyungu Primary School in Rakai, before joining Nkoni SS in Masaka for Senior One and Kyamaganda S.S for Senior Two.
Nsamba dropped out of school at Senior Two due to lack of school fees, following her father's death. She got married in 1966. Like most village women, her life was centred on being a good wife and mother.
Today, she is a farmer who utilises her meagre resources to help unfortunate children. With the help of her husband, Edward Nsamba, she offers a home, education, and love to the children. Her big family, as she calls it, started with Nakibira in I989.
Nsamba went to visit her cousin and found his daughter Madalena Nakibira down with malaria. "She didn't respond when I greeted her, so I blamed them for bringing her up badly. That is when they told me that she had not said a word since she fell sick," Nsamba recalls.
She decided to take the child under her care. This girl was to change her life forever.
However, Nsamba's problem was communicating with the dumb child. She joined The Uganda National Association for the Deaf (UNAD) after realising that it was her only hope of making headway with Nakibira.
"I had no relative in Kampala yet I had to travel with her to Kampala every Wednesday for training at 8:00am. It wasn't easy, because I had to wake up early to prepare her. This went on for three years but I was never late," she says.
Nsamba's dedication impressed the UNAD officials and they offered to educate Nakibira up to P. 7 in Bwanda's School for the Deaf.
By then, Nsamba had started looking after other dumb children, especially those neglected by their parents.
"Most parents do not love such children. Many times, I have found them tied to a coffee plant like a pig. I once found a four-year-old girl tied to a tree. Her parents had put her food on a banana leaf, yet her family is not that poor. Others are so ashamed of them that they lock them up in the house," Nsamba says angrily.
Nsamba always asks such parents to bring the children to her home. Surprisingly, some parents are reluctant to let go of their 'burden'.
"There are times when I have to order the parents to give me the children," she says. Some parents simply abandon the children on her verandah at night.
Her husband always welcomes the children with open arms. Although he works as a taxi stage operator in Masaka, he always offers his little earnings to aid in running the home.
With time, their home evolved into a school, Good Samaritan Family School for the Deaf and Orphans. She started by converting her sitting room into a classroom as the deaf children shared bedding with her own children. She later converted her servants' quarters into classrooms and dormitories as she received more children.
This was the home and school of her big family until last year when she received help from Hope AIDS, a UK-based organisation that helps disadvantaged children.
The children follow the Ministry of Education syllabus. Nsamba is aware that most of them are not likely to get decent office jobs, so she introduced practical subjects. The boys take on woodwork lessons while the girls learn tailoring and weaving.
However, her problem is recruiting teachers who are willing to work hard for little pay. She employs 10 teachers, one of them an old student of the school.
Today, children from well to do families pay a minimum of sh130,000 as school fees. But only 13 of the 98 children can afford this amount."Some parents refuse to pay the money, claiming that they can't waste money on such useless children. Looking after them is difficult because they require a lot of patience. They have to be fed, clothed and treated when sick," Nsamba says.
For clothing, Nsamba gives them her children's old clothes. Sometimes, villagers also donate old clothes and shoes.
Nsamba also agreed with her husband to utilise the 13 acres of family land to grow food. They spend over sh1m on feeding per month.
"Saturday is our gardening day. We rarely buy food. Although we sometimes run into shortages, villagers help us out by giving us food," she explains.
Without a solid source of income, Nsamba, a staunch Catholic, attributes their survival to God.
News of her work has spread beyond the village and Nsamba now gets children from as far as Rakai and Sembabule districts.
One of her joys is that her efforts have paid off. One of her former students is now a teacher in the school while nine are employed.