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allAfrica.com: Ugandan Is Advocate for Deaf Women and Girls
Rehema Namarome wants all people with disabilities in Uganda to know their rights.
The rights advocate also wants Uganda's police officers to learn about their country's 2006 law protecting the rights of people with disabilities and its enforcement. More than 1 billion of the world's people live with a disability and encounter significant difficulties in their daily lives, according to the World Health Organization.
Namarome, 35, became deaf at about age 6 after receiving a medication at a hospital in her home district of Mbale, which is in an area now called Bududa. She is at the end of a four-month State Department-sponsored exchange through which she worked with the Madison, Wisconsin, nonprofit group Access to Independence Inc. Washington-based IREX International implemented the program, which in August brought 64 professionals from 21 countries to work with nonprofits throughout the United States.
In 2002, Namarome co-founded United Young Deaf Women, a nonprofit in Kampala that advocates for Uganda's deaf women and girls and teaches them about their rights. Typically in Uganda, she said, people with disabilities, facing difficulties of communication and mobility, do not go to school, so they don't learn about the laws that protect them. Many families do not let a person with a disability out of the home.
"That means no opportunity, no future," Namarome said, adding that her group helps deaf women and girls, who have less access to disability programs than do men and boys, take short trips outside their homes and learn to write their own grant proposals. The group also focuses on deaf women who are victims of sexual violence.
The group also teaches sign language to deaf women and girls and their families. In 2011, her group helped about 300 women and girls. So far, she has collected the names, parents' names and schooling and job status of about 650 deaf women and girls living in villages in five districts. The group gets funding from the nonprofits Disability Rights Fund, based in Boston, the London-based Deaf Child Worldwide and Amsterdam's Mama Cash.
People with disabilities can face discrimination in accessing transportation, Namarome said. "The bus refuses to let me on because I'm disabled," she said.
Namarome said she is fortunate in that her large family supports her work. (Her father has three wives and 16 children -- all living together at the same residence.) "My family felt my future wasn't good because I was deaf. Now my family is happy with my work and sees me as very successful." She has a bachelor's degree in teaching from Islamic University in Mbale and a master's in human rights from Makerere University in Kampala.
Access, which answered calls from nearly 3,900 people from four Wisconsin counties in 2011, is part of a national network of independent living centers that began to spring up in the late 1970s, said Denise Pulfer, 42, an independent living specialist who worked closely with Namarome.
Namarome said she enjoyed her time in Madison and working with Pulfer. Among the skills she has learned are how to develop computerized databases, raise funds from private and government sources and work with government bodies to develop policies related to people with disabilities.
Namarome and Pulfer plan to continue to communicate when Namarome returns to Uganda. Namarome said she will tell Pulfer how she is using what she learned and ask for technical advice when she needs it. She and Pulfer developed a follow-up plan to study deaf women and girl victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Uganda.
Pulfer, who lost her hearing at age 30 after removal of a brain tumor, said working with Namarome gave her new perspectives on how people with disabilities in different countries face situations. In the United States, "we are used to the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and know what our rights are. Many other countries don't have this and are continuing to fight for it," she said, noting that people with disabilities in America have advantages like various communication tools. "But what do deaf girls [in other countries] do if they have no sign or vocal language to communicate if something happens to them?" she asked.
Namarome said her goal is to see people with disabilities in Uganda and other developing countries enjoy their rights and have barrier-free access to activities as much as do people in the United States. "This will make the world a better place," she said.
Rehema Namarome wants all people with disabilities in Uganda to know their rights.
The rights advocate also wants Uganda's police officers to learn about their country's 2006 law protecting the rights of people with disabilities and its enforcement. More than 1 billion of the world's people live with a disability and encounter significant difficulties in their daily lives, according to the World Health Organization.
Namarome, 35, became deaf at about age 6 after receiving a medication at a hospital in her home district of Mbale, which is in an area now called Bududa. She is at the end of a four-month State Department-sponsored exchange through which she worked with the Madison, Wisconsin, nonprofit group Access to Independence Inc. Washington-based IREX International implemented the program, which in August brought 64 professionals from 21 countries to work with nonprofits throughout the United States.
In 2002, Namarome co-founded United Young Deaf Women, a nonprofit in Kampala that advocates for Uganda's deaf women and girls and teaches them about their rights. Typically in Uganda, she said, people with disabilities, facing difficulties of communication and mobility, do not go to school, so they don't learn about the laws that protect them. Many families do not let a person with a disability out of the home.
"That means no opportunity, no future," Namarome said, adding that her group helps deaf women and girls, who have less access to disability programs than do men and boys, take short trips outside their homes and learn to write their own grant proposals. The group also focuses on deaf women who are victims of sexual violence.
The group also teaches sign language to deaf women and girls and their families. In 2011, her group helped about 300 women and girls. So far, she has collected the names, parents' names and schooling and job status of about 650 deaf women and girls living in villages in five districts. The group gets funding from the nonprofits Disability Rights Fund, based in Boston, the London-based Deaf Child Worldwide and Amsterdam's Mama Cash.
People with disabilities can face discrimination in accessing transportation, Namarome said. "The bus refuses to let me on because I'm disabled," she said.
Namarome said she is fortunate in that her large family supports her work. (Her father has three wives and 16 children -- all living together at the same residence.) "My family felt my future wasn't good because I was deaf. Now my family is happy with my work and sees me as very successful." She has a bachelor's degree in teaching from Islamic University in Mbale and a master's in human rights from Makerere University in Kampala.
Access, which answered calls from nearly 3,900 people from four Wisconsin counties in 2011, is part of a national network of independent living centers that began to spring up in the late 1970s, said Denise Pulfer, 42, an independent living specialist who worked closely with Namarome.
Namarome said she enjoyed her time in Madison and working with Pulfer. Among the skills she has learned are how to develop computerized databases, raise funds from private and government sources and work with government bodies to develop policies related to people with disabilities.
Namarome and Pulfer plan to continue to communicate when Namarome returns to Uganda. Namarome said she will tell Pulfer how she is using what she learned and ask for technical advice when she needs it. She and Pulfer developed a follow-up plan to study deaf women and girl victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Uganda.
Pulfer, who lost her hearing at age 30 after removal of a brain tumor, said working with Namarome gave her new perspectives on how people with disabilities in different countries face situations. In the United States, "we are used to the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and know what our rights are. Many other countries don't have this and are continuing to fight for it," she said, noting that people with disabilities in America have advantages like various communication tools. "But what do deaf girls [in other countries] do if they have no sign or vocal language to communicate if something happens to them?" she asked.
Namarome said her goal is to see people with disabilities in Uganda and other developing countries enjoy their rights and have barrier-free access to activities as much as do people in the United States. "This will make the world a better place," she said.