Malita has always been a particularly challenging case and continuously went through a lot of difficulties both at home and at school. Her disabilities being the cause of everything. Finding her in very good physical and psychological mood was one of the best surprises we had.
We spent a full day at the Bandawe School for the Hearing Impaired. We got to meet again Stuart and Jacob, respectively, the Director and one of the teachers there, but also some new teachers. As always, they were all extremely friendly and motivated. We had some nice chats together, both formally and informally. At the moment at Bandare there are 53 disabled students, divided into the 8 primary groups and exactly 8 teachers. The half of them are fully qualified to teach to hearing impaired students. The other half is still busy with the qualification for this disability. This means that, as usual, managing everything and all the classes is not that easy.
We were happy to hear that this year they have a new teacher for carpentry and a new teacher for tailoring. Vocational skills are particularly important for (disabled) people who don’t get the chance or don’t have the ability to achieve higher education. Only through learning a profession, they will eventually be able to be independent and to earn a living.
The best surprise was however to find Malita extremely happy, talkative and in good shape. She said she recognised us, she was very curious to talk with Flavio. She showed us her skills with the sign language and also some skills with sewing.
We spent a full day at Bandawe and the students eagerly showed us the classrooms and tried to teach us the sign language. They walked us through the dorms but also demonstrated their creative skills with theatre and dancing. It is amazing to see them do all this, despite their disabilities. The teachers are really making a difference there.
Also the poultry project is in good shape. At the moment there are approximately 100 chickens and they are growing up. This is an essential source of food for the school. And it is also a suitable way to teach the students a bit about circular economy.
