Dear <<First Name>>,
Deaf children living in rural Uganda have poor access to deaf appropriate education. They may be subject to harassment, or worse in their villages due to the lack of understanding by their neighbors. Deaf children may be undervalued by their society and may be considered ‘bad luck’ or ‘a punishment from God’.
When given the chance to attend special schools for the deaf, these children blossom. In the Deaf Education Project, they learn written English, math, arts and sciences, and vocational skills. They learn Ugandan Sign Language and have their first experience of living in a deaf positive community, which is vital to their social development and self-esteem. Some may go on to college in the future. Appropriate schooling transforms these children's lives dramatically. Children who were hiding in fear, having no language skills, return from their first year at school bright-eyed, animated, and able to communicate in sign language and in written English for the very first time. The transformation is profound!
Kulanu Canada is a registered national charitable organization, working to support Jewish communities that are isolated and dispersed, connecting them to the mainstream Jewish world and providing specific assistance.
Laura Wetzler is the US Kulanu.org Coordinator for Uganda who has assisted the Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda in designing, funding, and facilitating over 50 development projects in the last 20 years. She is now the Kulanu.org Deaf Education Project Director and is bringing forward the needs of the Jewish children who could be helped by Kulanu Canada. The project is providing the following:
Educational support for economically impoverished deaf children from the Abayudaya Jewish Community in Uganda so that they can attend a special education boarding primary school and a boarding high school for the deaf, in Uganda.
Scholarships cover tuition, food, dorm, clothing, basic health care, beds, transportation from remote village to school, supplies, books, and supervision, for each student for one year.
The project has been operating for 14 years and has proven success working with local experts, Dr. Samson Wamani, teacher Miriam Mulobole, and secretary, Joseph Kalema.
