Remember what you saw: My experience volunteering at School of Deaf, Kuje

Since 2009, 18th July has been set aside as a day to celebrate the legendary leader Nelson Mandela and and some of the virtues he lived for which includes volunteering and community service. At YALI Network Abuja we commemorated the day by volunteering to replace the window nets of the male and female hostel at School of the Deaf, Kuje in other to curb the incidence of mosquito bites and malaria which seemed to be quite rampant in the school.
Though the school was out of session like most schools during this period, I noticed that few students were around and in their hostel uniforms. Turned out most of them were still in school because their parents/guardians were yet to come pick them. Our ability to communicate with this students was very limited because none of us volunteers could communicate in sign language but for the amiable resource person form Deaf Resource Centre MR Timothy Tinat who was able to stand in as our interpreter, communication would have been totally impossible.
The first six hours went uneventful and all I did was give support to the skilled guys replacing the nets at the female hostel, share a gist or two with other volunteers, take pictures and walk around the school. As the students passed by me, all I could do was smile or wave while they graciously responded with their flashy smiles and big waves. I imagined how much if a success the day would have been if I could make at least one friend among the beautiful girls. One of my earrings seemed to agree with my imagination and decided to intervene.

At about past four, one of our leaders Dr Obinna initiated a groupie with the students which I immediately posed for. As I stood to have my face captured, one of my ear rings fell off. Rather than stoop down to pick it I simply ignored it. At that same time, one of the students standing beside me bent down and almost in the twinkle of an eye was holding my earrings. I stared at it not knowing what to say, we finished our selfie session and I collected the earing from her with a big smile on my face. I attempted to put it on but couldn’t as she was starring at me. She collected it and wore it for me straight up. I tried to recollect the sign language for thank you, but I could not so I simply did several thumbs up with a wide smile. She smiled back, held my hands and lead me away. I followed her one part curious and the other part just happy about the moment. Some of her friends about four of them followed us too. Then she took me to a room and brought out a biro and paper , I stood gazing at the writing materials , and wondering how I forgot that this girls could read and write all the while I ached for a conversation with them.
Our conversation though written was pretty intense for a first meeting of friends from “what is your name?” “ Have you gone to university?” “How old are you?” and on her part without my asking she told me her class, age, about her sister in Lagos and other things. She actually engineered the entire conversation as I was too put on the spot to know what to say while her friends were watching and reading our conversation with keen interest. Afterwards she asked if my phone could take pictures and I nodded and we all went outside and took a handful of pictures.

In the cause of our conversations I noted something, she was really surprised when I told her I was a university graduate and I had concluded NYSC* in 2014 that was what lead her to tell me she had a sister in Lagos who was undergoing NYSC. However when I told her my profession, it didn’t produce as much amazement as I expected. My fears were confirmed when I spoke with Mr Timothy who understood Sign Language and he told me he had an earlier discussion with them and asked them what their future aspirations were and it turned out they all said they wanted to be teachers but for one of them who said she wanted to become an office worker. I showed him the pictures I took with them and it turned out my friend was the one who wanted to become an office worker.
I went away imagining how those girls as bright and beautiful as they were most likely had very limited knowledge of several career choices open to them due to their physical challenge. How could they even dream when they don’t seem to have pictures to stimulate their imaginations. I wondered what other important life issues children of their age knew that they probably were oblivious of. I wanted to start blaming the government in my heart for this obvious ommision. Surely they ought to find a way to make their curriculum all inclusive to prepare them adequately for the future. Then I remembered my own insensitivity. How I was satisfied with merely waving and smiling at them without thinking of going an extra mile to converse with them despite how I ached to talk to them . How I had known I was coming to a school of the Deaf to volunteer work for over two weeks now and I did nothing to know more about the people I was going to help especially as I have never really had close contact with a deaf person in my 25 years.

It is so easy to point fingers at the government for inaction or judge a crowd in a mob where jungle justice is been executed when in reality most of us have a silent but growing apathy towards justice; one of which is indifference to the plight of the physically challenged and special needs people around us. It is easy for us to watch videos or documentaries or read pitiable stories that invoke empathy in us but forget that empathy alone does not make impact.
Like Ken Wytsma said in his best seller Pursuing Justice,
- “Merely felling another’s pain can result in paternalistic pity, when that feeling motivates us to extend a hand in friendship, rather than extending handouts, empathy is acting as a means toward the proper end of justice... ”
I made some decisions that day and thankfully I belong to a young network of young people who are not seeking popularity but impact, we came up with ideas on how to bridge the gap between what the curriculum gives to the students and life skills that they need for survival. Our actions have followed our ideas and in the mean time, work will commence.
I choose to take Ken Wytsma’s advice “Remember what you saw" to the next level by writing what I saw because in the midst of the everyday busyness of our lives and challenges life throws at us, it is possible to empathize and stop at empathy. Empathy alone will never birth justice. Next time you see something out there that evokes feelings of pity in you, something that allows you enter into the pain and suffering of others always remember that those feelings no matter how small have been awakened in you for a reason. Empathetic action is the goal, anything short of action is remains what it is mere empathy.
Thanks @ Rotimi Okungbaye your consistency with posts here on medium makes me remember my comment on your birthday post to start writing.
*NYSC -National Youth Service Corps, a one year mandatory service set up by the government to involve Nigerian graduates in the country’s development.
Rotimi Okungbaye Samson Onyekachi Jikeme Deaf Action Deaf In Both Ears
