A School for the Blind in Liberia — With a Vision
“Gradually the impairment fades away and they feel one and the same, just like any other kid in the world…”
- Francis Neufville
Founder, Youth for Global Initiative & Fellow at Teach For Liberia
In the small West-African nation of Liberia, impassioned educator Francis Neufville has embarked on a unique initiative - to support blind and visually impaired school children. Liberia’s tumultuous history includes colonialism, civil war and oppression. In 2014, it suffered an Ebola outbreak and a devastating COVID-19 wave in 2020; both of which exacerbated the crippling challenges faced across the country.
According to the World Bank, poverty remains widespread across Liberia, with 50.9% of the population living in poverty. In rural areas, the poverty rate rises to 71.6%, more than double that of the urban areas (31.5%). By some measures, Liberia is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.
Poverty and illiteracy are usually like skin and bone - flush against each other. Liberia may have undeniable American influence amongst its welcoming populace, attracting frantic tourism, but it boasts none of the latter’s financial or infrastructural prosperity. It is a struggle to access even basic education — and according to UNICEF Liberia has one of the world’s highest levels of out-school children, with an estimated 15 to 20% of 6–14-year-olds who are not in class. For children who are enrolled in primary and secondary school, many are overage. As the majority of students are older than the appropriate age for their grade the risk of dropout is incredibly high and most children only complete 4.7 years of schooling. In Liberia, most children get left behind or excluded from the system; but the widespread vulnerability and neglect of children with disabilities is unprecedented.
Consider for a moment, the early trajectory of a child with visual impairment — in an already handicapped educational system; which is not going to catapult even the perfectly abled amongst them anywhere close to being on par with kids the same age across the world. A visually challenged adolescent enters the fray with an inescapable disadvantage, and one which society cannot afford to allay or sometimes even acknowledge. As a result, many blind children end up homeless and living in the streets highly vulnerable. The extra time, attention and empathy that is essential alongside a helping hand is usually not accorded to the children, without which their education in a normal setting is next to redundant. Moreover, like many Sub-Saharan African nations the government is not able to provide specialist training institutions for teachers of children with visual impairments.
It is here, in this wildly unconducive scenario that Francis embarked on his mission to support children with disability and visual impairments. This is his story.
Francis Neufville — Starting Out
While working as a fellow at Teach for Liberia, Francis was to focus on helping blind and visually impaired children. Francis gained a lot of personal and professional satisfaction and through this journey, he was inspired by the potential and dedication of these children who are often left behind. At the fellowship he stayed in the boarding school for the blind and learnt a lot from the students, seeing them succeed makes him feel immensely proud.
Teaching was done orally while the children take notes in braille; dictation is compared to the notes jotted down by the kids to gauge how much they comprehend and what needs further work. Francis explained that braille is a special language, and does not have the freedom and flexibility accorded by, say English. This means that teachers have to condense their notes when dictating, because writing everything down in Braille is a challenging task in itself for young learners.
Francis’ NGO was able to source a machine that is able to transcribe text into braille script, an integral tool for teachers in this space, reducing the burden of educators massively. However, when it arrived at the school in rural Liberia no one was able to operate it. Francis used Youtube to teach himself how to use the machine, learning the intricacies of the machine through trial and error. The machine saves the faculty huge amounts of time and effort.
When his fellowship with Teach for Liberia ended, he founded an NGO called Youth for Global Initiative in order to further his newfound vigour towards aiding and teaching visually impaired children. The NGO is small, a six-people team.
A government-funded establishment called The School for The Blind is their primary focus, however the NGO sometimes works outside with other organisations with mission overlap. At the institution, most educators are either blind or visually challenged.
More Than Just School
When I spoke to Francis, he shared a story of one of his favourite moments at the school. During school hours, a small boy came up very close to him, and when he looked down to see who it was the boy looked up and said, “You’re my only daddy.” To the children, this initiative is not merely teaching or a school that they have to go to. It gives them a sense of comfort and of family, and lets them know they have just as much right in society as any other human being. Apart from having a strong community that functions without bias or reluctance, the school provides three square meals a day for its pupils.
“What bothers them is when the daily food is not available.” Most kids don’t want to go home — they prefer campus as it has food, which is uncertain at home. The school is a government funded institution, where parents who cannot afford to pay school fees enrol their wards. The Principal at the School for The Blind is also visually impaired, has a Masters in Public Administration and deals with the youngsters kindly rather than as a strict disciplinarian.
Francis observes how the kids are all inherently and unselfishly helpful — and are of the staunch opinion that their visual impairment cannot hold them back. They help him wherever they can defiantly and with vigour, as if to silently state that they can do everything that any other kid could do, and do it better. Gradually the impairment fades away and they feel one and the same, just like any other kid in the world. He recalls with considerable pride when in 2020, children from the School for the Blind won a Spelling Bee tournament in an inter school competitive event.
Francis says — “We want to be empowered; we cannot reach enough children”. Their NGO plans to go to towns and villages and bring all visually challenged youngsters to their school, to a place which is an understanding and safe haven so that no child is left behind simply because they’re different. Unfortunately, the nature of the non-profit organisation means that funding is still the number one problem. When the government allotments finish, the school for the blind relies on individual contributions. These are usually in the form of food/rice as the kids are fed thrice a day.
A Darker Alternative
There are precious few organisations in the same space that aid visually or even otherwise impaired children. The general attitude in society is not what would be called conducive; not many people acknowledge the existence of disabled kids and that they need special help, and it is rare to see organisations take initiative, as it is mostly not for profit.
What happens to those who are left behind? — “Quite simply, you will not be educated,” states Francis. You will have no recourse save that of resorting to begging or manual labour, and are for all intents and purposes, an outcast from society. Sadly, this is a passionate occurrence that exhibits very often. These are not places where parents have the money to afford school as well as three square meals a day, let alone professional help for their child who may need them. There is little to no infrastructure targeted towards people with special needs. It is community and collective conscience that must take the helm.
He concludes by saying, “What I want is for my country to see them as part and parcel of the community and not discriminate against the visually impaired — I’ve taken them through complex classes and computer labs, where with training they use everything efficiently and with purpose — they require only opportunity and space. I’ve interacted with these children and I know their potential. “
Moving Forward
At Skizaa, we believe in the importance of sharing Francis’ story, as well as the children who he works so hard for. Only as we start to properly document and uncover the stories of those who are left behind and listen to the voices that cannot be heard can we begin to address the challenges.
To find out more about our work, reach us at sudev@skizaa.com.
References:
https://gnnliberia.com/2020/06/23/liberia-tops-the-list-of-poorest-countries-in-the-world-2020/
