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Diary - July 29, 2003Jambo!This is my last day here in Jambiani and with much sadness I leave this amazing village and the people that live here. I went to sleep last night listening to the waves crashing the shore and then in the far off distance out at the coral reef a second set of waves crashing against that sandbar wishing I could bottle that sound up and take it home with me. I've been thrilled with the work I've done here and know that in some way I have made a positive influence and difference to the deaf children living in this village. I succeeded in organizing a meeting between the Office for People with a Disability (UWZ) and the Headmaster and some teachers from the school. The school was thrilled to meet with the two teachers of sign language and hear about their 3 year project of teaching sign language here in Zanzibar. The meeting was conducted in Kiswahili and interpreted into Tanzanian Sign Language for one of the sign language teachers who is deaf. I had an english interpreter there for me. The school I think is ready to make some steps to accomodate the deaf children they have in their school and indicated they would be happy to have a weekly sign language class here in Jambiani. The next step is for them to write a letter inviting the sign language teachers to set up a program here, this in turn gets put forward to the Minister of Education who will approve it and then the program can get started. Ahhh the joys of paperwork, we are so use to the immediate email system now that this paper work and snail mail stuff seems ancient. I also held a mini workshop for 6 teachers at the school to talk with them about how they can modify their classroom teaching style to better accommodate their deaf students even if they don't know how to sign. Several of them had just attended a one week workshop provided by the Ministry on Activity Based Learning in the Classroom so they are motivated and ready to try some of the techniques they learned at that workshop to good use knowing it will also better accommodate the deaf students. I managed to meet with 3 of the 5 families of the kids in my class to introduce myself and tell them how great their kids were. I brought along Pandu who you've heard about in previous journal entries as my english-kiswahili interpreter. I gave the parents comparisons to families with deaf children in Canada and let them know that there are approximately 12-15,000 deaf people living in Tanzania. I spoke with them about the upcoming sign language classes that will be offered here in Jambiani and encouraged them to attend. I think for some of them it was just good to hear how great and expressive their kids are, they had a chance to see me communicating with their kids by use of gestures and some basic Tanzanian signs. They had an opportunity to ask me questions and told me about how their kids are coming home now much more expressive and using some new signs. One little girl has discovered where I am living and is a daily visitor. We go out on the beach and play, go swimming, tell stories and laugh. Yesterday, my last day of teaching them, she waited after school for me, after all the other kids had gone home so we could walk home together. This afternoon I told her to come over so we can play for one last time and already I'm choking back the tears. It has been so amazing to watch these 5 kids who on our first meeting were solemn, and unexpressive. Now they come running to my class with big smiles and can't wait to tell me stories of what they did yesterday or over the weekend. Given the environment, and the space and permission to express themselves in their natural language they have flourished, even in just these 6 short weeks. I can't wait to come back next year after a year of a formal sign language class and chat with them then. Two weeks ago Yvonne and I spent the weekend relaxing in a small village at a beachfront bungalow. We hired a boat for the day to do some snorkelling but on the way stopped at a small island - Uzi, that is an island when the tide is in, but attached to Zanzibar when the tide is out... and found there are 10-20 deaf people living there. So I will be able to pass this information on to the two teachers to continue their outreach classes. I also conducted 5 interviews of students at the school, 2 - 17yr olds, 1 - 14yr old and 2 - 12 yr olds as well as a male and a female teacher and one 60 year old seaweed farmer so I am looking forward to publishing some of this info in some local newsletters and magazines when I get back home. Tomorrow I go into Stonetown to give one last 2 hour presentation on interpreting before flying out early Thursday morning. This group of teachers learning to become sign language interpreters are the vital link to the deaf people here in Zanzibar. When these interpreters are trained, they will be able to go with deaf people to job interviews, and other important meetings that will provide these deaf people with equal access that they rightly deserve. The stepping stones are being laid to create a path to equality and an improved quality of life !! It has been an honour and pleasure to be part of that process. With a heart full of sadness at leaving yet filled with love and a memory filled for a lifetime of amazing experiences... goodbye Jambiani... and to the incredible people who live here... till we meet again. Kristi Falconer, Victoria BC  |