Communication in Kenya

I am not going to go on about the difference between UK English and Kenglish - I have already covered this.

No, this is a much greater problem for me. In the UK, I have rarely had  to communicate with anyone who is profoundly deaf. Most people have some sort of hearing aid here.

But in Kisii, we are regularly visited by Simon, a profoundly deaf 8 year-old. He is a smashing kid, with a ready, broad smile, but he cannot hear or talk, other then by using sign language. He has his own language, which is a mixture of Kenyan Sign language and a few signs of his own.

But the biggest problem for me is to remember that Simon expresses his feelings with facial exaggerated expressions. So, sometimes, he can look very angry, or very sad, which alarms me until I realise that he is using his face to communicate.

On the up-side, when he is happy (which is most of the time), he smiles broadly and makes "happy" sounds.

I found out on my last trip that simon contracted malaria when he was a baby. He was treated at hospital but became deaf as a result either of the disease or the treatment - I don't know which.

He does attend school occasionally, but can often be seen wandering along the river bank. If he then sees someone at home, he rushes up to see us, usually around meal times!

He will eat anything offered to him and will not stop until all plates are thoroughly empty.

Simon is usually very grubby and wears clothes which are bordering on rags. But one Sunday, he invited himself to lunch and he was ... clean! Not only was he clean but he was wearing clean clothes with hardly a tear or hole in them. He looked like a totally different person to the point that I did not immediately recognise him!

As far as we can make out, Simon has a full complement of parents, so, strictly speaking, does not fall into a category to be put on the Twiga register. maybe we should change our criteria to include children who are neglected due to a disability. This is not to say that Simon is neglected, but I am sure that he could be better looked after.

Unfortunately, kids with a disability can be ignored by their parents, who do not know what to do with them.

Sign Language

On my last trip to Kenya in May of this year, I came across a few deaf people. Not surprising really as the first school for the deaf run by the deaf is situated in Kisii.

On my last day in Kisii, I met a deaf child, Simon, who was 8 years old. He was accompanied by a friend, Brian, who signed for Simon. Both children seemed proficient in sign language, as is my co-director, Vincent.

At the time, I was actually in the process of packing to leave Kisii so I did not get to know more of the circumstances of Simon and Brian. A lot of thoughts were running through my mind. Were they street children? They were certainly very grubby, even by the standards of rural Kenyan children. Did either or both of them go to school? Who looked after them? Did they have families? Etc.

When I returned to the UK, I asked Vincent to find out a little more, which was not difficult as Simon visited Vincent regularly, asking for money.

Anyway, it turns out that Simon does not go to school, despite the fact that there is a good school for the deaf in Kisii. He stays at home with his mother. Why?

Brian does go to school and also lives with his mother.

Neither child mentioned anything about fathers. Are they half-orphans?

So, as well as trying to learn a few words of Swahili and maybe a couple of words of Ekegusii (the local language of the Kisii area), I now want to learn sign language. And this poses another problem.

I cannot just go to the local college in England to learn it. In Kenya, they use Kenyan Sign Language - naturally. There are schools for the deaf that use British Sign Language or even American Sign Language, but KSL is the offocial language in Kenya.

I have searched the Internet and found a couple of useful sites that give a few words in KSL, but nowhere can I find a site that goes into any depth. So I guess that Vincent is going to have to teach me. I am sure it will come in useful while I am in Kenya.

Review of My Time in Kisii

This is not a long review, just memories of little incidents as they come to me.

This first relates not just to my latest visit, but I will relate the last occasion that I found this funny.

Now, I am sure that many of you have seen this simple finger trick:

I don't know when or where I first picked it up, but I seem to have been able to do it forever.

Anyway, when confronted with a gaggle of rural Kenyan kids, this is what I show them, particularly one little boy, Simon, who is deaf, and his friend and signer, Brian. Simon is the one with his finger in his mouth.

Both kids were amazed and tried for a long time to do this and eventually, with a little help, they succeeded.

The sounds of pleasure that Simon made when he succeeded were special. He had a grin on his face as he "talked" to Brian and Vincent, who can also sign.

Maybe I should learn to sign as well. I am sure that Simon isn't the only deaf kid who will cross my path in Kenya.

But is signing in Kenya the same as over here in the UK? I don't know. Can anyone tell me, please?

UPDATE: There is a specific language in Kenya, KSL or Kenyan Sign Language. This language is to become an official language in Kenya, if it hasn't already. Other European and US sign languages are used in a few schools in Kenya, but KSL is the norm.

There is a school for the deaf, staffed by deaf people in Kisii. It is the only one of its kind in Kenya a far as I can make out. Did Simon go there? I doubt it. He and his friend Brian were two of the scruffiest, grubbiest kids I have seen in Kenya.