buea school for the deaf (cameroon, west africa)

I attended a lecture on the Buea School for the Deaf in Cameroon, West Africa. “In support of the University's strategic position as a ‘global educational and cultural center’ [this was] the first in a series of lectures to promote greater collaboration between Gallaudet and the Deaf community in the developing world” (from the poster announcing the lecture). A Gallaudet alum, Aloysius Bibum and his wife founded the school two years ago. The school currently has 42 students between the ages of 6 and 16. Many of the children attending this school enter with no previous schooling, some at the age of 10 or 11. The purpose of the lecture was primarily as a fundraiser and was thus focused on the schools struggles with funding. They are charging families about half of what it actually costs to send students there in order to make it possible for these families to do so. Thus, the school has to come up with the rest of the money. They are stuck in bureaucratic cycles in terms of funding. But there are dedicated staff members determined to provide an education to these young Deaf children despite the fact that there are no state funded schools for the Deaf. Staff members who are owed four months of salary but do not complain. The story of the Buea School for the Deaf is a story of a small place far away, but a story that matters just like all the rest that are hidden.