Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

Inclusion and Deafness Seminar

University of Manchester, June 14th 1999

Overcoming Barriers to Inclusion in Afghanistan

Soo Choo Lee, SERVE
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8.1 Afghanistan has been devastated by 20 years of continual conflict since the Russian invasion in 1979. Since they withdrew in 1989 there has been a civil war for the control of the country. In 1996 a Muslim fundamentalist group, the Taliban, emerged as the major power. The infrastructure has been almost completely destroyed. Teachers are scarce and unmotivated, and school books, furniture and teaching equipment are supplied by UNICEF and other international NGOs. Of the estimated population of 17 million, approximately one third have been killed, disabled or displaced.

8.2 There seems to be a higher prevalence of deafness in Afghanistan because of injuries caused by mines, bombs and torture, and because of the poor health services. Consanguinous marriage further increases the chances of children being born with impairments. Serve (Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprise) is a British Christian charity, founded in 1972, whose main work is in Eastern Afghanistan. Serve’s Hearing Impaired Project (SHIP) was established in 1992 in Peshawar, Pakistan, in response to the growing needs of Deaf Afghan refugees and is funded by CBM and Radda Barnen. After working successfully with 60 Deaf children and adults in Peshawar and the surrounding refugee camps, the project was relocated to Jalalabad in Afghanistan.

8.3 OVERCOMING BARRIERS

8.3.1 Lack of infrastructure

Many school buildings have been destroyed. The rebuilding of schools provides opportunities to negotiate new arrangements for Deaf children. CBM has enabled two classes of Deaf children to be set up in a mainstream school which they have helped to rebuild.

8.3.2 Lack of services for Deaf people

(a) A school for Deaf children was started which now caters for 60 children. The school also functions as a training and resource centre.

(b) Three Deaf clubs have been established with over 50 Deaf adults. They attend literacy and Sign Language classes and other recreational activities. Over 30 Deaf adults have completed their apprenticeship with master craftsmen, identified by SHIP, and are now in employment. Others continue to learn trades such as tailoring, bicycle repair and sweet-making supported by the local community which has offered its skills in basic trades.

(c) Over 80 Deaf children aged 5-12 have been identified by SHIP’s CBR programme in 10 villages. None of them have ever attended school. The local CBR committee approached the education authority and asked for teachers to be trained in Sign Language. They could not afford extra teachers, so SHIP has trained existing teachers in Sign Language skills.

(d) Ten classes of Deaf children have been set up, one in each village, which are taught after school hours. (Schools are open for approximately 3 hours per day.)

8.3.3 Images

Photographs, pictures of living things, puppets, dance and music are banned. Teachers improvise by using mud, palm leaves and nut shells and drawing stick figures with no faces.

8.3.4 Lack of access to information

There is a desperate shortage of books and training materials. Most professionals have emigrated. Learning by rote is the principal method of teaching. The few NGOs working in Afghanistan share resources and have begun to produce their own textbooks, including some for teaching Deaf people. The first book of Jalalabad regional Sign Language, recorded by Deaf people, was published in 1995 with 620 signs. A revised edition was published in 1998 with 1200 signs. Parents and siblings of Deaf children are showing a growing interest in attending Sign Language classes.

Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

17/09/2001