Bakar Ali said: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE DEAF IN SOMALIA? Today, there are millions of deaf people in developing countries that do not have access to education. In Somalia, deaf children are left neglected. They do not go to school. How would a deaf child feel when his /her siblings are going to school but he /she is left playing on the ground? Lonely. This is the real experience of deaf children in Somalia. Let me share with you some information about the deaf in Somalia. I grew up in the Somali capital – Mogadishu – and spent whole my life there until a few years ago. While I lived in Somalia, I was not exposed to the deaf culture. This is because I grew up as hearing until I was in the 9th grade. I lost my hearing suddenly. Like many deaf in Africa, my hearing loss was caused by Malaria. The medicine that the doctors used to cure me affected my hearing. JOINING A NEW COMMUNITY After I became deaf, my life took a new path. As I said, I was in high school but when I became deaf, things became bitter; I could no longer compete with my hearing peers – I joined a new community, which is called “the Deaf community”. This is a community that has long been neglected in Somalia. This is a community that has long been oppressed in Somalia, which I never knew before becoming deaf myself. There has never been a school for the deaf in Somalia. Most deaf people who grew up in Somalia do not know how to write or read. So there I was, a recently deafened teenager, struggling with my new life and my new identity, “Dhagool” (Deaf). Somali people have a habit of naming a person based on their looks or state of being, and I got called “Dhagool”, which means deaf. In western countries, it is totally unacceptable for someone to be addressed as “half legged, half handed, disabled, blind, deaf” etc. But in Somalia, it is common. People have no respect for disabled people. In addition to these labels, deaf also are categorized as mentally unstable. Alhamdulillah! Bakar Ali is the President of SONAD (the Somalia National Association for the Deaf), an organisation with the aim of improving the life and culture of Deaf children and people in Somalia. He is currently studying Urban and international studies with minor political science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York. Bakar is the recipient of Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award at RIT. Deaf Unity and SONAD are working together to support and encourage Somali Deaf leaders so that they can encourage and support Deaf people and children in Somalia. They look towards a future where Deaf people in Somalia are included in all aspects of life. Please make dua and share, like or leave a comments. Jazakallah khayran for your support. Article Deaf Unity Published in (Mar 29th, 2013). Exciting projects to change the lives of Deaf people worldwide!
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 04:24:56 +0000
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