September is the month dedicated to Deaf Awareness across the globe. It is important time to conscientize the hearing community about Deaf culture, sign language and developing better relations between hearing and the deaf in family life. Sibusiso Zulu and Nqobile Mkhonta, both Deaf, have been teaching sign language to hearing parishioners who are interested in communicating with Deaf people. This project will resume in February 2025.
This programme was first started before Covid, Before Covid, the first classes ran for six weeks from October to November 2019. The Deaf community in the Cathedral parish started teaching regular Eswatini Sign Language (ESL) classes on Friday and Saturday afternoons. There was an enthusiastic response and over 60 hearing parishioners signed up for the classes. The classes resumed at the beginning of Lent in March 2020 but they had to suspended due to the rapid spread of Covid.
The enormous interest in sign language from the hearing parishioners had a huge impact on the Deaf community. They felt less isolated and more at home in parish when they saw hearing people make the effort to learn sign language. This built a wonderful bond of trust and friendship between the two communities.
God’s providential care has assisted us in getting this far through the various organisations that have assisted us. It is the prayer of the Catholic Deaf community that this assistance will continue so that all Deaf people and the disabled in Eswatini can be empowered and assume their rightful place within the church and society.
Fr Mark James OP