How the money you’ve raised helps children in Uganda

Thank you everyone for taking part in sign2sing 2016!  You all did a fantastic job.

The money you’ve raised will help us to support deaf children in Uganda – children like Cornelius, who is a pupil at the Uganda School for the Deaf in Kampala.

Cornelius was born hearing and says he can’t remember when he became deaf.   Like many deaf children in Uganda, he was deafened by a common childhood illness.  Illnesses, which if left untreated, can have terrible consequences.

I felt I was just living in my own world – I felt lonely and scared

“When I became better, I realised that I could no longer hear anything my mother was saying. I was devastated and panicking that I couldn’t understand and no one could understand me. After a while I stopped trying and felt I was just living in my own world – I felt lonely and scared.”

In Uganda, there are cultural taboos surrounding deafness with many believing it is caused by witchcraft or ‘the devil’. As a result, Cornelius was shunned by his community.

Fortunately,  through SignHealth Uganda’s outreach work, Cornelius’s difficulties were identified and we were able to step in and support him, including helping him to learn sign language.

Cornelius’s life has changed for the better now that he’s at school and is able to communicate with his friends. He’s even thinking about the future in a really positive way: “When I grow up, I want to be a businessman.”