Victoria is a nurse at the Koboko Medical Centre in Uganda. After seeing sign language interpreters on TV, she became interested in learning it to communicate with her deaf patients. However, she could not afford to attend the only course that was being held locally.
As part of our project in Uganda, our partners have been delivering three-month tailored Sign Language Training courses for people who work in public services, including those working in education, community services, the justice system, and people like Victoria who work in healthcare.
She said, “when I heard that people who are interested to learn sign language should report to the district hall, I felt my dreams are finally coming true.” She was very active throughout the course and often made her own copies of instruction materials to share with the other students if there was a shortage. Upon her graduation from the course, she said "I am so excited that I can now help any deaf person that comes to the facility.” She now wants to save money to pursue a diploma in sign language.
Others who have undergone the training include a surgeon who treated a deaf young woman going through obstructed labour, two counsellors helping to test deaf young people for HIV/AIDS, and two health workers helping with sign language interpretation during doctors' appointments.
So far, 257 people have undergone the training and we plan to reach more over the next year.