02 December 2009
In a meeting in the Buguruni suburb of Dar es Salaam, the room is quiet but there is much discussion going on, members are displaying animated expressions on their faces and their hands are moving rapidly in sign language. It is a regular meeting of the Dar es Salaam branch of the Association for the Deaf, better known by its Swahili acronym – CHAVITA (Chama cha Viziwi Tanzania). 32 year-old Rabia Abdullah, a smart dynamic teacher at the primary school where the meeting is being held, is chairing the meeting. She is also the secretary of the CHAVITA Dar es Salaam branch.
Rabia is very happy with her job but she is even more driven by a project that began to receive funding from DFID in 2007, through the Foundation for Civil Society; the same year she was elected secretary of the CHAVITA Dar es Salaam branch.
The £13,000 project is aimed at helping local government officials understand the needs of hearing impaired people in the Mafuriko area of the Buguruni suburb. “We have been marginalized for so long,” said Rabia. “In our silent world, we can easily become invisible and have no idea what is going on or what our rights are.”
Through workshops, regular dialogue and interaction with local government officials, CHAVITA’s hard work has paid off and local government officials are now more aware of the needs of hearing impaired people in their communities.
“Our eyes and ears have been opened to the plight of the hearing impaired. We now understand that this special group only needs to be included into our mainstream activities and they can perform wonders,” says Edson Fungo, the Chairman of the local government authority in Mafuriko.
The local government leadership is helping to meet some of CHAVITA’s needs. It has given the Association a permanent space to hold their weekly meetings, and even some chairs.
“In the past we used to meet at bars and the impression was very bad, especially when it was the women’s meeting. People assumed we were probably prostitutes just looking for a good time!” Rabia says.
Rabia is very happy with the relationship that her association has now built and continues to have at the local government level. “Our voices are now beginning to be heard. The general consensus used to be that a deaf person is dumb and incapable, but attitudes are now changing.”
Some members of the association have been able to secure loans from the Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOS) which in the past appeared to be an impossible feat.
Zainabu Authman, a member of CHAVITA’s women entrepreneur’s group, says many of the members would love to be entrepreneurs but can’t because they can not secure funding for their projects.
There are other challenges too apart from the funding.
“Everywhere we want to conduct serious business we need an interpreter. Customers more often than not are impatient and don’t understand sign language and they don’t have time for you to negotiate on paper.”
The communication challenge is a recurring source of grievance to the Association members and it is one of the areas that they addressed with local government officials.
“We are fully aware of the need for inclusiveness and want to break down communication barriers,” says Edson. “There is a big sensitization drive to the general public in my area to learn sign language, even just understanding basic symbols and signs. I even have a sign language poster in my office,” he chuckles, as this would have been unheard off a few months ago. Now members of CHAVITA are invited to public meetings held by the local government and an interpreter is engaged to help them participate in the proceedings.
“We are very impressed with the organizational capacity of CHAVITA,” Edson continues. “We have a lot to learn from them. I would like to see members of the Association contesting in the local bi-elections in September. ”
Rabia believes the Foundation for Civil Society’s assistance has gone a long way to inspire and encourage active political participation. “I feel now we are ready to participate. We have sensitized and advocated for our rights to a level where I feel an acceptance from the public as equal contestants is possible. I believe one or two of us might even be successful so that the voice and predicaments of the hearing impaired can finally be given a chance to be heard.”
The Foundation for Civil Society is a non governmental organization whose mission is to provide grants and other capacity building support to civil societies in Tanzania.
