Teacher visits deaf school in Africa

Sarah Dempsey, (far back) American Sign Language (ASL) teacher at Sisters High School returned recently from Malawi, Africa.

Sarah Dempsey, American Sign Language (ASL) teacher at Sisters High School returned recently from Malawi, Africa.

The main purpose of her trip was to visit her friend Heidi Corce, who teaches at Montford College in Limbe, Malawi.

Montford College has a hearing impaired program, where Heidi's job is to instruct teachers how to teach deaf students. The college is located next to the School for the Deaf, where students range in age from six to 21.

Most of the students who attend are deaf due to malaria or meningitis.

Dempsey explained a little about the deaf school.

"It's run by a Dutch man who is an 'oralist'," she said. "He believes all students should speak orally, so all the teaching at the deaf school is done orally.

"He hand-picks the kids he wants to attend, who he feels have the capability to learn orally."

The sign language the deaf students use is very different from American Sign Language. The people there use their own particular sign language called "chichewa" which has been passed down to them through minimial deaf culture they are exposed to.

As a special welcome to the school the deaf students performed some of their native tribal dances.

Throughout the course of the second trimester pen pals had exchanged both letters and photos between Sisters and Malawi. So, before Dempsey left for Malawi she gathered together a gift basket to bring to the Malawi "pen pals." Many books and VHS movies were donated from both students at Sisters High School as well as district staff.

When the students were presented with this gift, their first reaction was utter surprise.

"They were very excited and then became curious, wanting to look through all the books and tried to decide which movie to watch first," Dempsey said. "Even the older ones wanted to watch the cartoon movie, 'Fern Gully.'"

Dempsey noted that most of the poeple hire a watchman to guard their homes, gardens, and fruit trees during the night to ensure against thievery. They also guard the kitchen building, which is separate from the main house because of the heat and smoke created from their cooking

Before coming home Sarah experienced an African safari in Liwonde National Park. Because it was the wet season she wasn't able to see the variety of animals she had hoped to see.

But what what she did see impressed her.

"The hippos were just so much bigger than I envisioned," she said.

"It's so different to see the animals up close in the wild instead of in the zoo. And, I realized that the lions that were just 10-15 feet away from us could really attack if they wanted to!"

Dempsey also commented on the warmth and kindness of the Malawi people while she was there.

"It didn't matter if I was on the bus or walking down the street," she said. "People would stop and offer to carry my bags, even if they had several of their own, and they never expected or asked for a tip!

"I saw so many people with so little," she said. "Many of the kids walked around without shoes. Overall, the trip was a very humbling experience."