Helping Hand Appeal 2017
With Mary’s Meals support, Caren is overcoming deafness to give herself hope for a brighter future
As if dealing with hunger and poverty isn’t enough, 15-year-old Caren must also overcome the barriers she faces as a result of being deaf.
Having lost her hearing following an illness when she was young, Caren, who lives in Eldoret, Kenya, tried to attend a “hearing” school, but it was too difficult.
The situation was compounded by the fact her father was not supportive. He felt that Caren, as not only deaf, but a girl growing up in the rural area of Ziwa, did not need an education and she looked set for a life tending animals owned by the family. However, a neighbour identified the potential in Caren and helped her to get a place at Eldoret School for the Hearing Impaired, where she now learns and lives.
Caren was only able to attend the school after the headteacher, Cecilia Kebenei, appealed directly to Caren’s parents herself and even now, her father refuses to visit her at the school.
Despite all she has faced, Caren is a lively and intelligent young woman, who is keen to learn and to make a better life for herself. Although money for resources is tight, the school is doing remarkable things in helping the young people to learn, supported by school-feeding charity Mary’s Meals, which supplies food to the pupils.
Speaking using sign language, Caren said, “I lost my hearing in class 3. I was in the hospital for a long time, and afterwards I found I couldn’t hear.
“It felt bad for me to change from being hearing to being deaf, but I still have friends from that school and from Ziwa. I miss my home. Sometimes my mother and sister, or the local pastor come to visit.
“Being here is not much different from being at home. I wake up in the morning, bathe, get dressed and have breakfast, then go to class. In class we pay attention to the teachers until break and then go back to class. I like it if it’s science. Then we go for lunch thanks to Mary’s Meals.
“I like maths and science best. I love them both. The teacher teaches us lots and I
“IT HELPS ME TO GO TO LUNCH. I CAN LEARN WELL”
love to practise what I have learned afterwards.
“Before I came to this school I was in a local school. I learnt from copying the others. I would look at their books when they were listening to the teacher and I would watch what they were doing. It was easy to do maths that way, but not the other subjects.
“It helps me to go to lunch and then when I go back to class I can learn well. We