Gambian Deaf Children Support Project, The Gambia

The Gambia Deaf Children’s Support Project (GDCSP) was founded by professional practitioners from the UK and is working to help develop improved arrangements and facilities to support Deaf Children in The Gambia, their teachers, and their parents. All work undertaken is done on a voluntary basis and team members have usually paid all or most of their own costs, as well as providing funding for trainees to attend, and for other forms of support.

Without the support of experienced and well-trained professionals, it can be very hard for deaf children to make the most of their talents.

The Republic of Gambia is the smallest country on the African mainland and unlike the UK and other developed countries which have used sophisticated support and teaching techniques for many years, it has very limited facilities for deaf children.

There has also been a complete lack of routine testing of babies and young children for deafness so, although some deaf children have been identified, it is probable that many other deaf children have not been diagnosed or offered help. Some of these will be kept at home and considered uneducable.

There is just one established non-residential school for the deaf situated in Serrekunda, at the western end of the country. Although most staff are qualified teachers, there are no qualified teachers of the deaf in The Gambia.

St John’s School for the Deaf, Serrekunda

A day school for deaf children with approximately 250 pupils. The Principal is Mr Daniel Mendy. The team have undertaken many projects with the school over the past 18 years and run numerous training courses for staff and others, seeking to improve the quality of education provided. They have also provided a range of hearing aid and audiological equipment, some of which may still be in use. However, the main means of communication is through Gambia Sign Language (GSL). In 2020, at the start of the Covid Pandemic, Be Global Foundation funded a better and more reliable water supply project for St John’s. This included a solar-powered pump and overhead storage tank. In addition, we funded the purchase of several sinks that are foot-operated, meaning that pupils and staff did not need to touch the taps that others had touched and spread infection. The water supply has been a great success and three of the four sinks are still operational.

Tulkuya Signs Restaurant

This initiative was established by Binta Badjie, herself a deaf lady, to provide training and employment opportunities for adult deaf ladies in Gambia, a group who traditionally have been unskilled and unemployed. The Restaurant was going well until two problems emerged. The first was that a road widening scheme meant they had to vacate some of their attractive forecourt and this could make it less appealing for customers. The second problem was Covid which, as everywhere else, meant customers stayed at home and did not want to risk close contact with others for fear of catching the disease.
This meant that the income for the restaurant dropped dramatically, and they could be forced to close unless they could find the rent for this ‘quiet’ period. ITGF generously agreed to meet this funding shortfall and enable the restaurant to continue to operate.

Training Courses in Sexual health and hygiene for adolescent deaf girls.

These courses were also organised by Binta Badjie and while it is not possible to ‘visit’ the courses, it is important to note that ITGF funding was a crucial factor in enabling the courses to function. Girls attending were given washable and re-useable menstrual pads plus other relevant items, and also advice on acceptable sexual behaviours and attitudes.

Classroom Teaching Block at for a new Unit for Deaf Children at St Joseph’s Lower Basic (Primary) School in Basse.

In 2012 there were no educational facilities at all for deaf children in the Upper River Region (URR) of Gambia. This is the far eastern end of the country, approximately 200 miles inland, much too far for deaf children to attend St John’s School for the Deaf. Working with another charity (KADECT) Malcolm and team opened a Unit for Deaf Children in a spare classroom at St Joseph’s Lower Basic School, paying for the salary of a teacher from St John’s to be based in Basse and for equipment for the new classroom. Immediately 7 or 8 deaf children were able to attend school for the very first time. They loved it, and worked really hard, achieving astonishing educational results, equal to those of many children with normal hearing within the mainstream school.
The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education recognised the progress and took on the salaries of staff. As numbers grew better facilities were needed and ITGF generously agreed to fund the construction of a new four-classroom teaching block and staff office, thus giving deaf children a permanent base for their future education. Since then, numbers have grown and there are now about 35 deaf children attending, it has been classified as a school for the deaf in its own right.

Classroom Teaching Block at for a new Unit for Deaf Children at Essau Lower Basic (Primary) School.

A similar Unit for deaf children was established at Essau Lower Basic School in about 2014-15, in an area where no previous specialist educational provision for deaf children existed. Once again ITGF funded the construction of a four-classroom teaching block. This Unit has also expanded, though not quite as dramatically, and is now a well-established part of the educational provision for deaf children on the northern side of the River Gambia, at the Western end of the country.