Wow!! What a year! Our IDEAL founder and president Isidore Niyongabo, had the amazing opportunity to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during his last year in office. Also pictured here are Vice President Joe Biden and the first female, Deaf, African American attorney Claudia Gordon.
Since our last newsletter Isidore also had the privilege of giving an inspiring TedX talk in San Diego. He presented at San Diego State University and at Rochester Technical Institute for the Deaf in New York. In between travels, he juggles a full-time Human Resources managerial position in Austin, Texas and flies to Washington, DC 3-4 times a year to attend the FCC’s Disability Advisory Committee meetings on behalf of National Black Deaf Advocate. Busy guy!
In other exciting news, Jeanne d’Arc from Rwanda received sponsorship from IDEAL for her flight to graduate school in New York at the Rochester Technical Institute of the Deaf. Jeanne has an impressive resume, having been the former Executive Director of the Rwanda National Union of the Deaf, and has worked at Handicap International offering sign language workshops to teachers of Deaf students.
Jeanne is studying to get her masters degree in Deaf Education. Her dream is to someday open a model primary school for the Deaf and establish a fund for parents who are dissuaded by the higher costs of Deaf education back in Rwanda. She continues to advocate for Deaf education at all levels. The world needs more people like you, Jeanne d’Arc!
Also studying for his master’s degree at RIT is our beloved IDEAL volunteer Kakooza Muhammad. He has worked diligently on the ground in Uganda to ensure IDEAL sponsors Deaf children in need of education, and now he pursues his own studies in Deaf Education. IDEAL was able to sponsor Kakooza’s VISA fees to the US.
Kakooza had previously earned a degree in Applied Sign Language Studies from the University of Central Lancashire, UK in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. This training equipped him to conduct proper research and create accessibility services.
He aims to become an international consultant regarding bilingual Deaf Education on the African continent, and more specifically to bring resources acquired from the US to East African countries such as Rwanda and Uganda in collaboration with IDEAL.
In other news, our partner in the educational interpreting sector, Dr. Melissa Smith, has been busy presenting her work and spreading awareness of the challenges facing educational interpreters.
In the past year she has: Partnered with the Imperial County Office of Education in El Centro, CA to present Promoting Inclusion in Education: Challenging Assumptions of Interpreting in Education; traveled to St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota to present on the decisions of educational interpreters and their impact on Deaf students; and given a keynote address at the Summit on Educational Interpreting for Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Fresno State University. The latter was organized as a joint effort between the Fresno State Department of Communicative Sciences and Deaf Studies, Fresno State’s Silent Garden Program, and the California Department of Education.
A dedicated IDEAL volunteer, Sonia Holzman, spent five months at the Ubumwe Community Center in Rwanda. While there she worked with Deaf students in the inclusive education program. There are a limited number of trained Rwanda Sign Language interpreters, so much of her time was invested in interpreting academic concepts and ensuring students’ full participation. She utilized interactive games and visual aids to aid her in the process. During winter vacation she also held daily tutoring sessions.
Upon returning to the US Sonia presented at the Congregation B’nai B’rith in Santa Barbara, California and at the Santa Barbara Community College ASL Immersion Program. Sonia is now a graduate student at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC in the International Development program, and she hopes to “further understand how international development and international education programs can continue to create access to education for deaf children.”
IDEAL continues to sponsor Deaf children in East Africa who are receiving a quality education in sign language. Pictured here is Consolate at the Huye School for the Deaf in Rwanda. Other children sponsored by IDEAL are Bilan, a Somalian refugee attending the Uganda School for the Deaf, and Regina and Cloude at the Kivu Komera school in Rwanda.
There is a growing list of children needing our support, so if you can donate at all, even a little bit, your contribution can further our cause in providing the education every child deserves.
International Deaf Education, Advocacy & Leadership thanks you for your ongoing support!
