KIBARANI DEAF SCHOOL Projekt en .pdf

On our study trip to Kenya in summer 2014, we (Anna Cerncic, a deaf teacher, and Patricia Brück, a
sign language interpreter, both from Austria) paid several visits to the Deaf School of Kilifi (Kibarani
School for the Deaf, in the North of Mombasa).
The school is a boarding school where the students also stay on weekends during school time. At the
moment the school has 189 students, who live on the premisses. They have 3 kindergarden classes
and 8 classes of primary school. Each class has max. 30 students. Besides, the school has a workshop
for tailors.
In these classes you find children, but also teenagers and young adults (the oldest student is 25 years
old!!!). The reason for these students attending school so late in their life is that many poor families
cannot afford the school fee and cannot send their children to school at the appropriate age. Some
are also ashamed of their children's deafness and hide them at home. That's why school classes are
very heterogenous when it comes to age (in the first year of kindergarden you find a four year old
next to a twelve year old!).
Teaching is mainly done in sign language, all teachers as well as the director communicate with the
students in KSL - Keynian Sign Language. Nevertheless, written English is most important, as it is the
language of education in Kenya.
We found that the houses and infrastructure are in a very provisional state and in urgent need of
renovation.

They urgently need: a new kitchen, as the smoke from the stove that is fueled with wood is a health
risk for the deaf cooks and has already blackened the entire kitchen, schoolbus and van (for errands)
are broken and cannot be repaired because of the lack of funds, the rainwater tank is leaking, the
toilets and showers have to be renewed, the play ground for the smaller kids is desolate, the metal
equipment is partly rusted through and its use is a health hazard, window panes have to be replaced,
etc.

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Friends of Kibarani School for the Deaf

They also need equipment and furniture like matrasses, covers, bed sheets, beds, chairs, tables,
mirrors for the rest rooms, cooking pots, pans, etc.
They also lack teaching material: black boards, chalks, pencils,
paper, colours, cardboard, scissors, erasers and so on...
The children need better food, most of them display nutritionrelated deficiency symptoms, as the school lacks funds to buy fruit
and vegetables.
The new director (in office for 4
month now) has already started
initiatives to improve the situation: two months ago, he had vegetables
planted to enrich the menu of the children who have but one dish
almost every day: ugali, a kind of porridge made of maize flour, and
beans (occasionally there is some fish from the school's fishing pond).
For some time, they have tried to have a regular income from their own initiative, as public funding
(1 EURO per child/month for eletricity and water) and school fees (60 EURO per child/year) do not
suffice to cover the operational costs, not to mention repairs or investments.
They raise chicken to sell their eggs to the hotels in the neighbourhood. It is planned to increase their
number from 200 to 400.
In September 2014, they want to go into production of jewelery made from shells, seeds, and copper
wire from old electric cables to sell them in the tourist hotels.
As the situation is very difficult at the moment, we have started a project to support the school. We
want to send monetary donations and donations in kind directly to the school and visit them
regularly to control and report about the changes.
We need financial support to pay for:
1. School fees for most of the children from poor families with many children: We have already
found sponsors for more than 80 children (EURO 60/child/year), but we need more! We
want to have most of the 189 children funded.
2. the students' regular supply with proteins and vitamins.
3. for the renovation of the school and the most urgent investments like matrasses and
furniture, teaching material, etc.
We need monetary donations, but we will take initiatives to earn money from our activities. We
have brought a lot of material and cloth from Kenya to create jewelery, clothing and pillows and will
sell them via facebook and other channels. The incoming money will directly go Kibarani School for
the Deaf.
Donations in kind like clothes, shoes, stationary, colours, toys, etc. are welcome and will be sent to
the school in regular intervals. We hope to be able to get a shipping company as a sponsor, to be able
to have these goods shiped without costs.
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Friends of Kibarani School for the Deaf
Although the situation is difficult, the children seem to be happy there, because they have the
company of other Deaf children and can communicate in sign language. We are convinced that we
can improve the student's life and learning by improving their living and learning conditions at
school. To use the motto of the school:

WE CAN DO IT!
But to be able to do so, we also need YOUR support:
Sponsorships (EURO 60,00/child/year) and donations for renovation or healthy food, can be
transferred to the account "KIBARANI DEAF SCHOOL" at BANK AUSTRIA (IBAN:
AT791200010009214478, BIC: BKAUATWW). We want to send the first payment by the end of
August to provide them with funds to have a good start in the second half of their school year!
For donations in kind, please contact Anna Cerncic (anna.cerncic@gmx.at) or Patricia Brück
(patricia.brueck@dolmetschserviceplus.at)!
Please help us to help them!

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