Deaf Children in Ebolowa, Cameroon Expect MY World Will Bring Change
By Ntiokam Divine, Global Youth Digital Advocate Post 2015 and MY World 2015 and Bernice Atabong from CRTV South Region (and COE Ambassador)
“The marginalized grassroots are crying that nothing is being done to ameliorate their living conditions,” Father Jude Thaddeus laments as the MY World survey team visits his school to tell him about the survey project. Father Thaddeus is the director of the Pere Monti Centre in Ebolowa, Cameroon.
The center has a boarding primary school which educates children with disabilities. Recently, the MY World volunteers went to this school of 89 pupils, in an effort to get the children to vote for their priorities and contributing to sustainable development goals.
At first it was not an easy task to explain to the children the MY World project and how it was going to affect their lives. However, with the help of their school teachers, who did a good job explaining the 16 options on the MY World ballots in sign language, the kids finally got a clear picture how their votes could make a difference in tomorrow’s world. It was quite interesting to see how the school children gradually became very excited to participate in the voting exercise. They carefully filled out the ballots, choosing 6 priority options.
14 year old Ferdinand is one of the kids who participated in the exercise. He, just like most of his friends marked the option concerning freedom from discrimination and persecution. Ferdinand says he and his peers are tired of getting cold stares from “normal” people whenever they get to know that they cannot speak nor hear. He hopes that something will be done to protect the rights of children with physical disabilities and other marginalized populations.
Over 25 children between the ages of 14 and 21 shared their opinion on how they see tomorrow’s world. Teachers of the Pere Monti Centre, including its director, Father Thaddeus, also participated in the voting exercise. The school children say though they cannot hear or speak, they have been able to express their views on how they want tomorrow’s world to be. They hope that their votes will make a difference.
