Chanceline's story

by

Children passed by on their way to school but Chanceline was only able to watch them.  She would have loved to go to school with them but that was not possible.  Chanceline is Deaf and in her family of six children two of her siblings are also Deaf.  She lived in a small town in Burundi with no Deaf school and her family was very poor, too poor to send her and her siblings to one of the two Deaf boarding schools in the country.  She and her Deaf siblings helped around the house.  Eventually when things got worse for her family a Deaf lady in the town agreed to take in all three children.

One day when Chanceline was 11 years old, a Deaf team that was working on a Bible translation into Burundi Sign Language came to her town. They were seeking Deaf people who would be willing to help them test the clarity and accuracy of the translation they were working on. The translation team was thrilled with Chanceline’s eagerness, intelligence and ability to answer all the questions asked during the testing. They were completely amazed at her insightful responses, especially when they learned that she had never attended school. The same story repeated itself over the next few years.

When the SIL translation consultant was told about Chanceline’s story and her abilities, he researched the possibility of her attending school at Ecole Ephphatha pour les Sourds (Ephphatha School for the Deaf), the Deaf school in the capital. The distance to the town from her home was not that great, but the road has some bad stretches. Commuting would not be an option. However, he was able to obtain information about the costs for her to attend and reside at the school. Upon meeting Chanceline and her foster mother, he obtained permission to sponsor Chanceline’s education. Chanceline, however, only knew that there was someone sponsoring her. She did not know at that time who it was.

\At the age of 15 she entered school for the first time.  Starting out in a classroom with other children who were much younger than her did not intimidate her. She was thrilled at the opportunity to learn and she proved herself to be a very eager student. Chanceline has made good progress.

Although she did not know who her sponsor was when she began her schooling, she eventually learned who he was. When he was able to visit the school just after that revelation, he found Chanceline waiting eagerly at the school gates for his arrival. He was greeted with a big hug of appreciation. During that visit, he was also able to arrange for a Deaf family to take her in during weekends, holidays and school breaks. That allows her to experience living in a home with a family and with parents who know sign language.

For many Deaf children around the world, like Chanceline, the ability to get an education, and especially an education in their own sign language, is not taken for granted. In many countries Deaf education is very limited, or at times, not available at all.  Burundi is not the only country with limited means of education for Deaf students. There are needs worldwide for Deaf schools to be established, capacity at existing schools to be increased and for the quality of education available through those schools to be improved. There are many Deaf children, like Chanceline, who would love the opportunity to gain an education, but do not have the resources to do so.

As of November 2014  Chanceline had finished another year at the school and was being promoted to the fourth grade in December.  She got the top scores in her class.