The director of Gambia association for the deaf and hard of hearing (GADHOH) female wing skills centre and nursery school speaks out in this interview.

Foroyaa: What are your names and what is your designation?
Sanyang: Well, my name is Isatou Sanyang and i am the director of GADHOD female wing skills centre and nursery school located in Kanifing.
Foroyaa: How long have the skill centre and the nursery school been operating?
Sanyang: The centre and school has been existing for a while now. It was initially located in Banjul, and then moved to both London Corner and Latrikunda before its eventual relocation to Kanifing.
We moved to Kanifing on the 7 February 2008 when our new complex was completed. The building of our new complex was funded by a Netherlands based organization.
Coming back to the history of the skills centre and nursery school, it has been operating since the 1990s.
Foroyaa: What are some of the skills girls with hearing impairment learn in your skills centre?
Sanyang: some of the trainings that the centre offer include tailoring, tie and dye, baking, cooking, English, sign language, Mathematics and information technology. They are trained on the said areas so that they can be self employed. Most of our trainees are ex-pupils of St. Johns school for the deaf.
Foroyaa: How many children are enrolled in your nursery school?
Sanyang: According to our registrar, we have twenty five children enrolled. However, since resumption of school, some students have not been turning up to attend school. The age of our nursery school children ranges from four to seven and they are being taught sign language, numeracy, alphabet as well as art. After completing here we take them to St. John’s School for the deaf.
What makes our institution so unique is that it is the only nursery school for children with hearing impairment and also the only skills centre for girls with hearing impairment. As such the institution is so crucial to the hard of hearing. In other words, the school serves as a springboard for children who eventually end up at St. John.
Foroyaa: What are some of the constraints being faced by your centre and school?
Sanyang: Presently, we face a host of constraints ranging from acute shortage of materials and finance. It is worth pointing out that some of our students have not been paying fees and that does not in any way help us to solve the center’s mounting problems.
Parents bring their children to the school complaining they lack money to pay for the school fees.
Moreover, we only received a subvention from the government. We also face problems in the area of teaching materials. Our furniture needs to be replaced as most of them are breaking down.
We also grapple to pay our electricity bill which sometimes requires astronomical sums of money.
Amidst this adversity, we still thrive because we believe education and skills for people with hearing impairments is indispensable. At our quarter here we believe that educating a girl amounts to educating a nation. This is why despite all the uncountable and enormous problems we still manage to keep our heads above water by operating both the skills centre and the nursery school.
Foroyaa: Earlier you lamented the lack of teaching materials, what do you really need?
Sanyang: As for the nursery school, it needs books, apparatus and drawing materials.
On the other hand the skills centre needs clothes, colour and computer to enhance the practical training of the girls.
We deem skills to be very important as it would enable hard of hearing to communicate with whosoever they wish. It is right that people with hearing impairments are part of the internet revolution which seeks to bring the world together. We also face shortage in terms of personnel. As things stand we do not have a tie and dye teacher. Recently one of our volunteer teachers resigned and the vacuum he left behind is yet to be filled. This vacuum needs to be filled as soon as possible and we are doing everything we can to make sure the said post is filled as soon as possible.
Foroyaa: How much does nursery school children need to pay as school fees?
Sanyang: Well, a fee per term is one hundred and fifty dalasi and the whole three terms amounts to four hundred and fifty dalasi. However, some parents it seems cannot pay the said amount.
Foroyaa: What do you do in a situation where a parent fails or cannot pay school fees.
Sanyang: Under such circumstance, I allow students whose parents cannot pay the fees to continue coming and attend classes. I have the feeling that sending them away from such would do more harm to them.
This is why I call such parents to continue bringing their children to the school even though they cannot pay school fees.
Foroyaa: Do the girls at the skills center have to pay fees as nursery school going children?
Sanyang: The girls at the skills centre have to pay nothing whatsoever; it is worth pointing out that some of our girls face the problem of transportation to school. We embark on income generating activities to solve some of the daily needs of our girls. We cook cake part of which is sold and also the girls sell some tie and dye clothes. Money generated from those activities is in turn given to the girls themselves for the personal use.
Foroyaa: Have some of your ex-trainees at the skill centre been involved in self employment?
Sanyang: Some of our ex-trainees have been employed or engage in self employment one of such student is Banna Drammeh, who does tie and dye and sell them either at Brikama market or Senegambia area.
Precisely, she makes head tie and dresses etc.
Fatou Cham, another of our ex-trainees is doing her own business.
They are a good number of our students employed at NARI cold store.
Currently, one of our ex-trainees is being employed at Paradise Suites Hotel. She spent only four years there before she was given an employment letter.
Generally, girls with hearing impairment do find it extremely difficult to gain employment. Despite that difficulty, our philosophy is to give them adequate training so that they can be self employed rather than depend on employers for employment.
Foroyaa: Why is your centre not offering training courses for boys with hearing impairment?
Sanyang: Well, the skills centre is being operated by the female wing of GADHOH so their main focus is girls and children.
The male wing of GADHOH may have a package, for this interview will be continued in the next edition of disability column.
The interview was made possible with the assistance of a sign language interpreter Mansata Dampha.