The first recipient of the International Deaf Education and Advancement Fund scholarship at Gallaudet has ambitious plans for when he returns home to Uganda, a country where deaf people have generally hidden themselves at home. Instead, Maurice Ssenyonga intends to establish training programs in the deaf community and lobby for deaf people to become skilled in farming and in various trades.
The I-DEAF scholarship was established in 1991 and is targeted to students who come from developing nations, who demonstrate financial need, and who are committed to returning home to help the deaf community in educational and social advancement. I-DEAF was established by Andrea Shettle, at that time a Gallaudet senior, in cooperation with the Development Office. I-DEAF scholarships will be awarded on a annual basis.
The scholarship was meant for someone like Ssenyonga, who arrived on Kendall Green in May 1988 with $200 in his pocket and without first having been accepted to the University. Ssenyonga received $800 from I-DEAF.
Ssenyonga, now a senior in social work anticipating graduation this December, was born hearing and was deafened at 16. Although he attended the Uganda School for the Deaf to learn how to speechread, he had to move to Nigeria to complete his education. He returned to Uganda with the intent of coming to Gallaudet by 1971, but by then a 15-year civil war erupted. During that time, travel to the United States was prohibited.
Ssenyonga, who is married to a hearing woman and has eight children, all of whom live in Uganda, began teaching deaf children as an uncertified assistant and substitute teacher in 1974. The school was only open sporadically, during lulls in the violence. "Sometimes it was closed because of lack of food," Ssenyonga said.
At one point, Ssenyonga left the school - and the country - when he was accused of transporting guns into Uganda, which he denies. Fearing for his life, he fled to London for six months, until the war was over.
Since the end of the war, schools for deaf children have increased from one to three. One of the schools was established by Ssenyonga in 1986. He also has researched Ugandan Sign Language and established the Ugandan Association of the Deaf. His frustration at his inability to get government officials to listen to deaf people's needs, however, led him to the United States and to Gallaudet.
The late Eli Savanick, then director of the International Center on Deafness, took Ssenyonga under his wing. Ssenyonga studied for a year as a special student with a tuition waiver. He enrolled in the fall of 1989 as an undergraduate student. Supporting himself and paying his tuition had been a struggle; aside from his recent I-DEAF award, his main source of support has been working part time in Gallaudet's cafeteria.
Despite the advances in the last few years to educate deaf people in Uganda, the struggle is far from over. "My problem there is that I don't have qualified teachers or money. I can't help them," Ssenyonga said. "If I have a degree, the government will see that I have experience," Ssenyonga said. "If I have no degree, they won't really listen. TheyÕll think I have no education."
His training in social work has taught him how to establish programs, such as job training. His goal is to meet the needs of Uganda's deaf population. "I will see what my deaf community wants," he said.
This article was originally printed in On the Green, a staff and faculty newsletter at Gallaudet University, on March 14, 1994. It is posted with permission.
This page was last updated on 6/7/97 by Andrea Shettle.