The DMI blog aims to let people know about the deaf kids, teachers, pastors, schools and churches that DMI supports in developing countries, and encourage support for them by telling their amazing stories. Please share this blog with your friends.
I’ve interviewed DMI students and staff in four different countries now – Myanmar, the Philippines, Kenya and Rwanda – and all of their stories begin with the twin hardships of unsupported deafness and poverty. Here in The Democratic Republic of the Congo, though, there is the added element of imminent, mortal danger.
The population is still dealing with the threat of Ebola as well as Covid-19, but ongoing military conflicts, which have claimed the lives of a staggering 5,400,000, have been described as the bloodiest since World War II. Half of the victims have been children under the age of 5. Rebel violence continues unabated. This is a very, very different world from that in which most of us live.
This is the world in which the local Deaf church in Beni worships the Creator and Taker of life. This is the environment in which DMI operates its Beni School for the Deaf. This is the place where Alain Kalungwana serves the Deaf children and congregants as Director of the school and overseer of the Deaf church.
He explains the challenges facing them from a local perspective.
“There is a 15km ‘safe zone’ around us which is technically secure but still the rebels come out from the surrounding bushland and kill people with machetes, axes, knives and guns. They also steal our crops and materials. It makes it almost impossible to survive. Our school doesn’t have a fence so if rebels come here, we’re exposed. In fact, some rebels did come here around 9:00pm one night but the neighbours called the police so we were saved that time.”
I throw Alain a weighty question. If the rebels came, laid down their weapons and asked for forgiveness, would you – could you – forgive them? “We have so much fear of them,” he explains, “that we worry they would still kill us after we forgave them. But if we had the support of local pastors, police and politicians to ensure their integrity, then yes, we could forgive them.”
Alain is a man who shows on his face both his compassion for those under his charge and the weight that his responsibility brings. Clearly, his daily concerns and my daily concerns are on different levels.
One of 9 children, Alain was not born Deaf. He lost his hearing at the age of 4 so today he can speak a little but can hear nothing. Despite this, Alain has done remarkably well educationally. He completed his primary schooling at a local government hearing school before attending a secondary school for the Deaf 750kms away. His outstanding results there saw him enter university from where he graduated with a degree in pedagogy.
A man of this talent typically wears many hats. Alain is not only the Director of the school and leader of the Deaf church, but is a vital member of the Deaf Action Board in DR Congo and is its treasurer, too. (The school and church in Beni came under DA and DMI auspices in 2014.) Serving under DR Congo DMI Director Papy Muteberwa, Alain is a key player in DMI’s operations.
I’m curious as to what a typical day looks like for such a busy man. I ask him to describe this to me but he looks lost for words, as though I could never understand. “There’s just so much responsibility,” he signs with a serious, almost pained expression. “The school, the church, the programs, my family…” I wait patiently for him to continue and then he unloads.
“There are four problems we are dealing with here,” he says straight out. This is a man who appears to be at his wit’s end where subtlety is pointless and niceties only whitewash the issues.
“1,” he begins, holding his finger up, “We have serious security concerns. We have no school fence and we can’t just go out into the fields. It’s too dangerous.
“2,” he continues. “Our salaries are very low. The teachers here are good people and good at their job and I want to support them but it’s hard when they are only earning 1/4 of what the local school teachers are making. I’m the Director of all this and I’m only earning half of what local teachers are earning. This is not only hard on the teachers and their families, it’s hard on the students because the teacher turnover is high.”
(This is a common problem throughout DMI’s schools. We just don’t have the resources currently to pay our teachers standard local rates, and this does have a significant impact on the teachers, their families and the schools.)
“3,” he continues holding up his fingers. “We have no secondary school for the Deaf here. The students finish elementary school – which is great – but then they have nothing to go on to. We need more schooling here! We need to get the Deaf the education they need to succeed in life.
“And 4,” he signs, “We’re hungry. Covid-19 has ravaged whatever we had in terms of access to food. This is why we were so happy to receive the generous donations from DMI’s food emergency.”
I can testify to this. The mail I received from Alain after he received the funds last month said it all:
“Wow!Wow!Wow!
I’m dying of joy, wow,wow,wow!
With this project, you are saving the health of Deaf children because they could die of hunger.
Within days, food had been purchased and given to the children at the school, a crisis averted.
The food arrives… 
…with thanks… 
…and eaten! 
The food is cooked on outdoor stoves and served for lunch.
“But without land to grow our own crops, the relief is temporary,” he laments. “When the food emergency money runs out (in February), we will have the same problem. Hunger is a daily reality.” He pauses and looks at me through the screen. “So if you’d like to know what my day looks like, that’s pretty much it.”
Alain assures me there’s no point in him telling it any other way. Life is hard and they need help. But he also wants me to know about his gratitude and this is the note he leaves me on. He entrusts his life to God and rejoices in His Lordship. And he is grateful for the support that he and the school receive from DMI. This means everything to him. “The school is beautiful,” he says. “We have two very fine classrooms and an office and these allow us to teach, feed and nurture our students. Thank you so very much.”
If you would like to know how you can support Alain, any of the kids or teachers, or help meet any of DMI’s needs, please click on the donate button on the top right of the page, or mail to info@deafmin.org
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