Buduburam School for the Deaf has made a lot of changes and progress over the past 2 ½ years (thanks especially to a lot of friends and family, who have made the donations and given the support, and to SMA and Liliane Funds, who have made some grants and assisted with some school fees). It now has a nice assortment of sign language books. Lunches are provided to the students most days, which means they can stay for a full day of school – rather than just the half day for which they used to come. The school now has electricity wired into each of the classrooms. It has a more structured physical education program. There’s a TV and a DVD player and a nice assortment of DVDs – some for sing language and others from National Geographic and similar programs (as well as a few cartoons). We recently received a donation to acquire 5 computers – so this past term we’ve also been offering computer training to most of the students. And about a month ago we also received a donation to set up an income generating project for the school – and if all goes well it will provide a reliable, regular source of revenue to keep the lunch program going as well as to provide a few other supplies for the school.

On the 13th of December, the school had its end of term and Christmas program. I love these programs. Parents come to the school and experience their children interacting with each other and with the teachers. They see their children perform dramas, sing/sign songs, recite bible verses and do some academic exercises. And this time they saw several of their children receive awards for attendance, academic performance, athletic skills, behavior, cooperation and attitude.















The school did well in accommodating the needs of the school’s changing population – there was an interpreter (the man in the blue shirt) for the local Ghanaian language, Twi.

Every time we have one of these programs the parents always get up to express their astonishment at how their children are performing and behaving. They’re amazed to see how the teachers relate to and handle so many deaf children, while they struggle with their one deaf child at home.
Some of the students performing a drama about the Spirit of Christmas
Singing Silent Night













Parents enjoying and making comments