 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2017) |
Christian Mission for the Deaf (CMD) is a non-profit Christian organization whose goal is the bring communication, literacy, and spirituality to deaf Africans.
| | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2017) |
Christian Mission for the Deaf (CMD) is a non-profit Christian organization whose goal is the bring communication, literacy, and spirituality to deaf Africans.
The organization, originally known as Christian Mission for Deaf Africans, [1] was founded in 1956 by Andrew Foster. Prior to Andrew Foster's arrival in Africa there were almost no schools for the deaf, save a few in South Africa and Egypt.
CMD was "incorporated as a Michigan non-profit organization in 1956" [2] and received tax-exempt status in 1958. [3]
Within 30 years Andrew Foster's mission had opened a total of 31 schools and ministries for the deaf across Africa in: Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Togo, Chad, Senegal, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Congo and Guinea. [4] The organization aimed to open schools and ministries for the deaf and then to turn them over to others, either the national government or evangelical churches. Some have closed due to civil war and tribal unrest. [5]
For much of the founder's life, he spent six months in Africa establishing deaf schools and six months of each year in the United States raising funding for their support. [6]
Following the death of the founder in 1987, the organization was led for several years by his wife, Berta, who had served alongside him for years. Following her death and to the present, their son Timothy Foster has served as director. [7] [8]
The organization currently supports six deaf schools in Nigeria, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and two ministry centers in Nigeria and Chad. [9] The deaf schools established by CMD make use of all communication methods, i.e. "natural gestures, formal sign language, finger-spelling, writing, reading, speech, lip-reading and hearing aids". So as to make every effort to build a foundation for literacy and access to the Bible. [10] These schools introduced American Sign Language (ASL), combining it with the indigenous Adamorobe Sign Language and spoken French, resulting in the 'Langue des Signes Franco-Africaine', variations of which are now used in many deaf schools in Africa. [11]
CMD also provides some basic job training.
SIM is an international, interdenominational Evangelical Christian mission organization. It was established in 1893 by its three founders, Walter Gowans and Rowland Bingham of Canada and Thomas Kent of the United States.
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Andrew Jackson Foster (1925–1987) was an American pioneer of deaf education in several countries in Africa. In 1954, he became the first Deaf African American to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet University, the American university for the Deaf, and the first to earn a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. He earned a second master's degree from Seattle Pacific Christian College, also in education. He founded Christian Mission for the Deaf African in 1956 and set out for Accra, Ghana, where he established the first school for the deaf in West Africa.
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Prior to 1956, the only deaf schools in Africa were in Egypt and South Africa. Andrew Foster brought American Sign Language (ASL), and deaf schools to Africa in 1956. After Andrew Foster's death in 1986, deaf schools have continued to vary and spread across Africa.
American Sign Language (ASL) developed in the United States, starting as a blend of local sign languages and French Sign Language (FSL). Local varieties have developed in many countries, but there is little research on which should be considered dialects of ASL and which have diverged to the point of being distinct languages.
Estimates of the deaf population in Tunisia range from 40,000 to 60,000 people. These estimates indicate that deaf people make up between 0.3% to 0.5% of the population. The percent of deaf Tunisians can be much higher in isolated communities, ranging from 2% to 8%. The increase in prevalence is attributed to higher rates of intermarriage, geographic isolation, and social traditions. Tunisian Sign Language, abbreviated as TSL or LST, is the most commonly used sign language in Tunisia. As of 2008, TSL's user population is 21,000 signers.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of about 1.4 million deaf people out of a total population of about 86.7 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are one of the more greatly affected regions by hard-of-hearing complications, compared to the rest of the world. Deaf people in the DRC are subject to neglect and discrimination by their families and the government, but they are also met with small, various ways of support and charity through international, European, Australian, and American religious, non-religious, and governmental organizations.
In Benin, deafness affects 12,500 people out of their total population of 10 million. Since the late 1900s, there has been a growing emergence of resources, recognition, and support for the deaf people in Benin. The deaf community uses American Sign Language (ASL), Langue des Signes de l'Afrique Francophone (LSAF), and Langue des signes du Bénin. The type of sign and how many people use each remain undocumented. However, in 1994, one of the first LSAF dictionaries was published in Benin.
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