We are experiencing vast changes as the UK tackles the Coronavirus and for many it is a difficult, challenging and worrying time. Isolation is a new experience for us, but we are grateful for the technology available to help us keep in touch with loved ones.

Can you imagine being constantly socially isolated? Disability is misunderstood in many rural parts of Africa and is often believed to be a curse. This often leads to these children being treated as useless and worthless, and in extreme cases, even being locked indoors with no stimulation.

Simple Beginnings

Accomplish Children’s Trust (ACT) is a small charity with a huge aim: to reach Africa’s children with disabilities. Founded in 2008, with God at its centre and prayer as its foundation, ACT has grown beyond everyone’s wildest dreams. God is an amazing God, so we should not be surprised, but we always are. In this short time, ACT has reached hundreds of children and their families, usually in remote rural regions where no other help is available. ACT now has projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Uganda. Its founder, Rebecca Cornish, was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Years’ Honours list in recognition of this work.

Thank God for people like Rev and Mrs Maali Wilson who view these children differently. They view them as special in God’s eyes. Their own son, Kihembo, has cerebral palsy, so they understand the challenges of bringing up a child with disabilities in a hostile environment, with no support. In 2005, they formed the Rwenzori Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities (RAPCD), with a small handful of like-minded parents and guardians to provide mutual support.

In 2010, supported by ACT, the RAPCD primary school for deaf or blind children was opened in Kasese, western Uganda. It began with 15 pupils, one of whom was Jeremiah, who is blind, and the school consisted of one primitive building.

From this humble beginning the school grew and it now has a complex of buildings for nearly 200 pupils, most of whom are deaf or blind. Some of the students have a severe physical disability which prevents them from accessing education in a village school. There is now a water supply and sporadic electricity. This school is also a beacon for children with disabilities and their families in the whole Rwenzori region.

Teams who work as part of the school outreach regularly go to visit 350 families in remote villages bringing support, advice and practical help, which includes gifts of soap. Income generation projects are organised from the school base and various health clinics are held at the school. ACT is the main source of funding for this unique and far reaching project.

Jeremiah

St Agnes School, an integrated secondary school, is being built nearby, again mostly supported by ACT. It opened in 2017 and is far from being complete; however, pupils are still reaching very high standards. Ten years after Jeremiah was a pioneer primary school pupil, he took his Standard 4 exams, which are like GCSE’s, and was awarded division one level, placing him amongst the top students in Uganda. So much for blind children being useless!

Pupils like Jeremiah learn Braille, but Braille textbooks and equipment are expensive, especially for the different subjects taught at secondary level. Teaching blind pupils at both schools was severely hampered, so Rev Maali and his devoted team of dedicated teachers appealed for help. In 2019 MMN answered this urgent need with a generous grant so both schools now have textbooks in Braille and the equipment to produce Braille transcripts. Before building these schools there was virtually no education available for blind pupils in this large region of Uganda, but now they are able to learn and communicate with confidence. Some of their teachers are blind and provide fantastic role models. Jeremiah’s dream is to become a teacher and, with the help of MMN, this dream now has a real chance of becoming a reality.

Bible Teaching

The RAPCD schools are focused on teaching from the Bible. ACT has provided a Braille Bible and audio Bibles for the schools. Small groups of deaf or blind pupils visit local churches and the congregations are in awe when a blind child reads from a Braille Bible or a deaf child sings in sign. It was with great rejoicing that 32 pupils were confirmed in October 2019. These visits, along with other community engagement like the school’s football team of deaf players and the integrated nature of the secondary school, are helping to slowly change attitudes towards these children with disabilities throughout the Rwensori region.

Thank you to the supporters of MMN for bringing about life changing education for many blind children now and for several years to come.