Deaf Education in Africa
The Fosters encountered cultures so oppressive of deaf people that parents often hid their deaf children at home or abandoned them altogether. Hearing missionaries and school administrators told him that deaf children didn't even exist in Africa. But shortly after opening a school for the deaf in Accra, Ghana, his school was filled to capacity and had a long waiting list. Over time, Foster would travel from country to country, opening some 30 different schools, churches, Sunday schools and centers for the deaf in countries all across central Africa, from Senegal to Kenya.
The challenges for deaf ministry in central and west Africa were twofold: not only were there no churches for the deaf in most populous regions of Africa, but there were no schools for the deaf. Consequently, the deaf were completely illiterate. The most a deaf person could hope for was to become the family servant and use rudimentary signs invented by the family. In remote villages, some deaf children were thought to be cursed by demons and abandoned to be eaten by wild animals.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Foster (educator)
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