March 22nd - LCCN Deaf Centre – Two people named Abdullahi

Earlier this week on my way to the market I stopped at the LCCN Deaf Centre to see if Ruth Ulea was there. The teacher who signed back that she was working off-site. I took this picture of the students, the teacher and a mother of one of the students.

Today Ruth and the teacher came over and I struggled to communicate with them. I only have two classes in ASL (over a year and a half ago) and the Nigeria ASL has been separate from the US ASL for many years. Like all languages this separation had created differences. Similar to the differences between Maine's version of English and Cajun English  in rural Louisiana. This is a natural progression of language. When I was stationed with the Brits in Bosnia we had the same problem. The General I worked for would say “two peoples separated by a common language.” It helps that Ruth speaks and can lip read English and Hausa. She lost her hearing as a teen.

After they left I realized I had forgotten the teacher’s name. I had met him last year when he was home from Jos University where he was studying Special Education. I went over to the Centre and asked him to write down his name. Ishaya Yakubu. Class was over for the day and there where three kids left to have their parents come get them. Ishaya told the youngest child to sign something to me. I did not know and figured he was signing his name. My comprehension of finger spelling is slower than this little guy was going. I need more practice. He kept going and going. I got lost after about 15 letters and the last letter was Z. He had done the alphabet. He is the center kid in the picture in the row closest to the camera. He has the odd smile trying to imitate me as I tried to get the kids to smile for the picture. Say Cheese does not work. He looks lighter than the other kids for two reasons. He was closer to the door but also he is Fulani. Fulani are more light skinned. His name is Abdullahi Adamu.

Abdullahi was born deaf and living with the Fulani who are nomadic herders.
This is not a good life for a deaf child or a child with other disablilites. A man who is also named Abdullahi is a printer in Jimeta with 5 children of his own. I few years back he printed a small book that Ruth wrote for teaching ASL. He thought this was interesting and decided to learn more about it. He became one of Ruth’s adult students and learned ASL and started working with the deaf community. Last year Lili and another teacher from Denmark came to Jimeta and taught classes on interpretation and ASL for parents of deaf children. He took the interpreter course. There are few people here that care for the disabled in the area. 

Last year Abdullahi the printer heard that there was a Fulani boy in the bush who was deaf and not thriving with his community. He drive out to the bush and found the boy and his family. They agreed to let the boy come to Jimeta where he would learn to communicate. Since then his father has died and his mother has remarried. He now a part of the the printer's family. 

While we were waiting for Abdullahi to come to pick up Abdullahi, the little boy pointed to the soccer player on my notebook and then pointed to himself. I asked Ishaya if he had a soccer ball. We took the boy outside and I softly kicked the ball to him. He let it hit him and looked at Ruth. Ruth told him to kick it. I tried again. On the third try he toe kicked it back. After about three exchanges I showed him the side foot pass. He did this about ten times with is dominate foot and then I got him to switch to his left foot.the ball is almost to his knee.  Ishaya joined in and we passed around the circle. Then I tossed the ball to him. He did not know what to do. Ruth and Ishaya demonstrated catching. The next try he almost caught it. Then he almost never missed. So I rolled a few to him and stopped most of them. A natural keeper. We played more kick around under the early afternoon sun. 

Abdullahi the printer showed up on his motorcycle with his young daughter and we discussed the boy. He said the boy is very intelligent, a genius. He was very proud. His little daughter was about 2 or three and I was the first white man she had seen. She just stared. At least she was not crying. Young children in the bush more often cry and hide behind their mothers. The mothers usually are laughing.  After a while the three of them got on the motorcycle and headed home.

I told Ruth I had to go and she asked me to come back the next day at 1 PM. I did as requested and was the third student in her adult ASL class. With my work schedule I will not be able to attend many of these classes. The other students were a secondary school economics teacher and a young deaf man. The teacher told me her church in Jos has interpreters for the deaf and she was interested. Her church was the one bombed in February by Boko Haram. She says she love Jos. The people are so kind and the weather is much better. But she could not get a job there and had to move.

Ruth told me to come back to the school tomorrow at 1 PM. I think I may be an adult student.