I Ain't As Young As I Wish I Were. LCCN Deaf Centre

There are two reasons I wish I was younger. It seems that it was easier to learn new things when I was younger. I have never been good at Languages. I still have trouble with English. Learning ASL had been challenging. The Deaf Community here uses American Sign Language with some local modifications and many also use ASL Exact English. ASL is not English. It is a native language used the the Deaf in America and other places that have adopted it. It is recognized as a language and many Universities teach it as a foreign language. Most people who speak in ASL.will read and write English.

The second reason is because I try to do things that I did when I was forty and then pay for it. I was helping repair the roof on the shelter area next to the LCCN Deaf Centre when a pulled a muscle in my back. The rest of this week I have had to have help with moving my generator and I walk around like an old man. Fortunately, this week has been report writing and waiting for money to be transferred.

Monday night we had a typical May rain storm. A lot of wind and maybe a quarter inch of rain. Between the wind and the rain it broke one of the scraps of wood used to hold up the roof of the shelter attached to the LCCN Deaf Center. This is the location where they hold Sunday Services and do many other things. To me it looks like a group of pre-teens put it together. The columns are 2X4's and all different heights. the beams holding up the tin roof are 2X 3's and are not full length. The roof stops at the edge with no overhang. The rain blows right in.

I wondered over to the Centre Tuesday morning. Ruth Ulea who is the centre's director showed me the broken beam and told me that the rain now pours in through the roof. I noticed that the carpenter was still here that I had hired to be some work over at Elisabeth's house. I told him to stay there I was going to my house and will come back. I think that is what I more or less signed. I went and got some note paper and my tape measure. Then I went to the Cathedral where there were some piles of wood from the recent construction. I asked the Church Secretary if I could take some of the wood to make repairs to the shelter. He at first said he would ask the works committee when they met later in the day. I took him over and showed him what we needed. He told me to take up to three boards from the pile. The carpenter and I measured the lengths we needed and went to scrounge in the pile. We found one piece long enough for the broken spot and a couple shorter ones. One piece still had parts of a door jamb nailed to it. I asked him if he had any tools. He said he can borrow some. We went over to the small shop near the Cathedral and had him pick out a good hammer, saw and tape measure. He selected the nails he thought he might need and we went back.


We first replaced the broken board with the longest of the boards we found and then continued to replace the rest of the string. To slide the newer board into place the roof had to be lifted. That was a young man's job but I did it and the young man slide the board into place. That was not good for may back. After we got the roof better supported I told Ruth that is was better, but the whole thing should be rebuilt. The roof extended out a few more feet beyond the edge of the concrete and the slope of the roof increased. This weekend I hope to draw up a design.

The carpenter had bought about 10 times as many nails as needed for this job. He continued to fix the railings around the shelter. We used whatever board we could find in the area. Some were not very straight. Then he climbed up on the roof and cleaned it off and pounded in the loose roofing nails. Then continued on up on the roof of the building. Neem trees are all around the front of the building. They provide shade year around. Most trees do dormant in the dry season. Neem trees stay green and are continuously dropping leaves and twigs. The roof had bee dammed up by the accumulation of debris on the flat roof. 

Tuesday was the first day back at school. The Deaf Centre has 11 kids enrolled. 7 had shown up on time. One came a little later. The kids told him that they had their picture taken. He wanted his taken too. Ruth told me that the tuition for the kids is 3000 Naira per term and some cannot pay it. Her two teachers do not get a salary. They get a small allowance.  Of 4,000 Naira for the teacher that just graduated and 5,000 for the more experienced teacher. I am pretty sure this is a monthly allowance and it is mostly paid by Ruth doing fundraising from a few people. I am thinking about forming a support group to help fund tuition for the kids and allowances for the teachers. 3000 Naira tuition is less than $20 per term or less than $60 per year at the current exchange rate of 157 Naira to the dollar. The saw I bought for the carpenter was 3000 Naira. The annual allowances for the senior teacher is 60,000 Naira is $382.

The other thing that needs to be done is a new roof for the LCCN Deaf Centre building, a generator (at night if there is no light there is no talking) and a new extended shelter be built that can keep people drier during rainy season Sunday Services. Maybe build an Altar for communion. I am guess-t-mating the cost of this will be around $3000 to $4000. It would be nice if we could get these improvements done before Ruth is ordained. But this is just my free opinion. You get what you pay for.

There is a informal group of people who are working on getting Ruth Ordained. She graduated from Seminary 20 years ago this November. Her classmates included current Yola Bishop and the Senior Pastor at the Cathedral. But there is a lot of church politics involved and a little prejudice from some older pastors.

There are people in Denmark Deaf Lutheran Church and people in the US who are putting pressure on the Archbishop to get this matter resolved. This is not the forum to discuss this issue. I will leave it at, there is still Tradition, Church politics, and people who are frightened of people who are different..