Imagine losing your ability to communicate. Completely shut off from the surrounding world. Alone, solitary with no ability to interact. Think about the impact on your life. The difficulty of completing basic tasks to show you are hungry, to be aware of traffic, to speak to nurses in a hospital. Having no one to share your struggles, your successes, your hopes and fears with. Locked out of the world, with little or no support.

It sounds like the plot of a Kafka novel. Yet this is the plight of many deaf and hearing impaired children in Zambia. Hidden away by their families, many children never learn to sign, or are in households where no one else has the ability. They are trapped and isolated inside their minds.

Franklyn C, Kitwe