The Bible Society of Uganda is a Christian Non-Government Organization that serves all Christians and the general public in Uganda by “providing affordable Holy Scriptures in languages and media that communicate effectively to the people.” The organization fulfils her mission through translation, production, distribution, subsidizing Bible engagement.
As a way of fulfilling this mission, The Bible Society of Uganda embarked on providing scriptures for the people of the disability fraternity. These include the Deaf and Blind. This concept however focuses on the deaf project known as The Deaf Bible Opportunity Uganda (DBOU), with an objective of providing scriptures and advocating for the Deaf Community in Uganda.
This category of people, belong to a distinct cultural group with unique customs and ways of living characterized by communication barrier, negative attitude from the hearing community, difficulty in accessing public services like hospitals, courts of law, Banks, Unemployment due to low education levels, Lack of community sensitization and difficulty understanding a print Bible. Due to communication barrier Most Deaf children do not communicate with their hearing parents or religious leaders, this denies them a chance to listen to Bible stories and information they may need to receive.
The Bible Society of Uganda has therefore embarked on a mission to put up a translation recording studio where different Bible stories will be translated. However, this project has not kicked off due to lack of funding. Provision of video sign language scriptures on DVDs will open ears of the Deaf to the Word of God, thus meeting and understanding His word in their language.
Deaf and hearing people are like oil and water, if you leave them alone, they will separate. Many Deaf leave their biological family and join what they call their “deaf family.” Denying a Deaf child a chance to go to school is like burying them alive! This is because they will never learn sign language, which implies no communication with the rest of the world, so a lot of community sensitization is needed for parents and community leaders to know the importance of educating the Deaf. According to the 2002 Population and Housing Census, at least 1 out of every 25 people, or 4 per cent of Uganda’s then 24.4 million population, were disabled. Later studies however, have revealed a higher prevalence of disability in Uganda.
It’s upon this background that I humbly appeal to you to support us in all ways possible, so we can reach out to the Deaf, near and far with the Word of God. Your financial support will enable us to reach out to 500 Deaf persons in schools and Deaf communities with scriptures, considering that a single bible story/costs 2.500.000 Ugx.