KING WILLIAM’S TOWN - The Girls’ Club in the Eastern Cape has taken advantage of the lengthened school holidays by gathering more than twenty of its members, aged between 12 and 16 years, to learn sign language.

 

The programme, co-ordinated by the Department of Social Responsibility (DSR) and Children’s Resource Centre, held its first sign language training session last week Thursday at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in King William’s Town.

 

According to the DSR’s HIV/AIDS co-ordinator Judy Silwana, the girls were meant to learn the basics of the language so they could use it to communicate with deaf children in their own communities.

“It is the first training of its kind and will be ongoing. I hope they will come to understand the basics and use it to communicate about issues such as HIV and abuse,” said Silwana.

 

Facilitator Nomfundo Sikondo of the Deaf Federation of South Africa (DEFSA) felt the girls could help others in their community understand deaf people and culture.

“They have grasped the basics quickly and can use it in their communities,” said Sikondo. “I want them to learn more from us so they can teach others about deaf culture. It is our responsibility to do that,” she said.

 

For Zintle Ntsundushe, a learner from Malindana, learning sign language will help her reach out to deaf children who feel like outcasts in her community.

“There is a boy who sits and cries because he can’t interact with the others. I want to be able to communicate with him, to empower him,” she said.

 

According to Silwana, the Club is also involved in other activities that look to empower girls, most of whom come from rural areas and townships surrounding King William’s Town.

“They are currently focusing on dialogue so they can hold open discussions and find out about critical issues and insecurities they might have,” said Silwana.

 

At the moment the Club is discussing issues surrounding gender, advocacy and particularly, contraceptives.

“Youngsters are facing challenges in their communities. When they visit their clinic to acquire contraceptives, they’re told that they are too young and should abstain from sex,” said Silwana.

 

However, this will just provide adolescents the opportunity to practice unsafe sex. “They will go ahead without using contraceptives at all,” she said.

 

The Club’s main objective is to educate girls on social issues such as gender-based violence, alcoholism, the abandonment of children, HIV/AIDS, sexual health and teenage pregnancy. They are also taught how to report rape cases, approach children who are abused as well as general life skills such as goal-setting.

 

For Ntsundushe, the Club has helped her overcome peer pressure and has given her a tremendous amount of confidence.

“In the Club we share problems and find solutions together,” she said.

 

However, girls in the Club do face one major obstacle when it comes to educating their peers about sexual health: that of their parents.

“Parents know we talk about sex and that’s why they don’t want to send them here. We have to change their mindset. We have to talk about sex with our parents,” said Ntsundushe.

 

- This article appeared in the July 8 edition of Eastern Cape Today.