Sigele lives with her family in a village near Zomba in southern Malawi. She grew up in a lonely and silent world because she is deaf and had no means of communication with anyone.

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Sigele’s mother encouraged her daughter to attend the local village school. Classes were huge, up to 80 children per class. Facilities were sparce so many lessons were delivered by song. Despite being intelligent, Sigele learnt very little there and was taunted by other children for being deaf.

 

Sigele’s mother scrimped and saved to travel three times to a state special school for deaf children near Blantyre to ask for a place for her daughter, but each time she was turned away.

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Then Sigele joined the Heart of Mercy project. Before lockdown, one of the Heart of Mercy leaders approached another boarding school asking them to find a place for Sigele and was successful, provided that the subsidized school fees could be paid (£33 a term) which Accomplish Children’s Trust readily agreed to do. Then the school closed for nearly a couple of years due to Covid restrictions.

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Finally, in January 2022, Sigele set off for school. Accomplish is also paying for her termly transport because her family have to provide several items such as a school uniform.

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Later in 2022, eight children, their parents/guardians and the Heart of Mercy leaders all received sign language training, thanks to a generous donation from Billericay Baptist Church. For the first time in their lives, these children were able to communicate with their friends and families. The Heart of Mercy leaders now plan to teach some simple communication signs to other deaf children.

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Four more children want to follow in Sigele’s footsteps and join her at school. Accomplish hopes to enable this to happen but financial help is needed to do this. Could 2023 be the year to make their dreams come true?