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Over £400,000 for Shrewsbury charity will help deaf children in Malawi – 4th Aug 2010
The staff of a Shrewsbury-based charity are celebrating the award of grants from Comic Relief, and the Scottish Government totalling over £400,000. The funding will mean that the Woodford Foundation can run a three-year project in northern Malawi to identify deaf children and provide support to their parents, teachers and the community. The money will be used by the Foundation working closely with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian.
Comic Relief awarded the Woodford Foundation £129,000 and the Scottish Government has promised £289,000.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the northern region is one of the poorest parts of Malawi. Nearly two thirds of deaf children in that country do not attend school and are hidden away from society. Parents and teachers often do not have the skills to communicate with deaf children and many people in the local communities believe that deafness is linked to witchcraft.
Staff working for the Woodford Foundation and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian will travel around the north of Malawi to find out how many deaf children live in the area. They will then work with parents and teachers to improve the understanding of deafness and its effects on children’s lives. The partners will then help parents and teachers to communicate more effectively with their deaf children and also assist parents to help support each other.
The project team will also work with the wider community to to help to allay deep-set cultural taboos and suspicions surrounding deafness and to make sure local organisations and individuals are able to help deaf children in their area.
This three year project follows on from a successful six-month pilot project funded by the Scottish Government.
Karen Goodman-Jones from the Woodford Foundation said
“I am so pleased that Comic Relief and the Scottish Government have agreed to fund this project. It will make a huge difference to some of the poorest people in the world. It will also provide a model that can be used across the rest of the country.”
“The Malawian Government and the United Nations are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to primary education. It is vital for the future of the country. Deafness is a real barrier to getting that education partly because it is not well understood and sometimes feared but also because it is a hidden disability. You cannot look at a child and see that they are deaf.”
The Woodford Foundation is based in College Hill, Shrewsbury. The charity also works in Uganda and Tanzania to empower deaf children and their families to get greater access to education, training and employment.
For more information about the Woodford Foundation visit woodfordfoundation.org.uk
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