Deaf in Afghanistan

[twflynn at aol.com]

Colleagues:


Two Afghanis recently visited?our?community college?campus. Firoz Alizada works with all disability issues in Afghanistan, through the United Nations. Parween Azimi works with Deafness-related issues within Afghanistan. They are looking for assistance
.

Afghanistan has about 600,000 Deaf individuals, but there is no standard signed language, and there are no schools for the Deaf. Ms. Azimi has three projects at the moment:

1. To facilitate the development of a standardized signed language in Afghanistan;

2. To train sign language interpreters;

3. To establish some sort of education for the Deaf people of Afghanistan.


She and the Deaf population face a number of serious issues, including war, lack of electricity, and difficult travel conditions. Additionally, only about 5% of the Afghan population is literate - and that is often according to a very generous definition, perhaps no more than being able to sign one's name. Finally, the literacy situation is complicated by the multiple languages spoken in Afghanistan - three or four primary languages, I think. 


I'm not sure exactly what kind of information she will need - basic approaches, teacher-training texts, methods, or what. I do know that she would be interested in getting some future teachers educated at established colleges/universities, although I don't think she has much money for that; but if you know of any grants or programs that provide scholarships of that sort, she would appreciate the contact information. 


If you have any ideas,?please contact me by private e-mail (tflynn at stlcc.edu). I will compile a list of resources and forward it to Ms. Azimi.

Thanks for your time and attention.

Tom Flynn
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