Meet 24-year-old Uwiragiye, the ‘ear’ for the deaf

At only 24, Kellia Uwiragiyes priorities are not for a typical 24-year-old girl. She is not into fashion; she is not craving for a dream holiday or owning a car. Her priorities are somewhere else. She is into supporting people living with disability, specifically the deaf. She established a media organisation that advocates for the deaf and is the brain behind the recently launched campaign “Sign Your Name #SUN” which airs on Rwanda Television. She talked to Women Today’s Donah Mbabazi about the campaign and her passion to make a difference in the lives of the handicapped. Tell us a little bit about yourself? I am the last born in a family of three sisters and currently single. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Communication from the National University of Rwanda. I am also the founder of Media for the Deaf Rwanda. How did you start the organisation? The idea came from my academic research; I wrote a dissertation on Rwandan media and the disabled, the case study was about the deaf audience and how they interact with the media. Me and four of my other colleagues thought of continuing with the development of the idea after graduation. So in September last year, we decided to form Media for the Deaf. Did you get some training on how to interact with the deaf? Yes I did, since I was the one who initiated the programme, I had to be able to communicate with the deaf. So I went for training in sign language for four months from Rwanda National Union of the Deaf (RNUD) in Kabeza. Apart from advocacy, is there any other thing that your organisation undertakes? We do sign interpretations at events like conferences and meetings. How do you advocate for the deaf exactly? We have TV programmes for various campaigns like Sign Your Name#SUN.These campaigns aim at making people aware of sign language since it’s not only for the deaf. What is the message in the Sign Your Name#SUN campaign? The message is to make sign language heard.Musicians, journalists and even beauty queens are a part of it.If one sees their favourite personality signing, they too will gain interest. Why the deaf in particular? I thought of the deaf because for the others with physical disabilities, they can either watch TV or listen to radio. What are some of the challenges that you face? As a new organisation, we are bound to have challenges.The equipment for making the videos needs finances; we also need to reach out to all those people every day. Even at the start it wasn’t easy convincing people to understand the idea. Looking for support wasn’t easy and secondly, we are still negotiating with other television stations to get them to show the idea. Do you receive funding? We do what we do with the means available. I don’t believe that one has to first wait for help in order to help others. As long as you believe in what you do, if you need to contribute you can. What are the future plans for the organisation? We want to continue with advocacy through awareness campaigns through more projects of course. The advocacy cannot end so we have to continue with it. Right now there is the Kinyarwanda news with an interpreter and we hope that all programmes follow suit so that they can all follow the programmes. We also plan to give training in sign language for journalists. What do you think about the status of the deaf in the communities? It is somewhat hostile; most people do not associate with them because of the failure to communicate. That’s why learning sign language can indeed make a difference for society as a whole. What is your philosophy in life? I believe that if you know what you want you can get it. Yes there are always challenges but passion and determination will help you overcome that. What do you have to say to anyone who might want to step in your shoes? I can say that disability is not inability. If someone has a disability it doesn’t mean that they are incapable of doing anything. Let them be given a platform because even those without disabilities are not perfect. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and that applies to them too, if only they are given a chance. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

Lifestyle

Meet 24-year-old Uwiragiye, the ‘ear’ for the deaf