By Alex Kachingwe

Blantyre, June, 18 Mana: Blantyre based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Tikonze Apapa has it would continue building capacity of youth with hearing impairment by providing them with vocational trainings, secondary school scholarships for inclusivity and sign language training for interpreters for effective communication.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) Monday, Tikonze Apapa, Executive Director, Katiana Lafrance said in the beginning, the NGO only paid school fees for the youth with hearing impairment to proceed with their education but going further the organization went further to provide vocational trainings such as tailing and designing.

Tikonze Apapa, which became a registered non-governmental organization in 2023, main mission was to empower people with hearing impairment in the country through vocational trainings. Education, arts, employment to ensure economic transformation and self-reliance.

“What I have seen so far based on 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census, is that there were 377,790 people with hearing impairment in the country, but the population has risen up since 2018. With the rise in population, we do not have adequate sign language interpreters for inclusivity and better communication with people with hearing impairment.” he said.

Lafrance added that Tikonze Apapa worked hard to raise awareness on the need to have more interpreters to resolve the communication gap thereby compelling the organization to train more sign language interpreters who are currently deployed in various schools like Chiradzulu Secondary School.

One of the students with hearing impairment, Emmanuel Jumbe said his life transformed after undergoing a vocational training organized by Tikonze Apapa.

He recalled that the hearing impairment came in after suffering from cerebral malaria adding that life became misery thereafter until Tikonze Apapa introduced him to tailoring and fashion designing.

“Life has been very hard to me, I tried to search for jobs in various locations in Blantyre but I could not find any until Tikonze Apapa offered an opportunity to join a vocational training and this was when I learnt tailoring,” Jumbe added.

Federation of Disability Organizations of Malawi (Fedoma), Executive Director, Symon Munde hailed Tikonze Apapa for offering vocational training and other opportunities for the youth with hearing impairment which he said are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Provision of vocational skills is one way of empowering persons with disabilities like people with hearing impairment. We expect that such kind of trainings will help them to become economically self-reliant,” he said.