Story of CRES

My name is Lisa Rudolph and I am currently volunteering in Douala, Cameroon for the summer. I am teaching english, computer skills, cooking, mathematics, and overseeing art projects at the Centre de Rééducation des Enfants Sourds (CRES), or in English, the Center for the Re-education of Deaf Children.

The school is comprised of 300 students, ranging in age from 3 to 20, and educates both deaf and non-hearing impaired children. I have found my time at the school to be very rewarding, and I recently was made aware of the immense difficulty the school and the director face in funding the school. Below is the story of the CRES:

Anne Marie Karot, a native of Douala, gave birth to a healthy girl in the mid ‘70s. A few years later her daughter caught meningitis, surviving the disease but losing her hearing permanently. The child’s disability presented a significant challenge for the family, especially in terms of education: disabled children in Cameroon are often denied the opportunity to attend school because the teachers and facilities are ill-equipped to accommodate mental or physical handicaps. Faced with this problem, Mrs. Karot decided to start the first deaf school in all of Douala.

With limited funds and limited time, she started the deaf school in her own home in 1986 while continuing to hold a full-time job at an insurance company. For eight years she hosted the school at her home, and for eight years she wrote the social services department of the government requesting a building for her school.

Finally, in 1994, the government granted her request and provided her with the building that still serves as the school building today. Soon after, Mrs. Karot decided to take on the role of director, quitting her job and taking a large pay cut in the process.

Throughout that late 90’s the school was still relatively small, with only deaf children attending for the first 17 years the school was in existence. In the early 2000’s, the director set out to solve a large problem at the school. Children would graduate the at age 18, armed with basic education and practical skills such as woodworking or
sewing, but would often quickly return to CRES because their attempt at integrating in society had failed. This was due to their inability to communicate with non-hearing impaired individuals, and the taunting and teasing they were confronted with because of their disability.

To combat this issue, our director decided to integrate the school with non-hearing impaired children and successfully did so in 2003. To date the school has 300 children attending, and integration has paid off in many amazing ways. For one, it has created much greater understanding in the community and greater Douala. With each new class of students, there are more children and parents of students’ who are sympathetic to, understanding of, and un-phased by the deaf. The children have also more easily learned how to read lips, speak without hearing themselves, and find ways to sign that are more intuitive and therefore easier for non-deaf persons to understand.

Additionally, many parents actually hid their deaf children, ashamed of the impairment and unaware that there were other children with the same disability. The school has shed light on the issue of deafness and has allowed parents to become educated about hearing impairments and proactively help their child.

It is wonderful to see the deaf interact with other students in the school. Because the children are introduced to the deaf at such an early age, they treat them no differently and do not view them as handicapped. The school decided to start issuing uniforms about five years ago, and it is an immense source of pride for the children, especially the deaf, to show that they are a part of a school community that they love so much.

While much has been accomplished, it has not come without great struggle or hardship, especially for the director and her family. In giving up her previous job and completely dedicating her life to the school, the family has not only lowered their standard of living, but has given every extra cent they could come by to help keep the school running.

The main issue regarding funding is that almost every child that attends CRES is very poor. The school building is provided by the government but no other money is given to support the school. Nearly all of the school's income comes from school fees. It costs a child 80,000 CFAs (approx $180 USD) a year to attend school. These fees are intended to cover all 12+ of the teacher’s salaries; chalk, pencils and colored pencils; water for the children; utility bills; chairs, desks and school journals, and fabric and wood for the older children who use the materials to make dresses and wood products to sell.

Many of the children’s families are unable to pay the 80,000 CFA fee. In fact, almost every single child attending the school does not pay the full amount. Knowing that the school is the children’s entire world, and that being forced to leave would be absolutely devastating, the director has allowed all of the children to remain enrolled in the
school no matter how many months or years fees they still owe the school. This generosity has of course presented a huge problem for the director, and many times the school was precariously close to shutting down and only survived because of very timely donations from locals who could afford it.

This past August our director faced immense tragedy when her deaf daughter, her motivation for creating and continuing to run the school for all of these years, died suddenly. The director was so bereaved that she did not want to continue running CRES; the enormous difficulty she faced funding the school would be too much to bear without her daughter there with her. However, all of the deaf students began fundraising in the local community in order to ease some of the administrative burden she faced, and also provided Mrs.Karot with a great deal of emotional support, which eventually convinced her to continue to fight to keep the school running.

When asked what she would do if she had more funding, her response was that she would first pay the teachers a higher salary. Because of the limited amount of income the school receives in fees, the teachers are only paid 70,000 CFA a month, or around $150 USD. To put this in perspective, they probably spend 12,000 CFA every month just on
commuting. I know it is a daily struggle for these teachers to get by, and they work exhausting days – teaching deaf children in classrooms that have too many students, not enough supplies and no air conditioning is very rewarding but very draining. Mrs. Karot laments that her teachers should be receiving at least twice the salary that they receive currently.

The school is also lacking in school supplies, facilities for the children, and wood and fabric for older students who learn woodworking and sewing before graduating. The school also struggles to afford training for teachers to learn how to work with deaf students, and for a doctor that routinely diagnoses the deaf children’s hearing so that the teaching staff knows if a student is fully or only partially deaf.

After hearing this story I decided to make every effort I could to help the school increase its funding. In my view, school is of the utmost importance when it comes to development, especially here in Douala. In Cameroon, a good education is one of the only means of staying out of poverty. Most importantly, school is not a handout or a
temporary fix, instead, it helps the children help themselves. Furthermore, the students at CRES are not only learning math, French, English and many other subjects, but they are also learning how to accept differences and to treat all people equally. CRES is the only school of its kind in Douala, even 25 years after its founding.Without it, the deaf children in Douala would have no where to turn.

In addition to donating $1000 of my own savings to the school, I am also reaching out to friends, family and anyone else that recognizes the value of CRES. I am also actively seeking out grants from charities and non-profits.

1) Simply forward this link. I understand that many people cannot afford to give any monetary assistance. By spreading the word you are doing the school and the students a great service.

2) Donations. $150 doubles a teachers salary for a month, $180 covers a full year of student fees, and a small amount goes a long way when there are no administrative fees and the money is being put to use in a country that on average lives on $2 a day. If you would like to give money, you can send money via paypal to funds.for.cres@gmail.com. Please send checks or cash to: Lisa Rudolph, 828 Sanctuary Lane, Naperville, IL 60540.

Also as an important sidenote: I will be setting up a small charitable organization once I return to the U.S. intended to fund CRES and possibly another deaf school in Cameroon, located in Yaounde. Unfortunately due to my current internet situation and lack of resources it is very difficult for me to do so while in Africa, so please consider this blog the first of more significant and legitimate efforts to fund the school.

3) Other ideas? Feel free to e-mail me at lisa.rudolph19@gmail.com with suggestions, comments or questions.

Thank you.