June 12th, 2016 by Rachel | Tags: Disability, Peace Corps, Persons with Disabilities of Cameroon, Photography | No Comments »
During the last seven months of my Peace Corps service, I am featuring photographs and stories of several persons with disabilities living in Cameroon. All the photos are part of a series called “Persons with Disabilities of Cameroon.” The goal of presenting photographs and their stories is to create better awareness about the plights that persons with disabilities face in a developing country. When I return to the US, I hope to exhibit this series in a gallery and publish a book to educate others about persons with disabilities living in developing countries as this topic is so rarely discussed in the media.
Feldinad, an elder in his 80’s has been living most of his life with hearing loss. He told me that one morning when he was eight years old, he woke up feeling that his ears were all blocked. He said he also had fever. When he got up, he went to a hospital in town. The doctors used devices to blow into his ears everyday for six months but it provided no results. However, he continued to go to school and completed primary school and then went onto training in construction. He couldn’t go to secondary school because of his struggles to hear. He has been working for private companies and NGOs in construction. He said that they have been offering him jobs because he has been able to demonstrate to them that he does good work although he believe that he still gets less work than people without disabilities. He also has been married and has eight children.
When observing Feldinad, he is still able to communicate through listening and spoken language. However, when he communicates, people have to sit next to him and speak loudly into his ears. When he communicates with people, he places his hands behinds his ears and curves his hands around the outer ear so that he can hear his best.
“I have problems with the ears. When I am talking, I can’t hear well. If I put my hand like that I can hear a bit,” he said.
He does not have hearing aids, but he said that “If I have hearing aids, I could hear people better.”
When I asked him what are his biggest challenges, he said that he wants to work for the government in construction but they will not accept his applications because he cannot hear well. He also said that he would like to be able to buy machines so that he can be self-employed but has no money because he has not been able to work as many hours as persons without disabilities.
Then I asked him if he ever feels lonely because of his difficulties to communicate with others due to hearing loss. He said, “When I am with people and I try to discuss with them, I am not isolated. It is because they help me understand what they are saying.”
