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The rneqfchild [n BUrundi / SOClef(j ASSUMPTA NANIWE ocated in the heart of Africa, Burundi is bordered on the north by Rwanda, on the south and east by Tanzania, and on the west by Zaire. Its surface area is about 10,745 square miles [27,834 square kilometers]. According to statistics provided by the Burundi Department of the Census (1986), the population of Burundi is approximately 4,782,407, with a density of about 445 inhabitants per square mile. Burundi is a country of high plateaus broken up into narrow, extended hills, each bearing its own name. Family groups occupy these hills; there are no villages per se, just residents dispersed about the hills. This way of life constitutes a major inconvenience for deaf people, who live solitary lives within their families. They do not have many opportunities to meet each other, which does not encourage the birth and expansion of a deaf community within Burundi. The society of Burundi considers deafness as a handicap reflecting the will of an all-powerful Supreme Being who gives, takes, and directs the life of each person. This fatalistic belief can cause resignation and inertia in parents seeking solutions appropriate for children with specific deafness-related problems. Following an active search for a therapeutic solution, usually made at the time the deafness is discovered, there often comes a period of total detachment from the deaf child. No education is considered for this child, who is not "like the others." Parents resign themselves to seeing the child as "the handicapped one," who will be materially supported by his family but who will not benefit from education appropriate to his disability. Deaf education is not yet organized on a national level in Burundi. However, there are now two small schools, recently created by missionary organizations, that serve deaf children. Like any new organization, these schools are still determining their objectives . They are confronted by many problems, notably that of choosing an educational method appropriate for these deaf children to help them achieve adequate education and to facilitate their integration into their society. The purpose of this paper is to present a selection of statements gathered in a survey designed to explore the status of deaf persons growing up in Burundi. One hundred and twenty people-sixty parents of deaf children and sixty parents without deaf children -were individually interviewed for approximately an hour each. These interviews, though carried out using a rather detailed and systematic interview format to permit coverage of diverse aspects of the subject's life, were flexible enough that each parent could make his or her own contribution about the proposed subjects with considerable autonomy. The value of this procedure-letting the parents speak their own minds- The Deaf Child in Burundi Society is that it permits a record of what is most strongly felt and most immediately recalled, and provides a glimpse into what a deaf person's life is really like in Burundi society. The most important hypothesis held at the beginning of this project was that deaf people grow up on the margin of society, even though, in this community-based society, there is no way to live a solitary life. Indeed, though the deaf child lives in the heart of his or her family, communication barriers prevent the deaf child from being considered a member of society and from participating in community activities. Because of this fact, the deaf person is condemned to live a life ofabandonment and isolation even in the midst ofothers. The testimony of the parents seems to confirm this hypothesis. The following statements illustrate the ways in which some parents described the situations experienced by their deaf children. The father of a deaf sixteen-year-old boy said: Everywhere in this area, they call him "Nyamuragi," or "the deaf one." All deaf people are called that. You know, a deaf-mute receives no social recognition aside from his peers, his brothers, his sisters, and his parents. You see, I realize that even his cousins make fun of him when I'm out of sight. As for strangers . . . [at this point in the interview, the father was silent a moment] . . . tramps pursue him in the street, screaming at him. Some even throw stones at him. But those who do truly have no heart, no education. You know, an educated child would not do that. He would have pity for another who is deprived. The mother of a thirty-three-year-old woman commented: When people...

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