By Richard Drasimaku
THE Lions Club Sandnes/Riska, a Norwegian charity organisation, has constructed a girls’ dormitory and kitchen for deaf pupils at Eruba Primary School in Arua district.
Fully equipped with beddings and solar power, the new facilities were in addition to a cassava stalk multiplication project, a library, bath shelter and another dormitory that the charity has constructed through the Lions Club of Arua at a cost of sh80m.
Einar Varaas, the president of the Lions Club Sandnes/Riska and Brodhoth Oho, the director of Lions Aid Norway, presided over the commissioning of the new building on Friday.
They promised to support other projects, starting with a borehole to ensure that the deaf pupils have clean drinking water.
The Norwegian delegation also donated textbooks, footballs, netballs and T-shirts.
Eruba Primary School has 844 pupils out of whom 28 boys and 21 girls are deaf.
They are enrolled from different parts of West Nile.
The headmaster, Sebastian Zoyia Enzama, appealed to the officials to help the school to acquire an infirmary and employ a resident nurse to treat the deaf pupils.
“They frequently fall sick and we spend a lot of money on medical bills,†he said.
Zoyia said the school administration wanted to train all their teachers and the parents of the deaf pupils to effectively use sign language but they do not have the funds for that purpose.
He asked the Government and the Lions Club to help the deaf pupils with education through secondary schools or vocational institutes if they were to achieve their full potential.
Arua municipality MP-elect Dr. Gabriel Aridru who was the chief guest at the function, thanked the Norwegians for supporting the deaf unit at the school and asked for a continued partnership.
