Soroti deaf and dumb couple to wed

Jun 28, 2013

This will not be your usual wedding ceremony, no doubt. This couple will not hear you shout your lungs out in congratulatory gestures.

By Godfrey Ojore

SOROTI - This will not be your usual wedding ceremony, no doubt.  This couple will not hear you shout your lungs out in congratulatory gestures. Nor will they be able to speak out in appreciation. It will be their hearts and physical actions that will communicate.

The couple is deaf and dumb.

Albert Enganyu, 42 and Jane Alwayo will be among 19 other couples that will exchange vows in a mass wedding organized by St. Paul Mission, Ochero in Soroti district.

The function will be presided over by Bishop Emmanuel Obbo of Soroti Catholic church.

Area residents are excited ahead of the ceremony, particularly over the union-to-be of Enganyu and Alwanyo – the deaf and dumb couple.

It is understood that such a rare union, of two deaf and dumb lovers, will be the first in region. But the question on most people’s minds is how such a couple can take vows – vows that are normally proclaimed through speech. true

“When I informed the bishop of a deaf and dump couple who accepted to wed in a mass wedding, the bishop told me that he was interested to unite the couple in a holy matrimony,” said Fr. Edmond Okela (right), a priest at Ochero mission.

The LC3 of Ochero sub-county, Deogracious Ebayu, is set to be the best man and his wife, Christine Ironga, the matron.

Unlike the couple, they both can hear and speak.

A ‘dream-come-true’


Enanyu and his wife-to-be have been living together for the last 16 years and have five children together – two boys and three girls.

All their children have their sense of hearing and speech working just fine. The eldest daughter is in Primary Five and the youngest is aged seven.

Alwayo is a Langi from Amolatar district and a last born in a family of four. Both her parents died and she was raised up by her uncle.

Enganyu’s in-laws granted him rights to wed their daughter although he has not completed paying the dowry [bride price]. He was asked to pay five cows and five goats in exchange for their daughter but he only paid three cows short.

Despite the deficit, the young woman’s family has given them a go-ahead with their wedding plans.

“We have allowed them to wed and we are not going to ask for the balance,” said Tom Obura, the elder brother of Alwayo.

The couple told New Vision, through an interpreter, that their wedding is a dream-come-true after their initial plans to wed ten years ago flopped.

 “We decided to be joined in holy matrimony in 2003, but the rebellion of the LRA disrupted our plans after they killed the priest who was helping us,” Enyanyu said.

The couple has prepared a bull and one drum of alcohol for their guests. The in-laws and the neighbors are also collecting jerrycans of alcohol to make merry on the evening of the wedding day.

Because of the nature of their disability, Fr. Okela has offered to buy the bride a gomesi [traditional ladies’ attire] which she will wear as a wedding gown.

The choir leader of St. Paul Mission, Valentine Ochenge, has offered to buy a suit for the groom-to-be.


The couple has five children. Unlike their parents, the kids have all their natural senses working fine. PHOTO/Godfrey Ojore

‘Measles’

Enganyu is a businessman dealing in fish at Ochero market. It is through this business that he is able to look after his family of six – his wife and their five offspring.

He also engages in agriculture together with his wife.

His mother, Abigairi Acengo, says that Enganyu’s disability started when he was about four years old. And she suspects that it was measles.

“He got disabled when he was about four years after he fell sick and since then he has not been in position to speak or hear,” Acengo tells of her son’s plight.

The story is not any different from Alwayo’s, who also became deaf and dumb at around that age.

 “She was well but she fell sick of measles and in a short time she became deaf and dumb. We tried treating her in various hospitals but in vain,” Obura said.

Sadly, the couple was not chanced with any education since their parents were unable to enroll them into institutions for the special needs persons.

But impressively, perhaps due to the demands of his business, Enganyu is able to write his name and even use a calculator.

His elder brother, Sylaus Edunyu, admitted that his deaf and dumb sibling had looked a bright boy right from childhood.

Enganyu is the second-last born in a family of six. All his brothers have no form of disability, which leaves a puzzling question of 'why only him?'. But then, his elder brother’s first-born child was born deaf and dumb too.

Luckily, the child has managed to get an education. He is currently in Senior Four.

With that, it becomes harder to think through how that specific gene runs through the family. But for now, all questions aside. There is a wedding of a deaf and dumb couple just around the corner!

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