After
four days and a gruelling mountain pass, Charles Nyakurwa reached
Worcester, the final destination in his 200km silent walk to raise
awareness for the Deaf community in South Africa.
Charles
started his walk at The Food Barn restaurant in Noordhoek, where he
works as a waiter, and made his way towards the N1, stopping in at
various schools and organisations along the way, such as the
Dominican School for the Deaf in Wynberg, the Mary Khin School in
Observatory, and Noluthando School for the Deaf in Khayelitsha.
His
final destination was the National Institute for the Deaf in
Worcester.
Charles completed the walk in silence, communicating via
pen and paper when necessary, to experience firsthand the reactions
and attitudes of the hearing community
and the challenges Deaf people face when it comes to communication.
“September
was Deaf Awareness month, and I wanted to do something to link up the
many different organisations supporting the Deaf community in the
Cape,” said Charles. “People have been very generous and
supportive of this initiative and I hope to make it an annual event.
Next year, I’d like to see members of the Deaf and hearing
community joining me on the walk.”
Charles
is the founder of Deaf Hands at Work (DHW), a social enterprise
offering training and job creation for Deaf people using South
African Sign Language (SASL) to bridge the communication gap. DHW
trains people for employment as carpenters, seamstresses, painters
etc.
Charles
won an award from UnLtd South Africa and they put him in touch with
Futuregrowth Asset Management, who were looking to support a local
entrepreneur who was making a difference in his community as part of
their Good Money campaign.
Futuregrowth
published information about Charles and DHW on their Good Money
website
(www.thisisgoodmoney.co.za)
and called for votes to support his cause.
The target was 1000 votes,
and thanks to a lot of interest from the community and a number of
radio interviews, this target was reached on the night before Charles
started his walk. Futuregrowth will be donating R10 000 to DHW,
which will go towards a sewing project that will train six Deaf women
aged 21-41 as seamstresses. A portion of the Futuregrowth donation
will also go towards upgrading the DHW website.
“The
women on our sewing project will be sewing our unique range of
Deafstyle t-shirts, which we will sell to raise further funds for
DHW,” said Charles.
“Charles
is extremely energetic and inspiring, and he’s making a very real
impact through the practical training opportunities offered at DHW,”
said Michele Usher, Futuregrowth’s head of marketing. “This is
exactly the kind of enterprise we are encouraging through our Good
Money campaign and we hope his story will inspire other budding
entrepreneurs.”
