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[ Back to index of October articles ] Talking Hands When Kiombo Alphonse Nsumbu was 4 years old, his world fell silent. He is not sure if it was the disease – malaria – or the medicine that was intended to cure it that caused his loss of hearing, but one thing was certain – he was deaf. Until his illness, Nsumbu, who comes from Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spoke French with his five brothers and three sisters. But after he lost his hearing, it was difficult to communicate with his family, he said. “I could still speak my main language, but of course, my family did not speak sign language,” he signed through an interpreter, the Rev. Barbara Allen, at Washington’s Gallaudet University, where he is studying for his bachelor’s degree.
Allen is the vicar of St. Barnabus’ Mission for the Deaf, where Nsumbu attends church and came to the attention of the St. John’s, Norwood, outreach committee. St. John’s shares its worship space with St. Barnabus. “He came to an outreach meeting and we were very impressed with him,” said committee chairman Austin Creel. “We were just all very impressed.” The committee decided to sponsor Nsumbu, and over the last three years has contributed $3,700 to help pay his tuition. “He’s a very impressive person, he has a zeal in an area of enormous need and he has been performing,” Creel said. While he speaks Congolese, French and American Sign Language, Nsumbu, who is now 28, still struggles to converse with his family. Only one of his sisters knows sign language, and he finds it easier to communicate with the deaf community, he said. “Sometimes total communication is very frustrating,” he said. “I’ve never really been able to communicate properly with my family. It’s very frustrating. Using sign language is the easy way.” But learning sign language proved to be a challenge. As a child, Nsumbu attended a school for the deaf in Beno, a small village near his home.
“Sign language was forbidden,” he said. “Most of the teachers believed that if you used sign language, the deaf would not learn to speak. Its an old fairytale, I think.” But he learned to sign anyway, secretly using Congolese sign language with his friends from school and relishing the ease with which he was able to express himself. After completing high school in the Congo, where he also learned French sign language, Nsumbu took a job teaching Congolese sign language to hearing teachers. He hadn’t planned to come to the United States, he said, but five years ago he met a priest who taught him American Sign Language and encouraged him to continue his education. “He thought it was important to come here and get a four year program and then come back and teach,” Nsumbu said. Nsumbu had always dreamed of being a high school teacher for the deaf. But a bachelor’s degree is required to get a job like that, he explained. So in 1999, he made the 32-hour journey from the Congo to Washington, D.C. to attend Gallaudet. He will graduate in December 2004, and plans to attend graduate school at another university. After that, he said, he wants to go home. “I don’t plan to stay here,” he said. “I want to help the deaf there. There are many deaf that I need to help there – help them improve their education and their lives.” He hopes to eventually open his own deaf school in the Congo, and is working hard towards that goal. After spending his first year in America with a host family, Nsumbu spent a semester in the dorms and then moved into an apartment near the school. “I pay for my apartment and rent,” he said, explaining that on top of his studies, he works about 20 hours a week to support himself. “I work on campus. I supervise the study table and I also do French tutoring. Plus I work translating American Sign Language.” While money is often tight, Nsumbu continues to work hard and keep his eye on the future. And he lights up when he speaks about his dream – sharing his hard-won education with others back home. Asked why he wants to be a teacher, he shrugs. “I was just born that way,” he said. “I just assume that I will be a good teacher.” Contact Lucy Chumbley at lchumbley@edow.org [ Back to index of October articles ]
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