by Sheila Pires
The Chaplain to the Deaf Community of Manzini Diocese has welcomed the recognition of South African Sign Language (SASL) as the 12th official language as it “has been hoped for and anticipated for a long time.” Continue reading “Sign language in SA”
by Fr Mark James OP
Three members of the Deaf Community of Cape Town (DCCT), Faith Cronwright, Suzanne Lombard and Jennifer Lepono, were in Manzini assisting the Catholic Deaf community of Eswatini establish and develop their sewing project. The DCCT members were in the Kingdom for 2 weeks in March.
Nompilo Lupupa, the sewing project coordinator, said: ‘We appreciate DCCT’s gesture in coming to Manzini for two weeks to help us develop our sewing skills. They are also helped us improve our bookkeeping skills and the overall administration of the project.’ She added that ‘although we are only starting out, nevertheless we already have five deaf women volunteers, myself included, who give our time to this initiative.’ Nompilo was also grateful for the support from the Bishop and the diocese ‘who have shown their commitment to uplifting our Catholic Deaf community in Eswatini.’
Continue reading “DCCT’s visit to Eswatini”
by Fr Mark James OP
Three members of the Catholic Deaf Community in the diocese of Manzini travelled with Fr Mark James and Sibusiso Zulu to attend a leadership conference at the Bosco Youth Centre near Johannesburg from 10-13 December 2109. Khetsiwe Mkhatjwa, Nqobile Mkhonta and Bhekisisa Dlamini were part of a group of twelve young people at the course. The others came from South Africa and Lesotho. The meeting was facilitated by Mokene Matsau, a Deaf youth leader studying at the National Teachers’ Training College (NTTC) in Lesotho, and Carmen Kuscus, a Deaf youth trainer from the Deaf Community of Cape Town (DCCT).
Continue reading “Deaf Youth Camp at Bosco”
by Fr Mark James OP
On Saturday 6 July 2019, a football match between the Youth of Our Lady of the Assumption parish and the Deaf community was held on St Theresa’s football ground at 3.00pm. This was the first time that the two teams met. It was also the first time that the hearing and the deaf members of the parish played a game against each other. The refereeing was unique because the referee used a red flag to catch the attention of the players, and not a whistle. Despite having to get used to this new way of refereeing a game for the hearing, the two sides quickly adjusted to each other.
It was a hard-fought match where neither team gave the other side any easy chances. By half-time the score was 2-2. The second half continued where the first half left off. Again, it was a tight game and goals were kept being scored at regular intervals. With five minutes left, the score was an evenly matched 4-4.
Continue reading “OLOA Youth and Deaf football match”
by Fr Mark James OP
On Sunday morning, 21 April 2019, 40 Catholic pilgrims from all over South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, were joined by over 185 Deaf people from Cape Town, to celebrate the Easter Sunday Mass. While busloads of Zionist Christians were making their way to Moria in Limpopo, these 40 Deaf Catholics, five from Eswatini, were wending their way to Cape Town on public transport from Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Eswatini and Lesotho. The Deaf Community of Cape Town (DCCT) in Heathfield played host to these Easter celebrations from 18-21 April 2019. Continue reading “Deaf Catholics celebrate that Jesus is risen”
by Fr Mark James OP
Seven Catholic Deaf from Eswatini join with Mariannhill celebrations
Seven Catholic Deaf members will join Mariannhill Catholic Deaf for their celebrations in Mariannhill from 8-10 December 2018.
This is the cementing of a long-established relationship between the two communities that goes back to the days when Fr John and his A-Team, including his brother Brian Turner and Debbie Eaton, used to come to Eswatini to say Mass. They did this for many years. Sadly, it ended with the death of Fr John on 17 June 2013. Continue reading “Deaf News – December 2018”