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D.E.A.A.F., Deaf Education & Arts for African Families, is a not-for-profit organization committed to providing much needed schooling to deaf children within the African continent. Our goal is to provide education, assist in poverty and hunger alleviation, and encourage the local community and government to become actively involved to ensure deaf children have an educational future that is often taken for granted in more well developed countries.

A little of our history... and how we got started...

In 2002, an American volunteer named Lisa Zahra moved to Africa, an undertaking which was contingent upon her finding her own funding for airfare, lodging, and food. Utilizing 13 years of experience as an Interpreter for the Deaf, she taught Sign Language, English, History, and other educational basics to a community of Deaf children living in poverty-stricken Monze, Zambia. Within weeks of her arrival to Southern Africa, she realized that her role would go far beyond that of a simple educator. The children daily faced taunting, theft, and physical abusefrom their own parents-- a cruel and unjust punishment for having committed the crime of being born Deaf. Lisa acted quickly, reaching out to the community and starting workshops for adults, many of whom she did not believe would ever attend any sort of parental counseling, much less a program facilitated by a cultural "outsider." Much to her pleasant surprise, the response was immense. Soon, most of the parents of her students, as well as several adults not involved with the Deaf community, were learning Sign Language and non-violent parenting. Most importantly, their children reacted with smiles, appreciation, and stories of reformed communication at home.

The Deaf students walked and hour and a half to Lisa's class at the start of each day, bereft of breakfast, shoes, and water, and displayed a renewed eagerness for crafting the tools of a new Deaf culture in their community. Unfortunately, Lisa would be forced to leave Africa having spent only one year there, due to a lack of funding and volunteer support for her program. The town of Monze was saddened by the loss of someone they had quickly come to regard as a family member, and entreated her to return. Lisa has since returned to Zambia thanks to private donations from individuals. Also, the University of Syracuse has dedicated a classroom of finance students to set up a not-for-profit organization known as Deaf Education and Arts for African families, or D.E.A.A.F.

She has also enlisted the volunteer partnership of photographer Rigel Klingman, and appointed a Board of Directors who are currently putting their administrative talents to use. D.E.A.A.F. has moved to Zambia permanently and waiting to set up a school, a community center, and a volunteer program to combat the causes of family violence. They will provide the deaf children of Monze with an education that may be their only hope to experience and enrich the world around them through their own unique gifts. They will fly to a distant corner of the world, far away from the comforts of an industrialized society. Lisa Zahra has pledged to dedicate the rest of her life in service to those who are so desperately in need of her skills-- but she needs your help.

Donate today, using our safe and secure PayPal setup, or send a check or money order to D.E.A.A.F. , and take part in a movement that has changed so many lives for the better, and may one day provide the world with a new way of looking at community-based education.

The Current Crisis

The Republic of Zambia is a large country at the heart of sub-equatorial Africa. In its four decades of independence, the Republic has found peace but not prosperity. Zambia is today one of the poorest and least developed nations on earth, and has a crippling national debt. Around two-thirds of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

It is a country that has nine (9) Provinces, one of which in southern province is Monze situated in the southern part of the country. This is a drought stricken area with a population of about 250,000 people of which about 70% of the people living in Monze, and 80% of the children, are starving and subject to neglect. Economic conditions in Monze do not allow families to have consistent meals throughout the day. This is due to the fact that 45% of people are unemployed and those that have employment are earning so little it cannot sustain a family of four (4) for more than two (2) weeks. As a result children are the ones that are the most disadvantaged, especially those that have a disability.

Zambia's problems have since the mid 1980s been compounded by one of the world's most devastating HIV/AIDS epidemics. The statistics alone are appalling:

one in every six adults is living with HIV
89,000 people died of AIDS in 2003
life expectancy at birth has fallen below 40 years
630,000 children are AIDS orphans.

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