Matadi, May 20th, 2025 (CPA) – The training of interpreters in sign language in Kongo Central, in the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been the subject of a plea from an NGO with a view to promoting good communication between hearing and hearing-impaired people, an association source told us on Tuesday. ‘We are pleading to the provincial authorities to take account of our disability, with a view to organizing training sessions dedicated to learning sign language’, has declared Vasco Futi Nzau, national coordinator of the NGO “ Voice of the deaf without a voice (VSSV) ” VSSV. He has pointed out that these sessions will make it possible to set up a team of local interpreters, who will act as catalysts to facilitate the proper decoding of messages for us, and thus strengthen our inclusion in society. « It would be desirable for these interpreters to be assigned to public institutions, especially as sign language is set to become the fifth national language in the Democratic Republic of Congo », he has indicated. In his view, the lack of sign language interpreters contributes to the exclusion of people living with a hearing impairment. « The deaf people die in hospitals without being understood, they have no access to justice, they are not represented in public services or in private structures. Deaf women are often victims of gender-based violence. Yet we have the same human capacities as any other citizen. All these plagues result from the communication barrier between hearing and deaf people’, he has lamented.
Subtitle: The need to assign interpreters to key services
Mr Futi has insisted on the need to assign interpreters in key services such as courts, medical training, the governorate, the Provincial Assembly as well as ministries. ‘It is necessary to assign interpreters to key structures such as the courts, medical training, the governorate, the Provincial Assembly and the ministries, in order to guarantee deaf and hard-of-hearing people equitable access to information and basic services’, he has suggested. The national coordinator of VSSV has called on the political and administrative authorities to address the specific needs of deaf people, in particular the schooling of deaf children, the provision of an administrative headquarters for the NGO, and psychological and legal support for victims of discrimination. He has, to this end, expressed the wish to see this category of people benefit from real promotion and effective social inclusion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. CPA/