WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF EID?

To provide educational opportunities for deaf children from primary to higher education.

To enable the deaf children to become self reliant citizens who can contribute to the social, economic and cultural life of the nation.

A few EID Staff Members and Students

In 1976, while on a routine visit to a deaf school in Ibadan , Nigeria, Dr. Foster and his wife Mrs. Berta Foster met a Cameroonian girl, Miss Margaret Tendo (now Mrs. Margaret Bisong). Margaret, who now is a CDEO member, extended an invitation to the distinguished couple to extend their services to Cameroon. Dr Foster answered this call.

At a CDEO Fund-raising event in Washington DC on the 18th of July 1998, Mrs. Foster narrated a short story of how the Ephphatha Institute for the Deaf came into being:

“ After obtaining permission to open a school for the deaf in Cameroon, Andrew Foster went there again in Summer 1977. When he noticed a warehouse – like building with a large front yard in Kumba, he inquired as to its owner. Andrew met the owner and explained his plans of helping deaf Cameroonian children through school education and church work. The 100 year old owner was interested as he himself was very hard of hearing . He referred him to his daughter in another city to negotiate a lease .The owner did not know her address but somehow Andrew found her that same afternoon . She immediately recognised Andrew, saying she and her husband heard him speak in a church in Eastern Cameroon a year earlier. They still had the alphabet card which Andrew had distributed. The lease was signed without any problems. So, with a local committee, a teacher, building and equipment settled, the school was opened in the fall of 1977. It began with one class and about a dozen children, but in a short time the number of children grew. As with other schools in other African countries, when the number of children increases, the need for more staff, more facilities, and so forth, grows. May I encourage you to take note of specific needs, as explained by CDEO representatives today, and to help the deaf Cameroonian children in any way you can – for their educational benefit and vocational training thereby enabling them to become God-honouring and resourceful citizens. We wish the CDEO the best with their worthwhile plans for the school, and a great success with raising the needed funds. ”

From this story, we have come to realise that the owner of the warehouse-like building is the now late Pa Sona of Kumba Town and his daughter is Mrs Nkembe who lived with her husband in then Victoria, now Limbe. Mrs Nkembe informs us that they first met Dr. Andrew Foster in Douala . Mrs Nkembe continued to be a very supportive landlady to EID up till 1999 when CDEO finally moved the school to its permanent quarters in GRA Kumba. Dr. Foster having started the EID in 1977 succeeded in having it recognised by the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1979.

The EID continued to operate successfully until the 3rd of December 1987 when Dr. Foster died in a tragic plane crash in Rwanda en route to a deaf school. This unfortunate event created a management void in the EID .The local Board of Governors of EID continued to pilot the affairs of EID amidst all odds until the 26th April, 1996 when CDEO signed a protocol agreement in Kumba with the Board of Governors to take over the ownership and management of EID. Special gratitude is due to the members of the Board of Governors especially Mrs MaryAnn Mukete an African-American lady married to a Cameroonian and who served as the Secretary of the Board . She and the former Headmaster of EID, Mr. John Atem Ebot had to grapple with the day to day financial and administrative problems CDEO inherited during the official takeover of EID on the 1st of September, 1996.

The Laying of the Foundation Stone at the permanent EID site by Hon. Yaou Aissatou,
Minister for Social Affairs in 1997

1st September, 1996 - Official takeover of EID by CDEO.

December, 1996 - Award of 5 million FCFA for a classroom block by the German Embassy, Yaounde.

15th February, 1997- Laying of Foundation Stone in EID permanent premises by H.E Yaou Aissatou, Minister of Social Affairs

June, 1997 - Award of 10.3 million FCFA by the US Embassy towards the building of two classrooms and a computer room.

September, 1997 - Award of 9 million FCFA by the British High Commission to build a dinning room and a kitchen.

January, 1998 - Visit by HE Charles Twining, US Ambassador.

January, 1998 - Visit by the Government Delegate of the Kumba Urban Council.

January, 1999 - The EID moved to its new site in the Government Residential Area (GRA) in Kumba, on a five hectare piece of land granted by Government of Cameroon.

January, 2000 - Visit by Rev Father Peter Mc Donough and Mrs Roslyn Robinson of the Catholic Deaf Association of the U.K.

January 12th, 2000 - Visit by HE Yates to donate gifts from the US Military Humanitarian programme.

18th October, 2001 - Visit by the Personal Representative of Mrs. Chantal Biya, wife of the Head of State, to donate precious gifts to EID.

2001 - Visit by the dynamic Serendipity Club of Douala (women’s association ) under the leadership of Mrs Binta Njoya to donate 4 million FCFA towards the starting of the construction of the Vocational Workshop whose total cost is estimated at 25,000,000 frs CFA.

September, 2001 - EID scored 100% at the First School Leaving Certificate Examination.

18th October, 2002 - CDEO held a crucial joint Board meeting with the EID Management Board to evaluate on the spot EID's needs and draw up its long term action plan .

  EID Open Day - A group of women from Ekombe Bonji offer food items to EID pupils

19th October, 2002 - PTA Meeting to remind parents of their obligations towards the education of their children .

2004 - Visit by Dutch philantropists who sponsored the dormitory project.

March, 2005 - Visit by the Divisional Officer for Kumba to EID.

March, 2006 - Visit by Kirsty Wilson of the International Deaf Children's Society (IDCS), UK to EID.

April, 2007 - Visit by International Fellowship Between America and Cameroon (IFBAC) to EID.

I. Primary Education

EID has a primary school for the deaf with boarding facilities leading to the First School Leaving Certificate. The language of instruction is American Sign Language(ASL). EID has over the years maintained an academic record of excellence in the First School Leaving Certificate Examination. The current pupils enrolled at EID come from five provinces in Cameroon namely the South West, North West, Littoral, West and Centre Provinces.

EID pupils and students marching during Youth Day celebrations

The secondary school which was launched in 2004, leads to the GCE Ordinary Level and Techical exams. The Vocational school now offers theoretical and practical courses in carpentry, sewing, agriculture, animal breeding and business studies. The IDCS, UK sponsored the vocational training project with a 9.3 Million (FCFA) grant in 2004. Other sponsors are sought for the expansion of these programmes. Please visit our Support page for the costs of some of these highly beneficial projects. After training students, the CDEO will seek ways and means to enable the students to create their own income generating projects. The placement of EID graduates will require the establishment of a revolving fund by CDEO, thanks to generous donors worldwide. With a donation by the Small Change Organisation of Holland, and a Kumba based U.S. Peace Corps, a poultry project has already begun. The CDEO also hopes to carry out a mutually beneficial twining programme with other deaf schools at home and abroad.

The CDEO has embarked upon an infrastructure project for EID. A dormitory block capable of housing 60 students is currently under construction thanks to a group of philanthropists from Holland in the persons of Mr Hans Groenewegen, Mr Adrie E.M Heinsbroek and Gerard v.d. Klundert. Another dormitory and classrooms are required since EID's student population is growing.

                                 An EID Dormitory

The EID is run and supervised by CDEO. The EID has a Management Board made up of distinguished clergymen, educationists, administrators, and community development oriented individuals based in Kumba who run the EID. The current chairperson of the EID Management Board is Mrs. MaryAnn Mukete.

MaryAnn Mukete ,
Chairperson of the EID Management Board

She took over from late Rev. Alfred Mbok of the Presbyterian Church in Kumba in 2006. The institute has a devoted staff of both hearing and deaf teachers under a Principal. It is worthy of mention that all EID Board members are bona fide members of CDEO.

D.W. Penn,
The Principal At EID