Sylvia Abena Peprah's narrative as the first of her kind to achieve high academic levels drew this Correspondent in to learn the secrets of her success. The 34-year-old deafblind young woman from Breman-Asikuma in the Central Region experienced her life as a normal child until the age of seven, when she was admitted to the Korle-Bu teaching hospital due to a mysterious sickness. However, following her recuperation, the young girl lost much of her hearing, vision, and speech.Sylvia, speaking through Mr. Theodore Akleih, one of her former instructors at the deafblind department of the Demonstration School for the Deaf at Mampong-Akuapem in the Akuapem-North District of the Eastern Region, where she currently volunteers, described her early educational background.
"I started normal school when I was a child before I started special school, because at the time I was seeing and hearing, so I attended normal school," Sylvia stated, barely audible in her narration.Later on, I became ill and went deaf and blind." After completing her BECE at the Demonstration School for the Deaf, she was referred to the School for the Blind in Akropong, which is also located in the Akuapem-North district, for her senior high school education. She majored in general arts, history, and economics, as well as CRS, which she completed in 2016. She then volunteered at a blind children's center before enrolling in a two-year diploma program in Community-Based Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Education Winneba in 2017. Sylvia graduated from the University of Education Winneba (UEW) in 2019 with Distinction after completing a two-year diploma program in Community-Based Rehabilitation and Disability Studies. Determined to continue her academic pursuits, the young woman pursued her post-diploma programme in the same course at the same university where she obtained a Bachelor of Education with a Second Class Lower and then did her national service at her alma mater, the Demonstration School for the Deaf.
Sylvia was given the opportunity by the institution to demonstrate to Ghana that her inability of sight and hearing was not a hindrance to obtaining a university education. While waiting for government employment following her national duty, the young woman volunteers at the Demonstration School for the Deaf's Deafblind Department. She assists the department's efforts to train the young deafblind pupils who are now undergoing training at the facility. "I'm waiting for government employment, which is why I'm here to volunteer with deafblind children," she explained.
Sylvia's future plans include working with the Ghana Education Service, specifically with deafblind children, and forming a non-governmental organization to serve deafblind children in Ghana. Despite society's notion of people like Sylvia being incompetent in numerous ways, the deafblind graduate claims the opposite is true. Sylvia, who is neither blind nor deafblind, requires some introduction to know with whom she is conversing. She stated that anyone who want to communicate with her must approach her and touch her hands to alert her that they wish to speak with her.
To keep herself busy and earn some money, she makes doormats, bed mats, and praying mats for Muslims, among other things, out of fabric. She emphasized that children with impairments must be sent to school alongside other children in order to receive education or training. "I want to tell people that people with disabilities, especially deafblind children, must bring the children to school because schooling is very important for all children in the world," she says to society. She went on to say that sending children with such illnesses to school is critical because they gain knowledge and abilities that they would not have if they stayed at home.
"If you have a child with a disability and send him to school, teachers are there to train the children or help them develop their potential, and they acquire a lot of skills," she explained. Miss Peprah, for example, stated that being brought to the center assisted her in developing such communication skills. She stated that while her family did not initially support her, her professors at the deafblind department persuaded her family to provide her with the required assistance. Sylvia has yet to meet her ideal man. When asked if she had any males approaching her or expressing interest in her, she said no, but she hopes to meet a kind man with whom she may marry in the near future.
"Now that I'm not married, I'd like God to guide me to a good husband who will stay with me forever," she explained.
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