AN IRISH priest who helps some of Ethiopia's most vulnerable children says they are often seen as a "curse".
Irish Vincentian Priest, Fr Stephen Monaghan from Co Dublin, told Independent.ie that children who are deaf in Ethiopia are treated as "cursed" and are shunned by society.
Fr Stephen, who previously served as a Chaplain at St Patrick's College and worked with the deaf community in Ireland for years, started a school for the deaf in the rural village of Ambo, Ethiopia.
"We started with a kindergarten school in Ambo and soon I saw a need for a school for deaf children. There was one young boy named Wandamagen who was deaf and he had no opportunity for an education in the area.
“Deaf students have many problems when it comes to education. Parents associate being deaf as a negative thing. They have the attitude sometimes that a deaf child is a cursed child and they hide the child away. This means that the child isn’t included in society and doesn’t get an education," Fr Stephen told Independent.ie.
Along with the parish priest in the area, Fr Asfaw Felek, Fr Stephen is responsible for the running of the school, which now has 62 students.
Irish Vincentian Priest, Fr Stephen Monaghan from Co Dublin, told Independent.ie that children who are deaf in Ethiopia are treated as "cursed" and are shunned by society.
Fr Stephen, who previously served as a Chaplain at St Patrick's College and worked with the deaf community in Ireland for years, started a school for the deaf in the rural village of Ambo, Ethiopia.
"We started with a kindergarten school in Ambo and soon I saw a need for a school for deaf children. There was one young boy named Wandamagen who was deaf and he had no opportunity for an education in the area.
“Deaf students have many problems when it comes to education. Parents associate being deaf as a negative thing. They have the attitude sometimes that a deaf child is a cursed child and they hide the child away. This means that the child isn’t included in society and doesn’t get an education," Fr Stephen told Independent.ie.
Along with the parish priest in the area, Fr Asfaw Felek, Fr Stephen is responsible for the running of the school, which now has 62 students.
AN IRISH priest who helps some of Ethiopia's most vulnerable children says they are often seen as a "curse".
Irish Vincentian Priest, Fr Stephen Monaghan from Co Dublin, told Independent.ie that children who are deaf in Ethiopia are treated as "cursed" and are shunned by society.
Fr Stephen, who previously served as a Chaplain at St Patrick's College and worked with the deaf community in Ireland for years, started a school for the deaf in the rural village of Ambo, Ethiopia.
"We started with a kindergarten school in Ambo and soon I saw a need for a school for deaf children. There was one young boy named Wandamagen who was deaf and he had no opportunity for an education in the area.
“Deaf students have many problems when it comes to education. Parents associate being deaf as a negative thing. They have the attitude sometimes that a deaf child is a cursed child and they hide the child away. This means that the child isn’t included in society and doesn’t get an education," Fr Stephen told Independent.ie.
Along with the parish priest in the area, Fr Asfaw Felek, Fr Stephen is responsible for the running of the school, which now has 62 students.
Amharic