海角大神

Every morning, Bridget Chanda pulls on her stockings and then her prosthetic legs as best she can. After six years they no longer fit and are uncomfortable, but it doesn鈥檛 faze her much.

鈥淚 still manage somehow,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am a girl on a mission.鈥�

The 18-year-old is intent on helping educate Zambia鈥檚 deaf community about聽climate change. As the southern African nation has suffered from more frequent extreme weather, including聽its current severe drought, it鈥檚 prompted the Zambian government to include more climate change education in its school curriculum.

But for that to be shared with the deaf community, it鈥檚 up to people like Chanda to help translate 鈥撀燼nd it鈥檚 a task that is more difficult because sign language doesn鈥檛 include many climate-related terms.

She鈥檚 a student at Chileshe Chepela Special School in Kasama, in northern Zambia, where many students are deaf or hard of hearing. After Ms. Chanda enrolled there in 2022, learning sign language was a way to fit in and bond with those schoolmates, even though she herself is not deaf. Around the same time, climate change was becoming a more topical issue in the country, and Ms. Chanda 鈥撀爓ho finds it puzzling that her hometown in the south near Lusaka has been wracked by drought while Kasama is looking at a bumper harvest 鈥撀爓anted to talk about it.

鈥淐limate change affects our way of life,鈥� she said.

The country has been suffering from severe food shortages as water has grown scarce, prompting聽the president to declare a national emergency聽in February.

Ms. Chanda has served as an interpreter as climate agriculture expert Elizabeth Motale visits communities and schools to educate people on climate change. In one visit to a garden outside Ms. Chanda鈥檚 school, she signed as Ms. Motale showed students how drip irrigation gets precious water exactly where plants need it. Students smiled and laughed as they perforated a plastic bottle to dribble water onto the plants鈥� roots.

Ms. Chanda has even taught Ms. Motale some sign language to use when no interpreter is available.

鈥淏ridget has been such a blessing to me,鈥� Ms. Motale said.

Sign language isn鈥檛 recognized as an official language in Zambia, but the government has taken steps to ensure its recognition and has made it mandatory for climate change education to also be taught in sign language. But with the language lagging behind, it can be a challenge to teach new concepts.

Ms. Chanda recalls struggling to find the words to explain mulching, for example 鈥撀燼dding organic material to soil to help trap moisture 鈥撀爋r climate adaptation, the ways people can adjust to more extreme weather.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult sometimes,鈥� said Ms. Chanda. 鈥淚 sometimes have to finger-spell and when I miss a letter or two it makes it difficult for some students who are deaf.鈥�

The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), a pan-African movement promoting girls鈥� education, launched a new climate education program in schools in March, led by young women graduates. The program, in partnership with education ministries in Zambia and Zimbabwe, aims to help young people 鈥撀爌articularly marginalized girls 鈥撀燽uild climate resilience and explore green careers.

Part of the climate education CAMFED wants to promote is practical. It runs an agriculture guide program that aims to promote climate-smart techniques, like drip irrigation that uses less water, and teaches entrepreneurship skills that may help young women launch farming businesses that use such skills.

Helena Chandwe, an enterprise manager with CAMFED, said it鈥檚 important to improve how the information is delivered to students with special needs, and that means interpreters who can deliver it correctly and with sufficient context.

Ms. Chanda hopes to join the agriculture guides program after finishing her education.聽She has been using聽prosthetic legs since age 7. Stigmatized and bullied at school in Lusaka, she eventually wound up at Chileshe, where she has found a far more welcoming environment in a place that mixes special-needs students with mainstream students.

Her prosthetic limbs don鈥檛 keep her from wheeling a friend, Juliet Nankamba, around in Juliet鈥檚 wheelchair. The two often sit next to each other in class, sharing books and taking part in class discussions and assignments. Asked about her friendship with Bridget, Juliet smiles, laughs, and flashes a peace sign.

Ms. Chanda struggles to hold back tears as she describes how CAMFED has helped with her tuition and boarding fees. She was appointed head girl at the beginning of the year, and said she dreams of one day becoming an orthopedic surgeon, going far away from Zambia to make her mother proud.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.