THREE deaf matriculants, two from KZN and one from the Western Cape, showed the National Senior Certificate examinations flames as they're among the top 35 achievers nationwide.
The three, Asanda Mchunu (18) and Xoliswa Nkabinde (20) from KwaThintwa School for the Deaf in KZN and Amahle Jemane (18) from De La Bat School for the Deaf in the Western Cape said they're proof that despite life's challenges one can come out on top.
The recognition was an honour for the three who could not hold their excitement.
"I worked very hard before, but I never thought I would be standing here as a top achiever, so when they called me, I was so excited. This is also proof that we can do this because even the deaf community in our area is proud of us," Amahle said.
Amahle bagged second place as a top achiever for South African Sign Language.
She said the exams were not easy, but the goal was to balance her time, stay positive and always be on top of her studies.
These same sentiments were shared by Asanda, who bagged third place, and Xoliswa, who bagged first place for South African Sign Language.
Unlike Amahle, both Asanda and Xoliswa's families are able to hear, and for them, this was a challenge, especially when communicating their frustrations during the exams.
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The two both agreed that being deaf and having to write examinations is not easy, especially because you can't express your feelings fully.
"Communication without hearing each other is difficult because there were a lot of miscommunications. I won't lie. My family was there and took care of me and tried by all means to support me, but it was difficult.
"I wanted to communicate with my family so they could understand me clearly, but unfortunately, that didn't happen for me. It was difficult not having that support fully.
"When I went to matric, it was more difficult, especially now trying to explain the challenges I was going through at the time regarding my studies, but I had no choice but to work extra hard. God gave me the strength," Xoliswa said.
In July 2023 Daily Sun reported how the South African Sign Language (SASL) would be recognised as the 12th official language in the country.
This meant that Mzansi was the fourth African country to recognise sign language as an official language after Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
At the time, President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said recognition of the South African Sign Language (SASL) as the [12th] official language is an important step towards the realisation of the rights of people who are deaf.
Amahle was in full agreement with this.
Taking into account the difficulty of deaf people being able to communicate their feelings to their families during exam time, she said it's time to incorporate sign language within our own communities as well.
