Faith is the Country Coordinator for Kenya at the nonprofit organization Choosito!, a smart search engine tool powered by artificial intelligence which provides virtual teaching, learning and assessment resources. Growing up with Deaf family and friends in a small village, Faith has a lifelong personal commitment to accessible communication full inclusion of Deaf individuals in education. She is particularly concerned about a lack of awareness and knowledge of how to support Deaf individuals and embrace Deaf culture and communication in Kenya.

To that end, she has designed and implemented projects that promote the use of Kenyan Sign Language in schools and communities in order to encourage inclusion.  One of Faith’s programs, Caravan of Champions, provides leadership training for children in three major Deaf schools in Kenya. The initiative serves approximately 1,400 children across the country. In 2016, Faith participated in the Young African Leaders Initiative Fellowship Program (YALI), a U.S. State Department initiative launched by President Obama to foster excellence among emerging professionals in Africa.

As an ADA International Fellow representing Kenya, Faith learned how to address the problem of deaf children’s lack of access to curricula and teaching materials in sign language while raising public awareness of issues and challenges experienced by Deaf individuals. Faith is interested in collecting digital stories of educational experiences among Deaf individuals across multiple generations, and disseminating them to both Deaf and mainstream schools.

Faith conducted her Fellowship at the Center for Disability Studies (CDS) at the University of Hawaii under the supervision of Dr. Megan Conway.

To read Faith’s project progress report click here.