Integration path of: Sidina and Malik
Today we are going to meet two young deaf people trained in aluminum carpentry: Sidina (twenty-two (22) years old, on the left in the photo) and Malik, twenty-seven (27) years old, on the right in the photo) . It is with the help of the President of the Association of the Deaf and Mute of Mauritania, who translates our questions into Arabic and American sign language, that we manage to communicate with them. The first notable point of this interview is that we learn that in Mauritania, the State has not put in place before 2022 adequate structures for deaf and mute people who therefore do not have the possibility of going beyond secondary school level, or only in limited numbers (10 students having succeeded in being candidates for the 2022 Brevet). It was thanks to the President of the Association who contacted Caritas and who dedicated herself to come and translate the courses for them that the two young people were able to follow the six-month training.
As for Sidina, he joined the training in 2020 and tells us that he had a difficult start but that he ended up loving what he did. Today his goal is to found his own business by accumulating funds with his current work. For him, Caritas allowed him to be less isolated, to have a job and to open up to others. It is also thanks to his work that he was able to earn enough money to be independent from others. He tells us that before working in carpentry, he made videos and editing and that he would have liked to have also been trained in this at Caritas.
For Malik, he joined Caritas in 2019 before being subsequently recruited by the company in which he completed his internship. Before that, he was already in another Center for deaf and dumb people in Mellah. For him, this training has improved his life, he now works and is an employee. He explains that he gets along well with his current boss with whom he wants to continue working because they understand each other, and this is important for him who has so much difficulty making himself understood by others.