Andrew Miller is the International Director for DMI. When he’s not eating corn chips in Sydney, he’s travelling around the world raising funds and DMI’s profile in developed countries or visiting the fields we support to see what’s needed and how our funds are being managed. Either way, he works tirelessly to avoid unidentifiable food and meets lots of weird and wonderful people who he just can’t resist interviewing…
#6 Fulgence
At 25, Fulgence is the youngest member of the Deaf Action Ministries Rwanda (DAMR) Board. He sits before me energetic, confident, even radiant, and is keen to tell me his story and his big dreams.
Andrew: You’re well known as the guy who started a church after attending the international conference last year.
Fulgence: Really?
Yes, you were on the cover of our December newsletter last year! The conference must have made a big impact on you.
Oh, it did! I come from a small village in Rwanda and don’t have regular contact with many Deaf at any one time. So to be at the conference with so many Deaf Christians and leaders, was fantastic. I learned so much and I enjoyed my time there so much. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
How did you go about starting the new church?
I went door to door and gathered the whole Deaf community. I’m not shy so I was happy to do it. We needed to start a church! Some lived far away so it was hard to reach them but I used whatever transport I could get to connect with them and tell them about the new church starting.
Good for you! How many came to the first service and where did you meet?
The church started with 15 on that first day. We now have over 30 Deaf regularly attending. DAMR were really helpful in writing to a local school to ask them to let us use one of their classrooms for the services. The school was happy to oblige so that’s where we have been meeting.
Who does the preaching every week?
I do.
Where do you get your resources for preaching?
Most of the Deaf in my village only have a very basic education (if any at all) so preaching is done at a simple level. We’re going slow and I’m just teaching the basics of the faith. But ‘church’ involves more than that because many have such poor signing skills or can’t sign at all. They also have very limited literacy skills. So every Sunday, church involves basic education, as well as Christian teaching.
It’s great that you can provide that. What sort of education are you giving?
We have three programs which we deliver on a rotating basis each week before the service starts. The first is sign language classes. The second is the SUN program. The third is SRH.
Okay, I’m clear about the sign language classes. And I know that SUN stands for Symbolic Universal Notation and is a Wycliffe Associates’ program. It’s basically a very simple written language (almost like hieroglyphics) that anyone can learn quickly and then use to read Bibles or Bible stories and teachings written in the SUN language.
That’s right!
But what’s this SRH?
Sexual reproductive health. The Deaf in these regions have been taught nothing about their bodies, how they work, how pregnancy happens, how to avoid pregnancy, and sexual health in general, including Christian teaching on sexual matters. This is so important for them. Otherwise the girls end up pregnant at a very young age and have no idea why or how or how to care for their babies, and the young men have no concept of their own responsibility. So these classes are an important part of our church work.
Well done. It’s great to see the church active in meeting the physical needs as well as the spiritual. You are a very mature young man. Tell me about your family growing up.
There are six in my family. My parents had two boys and two girls. I’m the oldest. I was born hearing, like all my siblings, but at the age of 7 I became profoundly Deaf. I didn’t get sick or have an accident. Just over a short period I began to lose my hearing until I could hear nothing at all.
That must have been confusing for you.
Yes, but it was worse for my parents. They just thought I was ignoring them and being disobedient. Even when I told them I was going deaf they thought I was lying and started to hit me and beat me and ask why I had turned from a good kid into a bad kid. They would throw stones at me to get my attention. It was really horrible! It wasn’t until they saw that I was acting the same with my friends that they thought I might be telling the truth. It was my teacher at school who finally convinced them I was Deaf.
How did they react?
They cried. They couldn’t understand. They pulled me out of school and had me looking after the cows. It wasn’t until two years later that my father heard on the radio about a school for the Deaf.
And that’s when you started going back to school?
Yes. And that school had an enormous impact on me both educationally and personally. I couldn’t sign at all when I first started there so I had to start my schooling all over again from grade 1! That’s probably why I was always first in my class! But I progressed quickly and graduated from there to a special middle school and then to high school. When I met you at the conference I had just graduated from high school.
When did you first come to faith?
That was in elementary school. My teacher was a Christian and the headmaster was a pastor. They had such a formative, godly impact on my life. I actually started preaching in primary school. Every Wednesday afternoon we had fellowship time and I would preach and lead the service. I continued to do this in middle and high school. You know Hermann Bambanze…?
…Oh! The Deafblind pastor we just built a mill for?!…
…Yes, him. He would come to our school each week to preach and I would support him in preaching to the other students at the school.
Wow, you started young! I believe now you are doing a lot of work in both ministry and employment projects.
Yes, I’m involved in several activities now. I took out a loan and am running my own rice farm. That doesn’t keep me too busy because I run it with other family members. I’m helping to oversee the DAMR community farming project. I’m continuing to study. And I keep busy on weekends doing ministry.
(DAMR Director) Patrick speaks very highly of you and all the work you are doing. How can DMI better support you in your work?
Oh, a motorbike! A motorbike would be so helpful. The biggest challenge I have in all of these activities is simply getting from one place to the other. Public transport out here is, um…
Not great?
Not great. A bike would help with moving between projects but it would help most in ministering to the Deaf in remote areas. As things are now, I can only get out there to see them once or twice a year. With a motorbike, I could get out there once or twice a month.
That would be good. Where do you see all this going? What would you like to see for your future.
Thank you for asking. My great hope is to keep preaching the gospel to the Deaf as an evangelist, and then to one day become a pastor. All my life I have been motivated by the Great Commission in Matthew 28, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded”. That’s what I see as my life work. We have so many Deaf in remote areas who are being left behind by their communities. I want to reach them with the gospel and with practical help – just as DMI as doing all over the world.
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Motorbikes are one of the best tools an evangelist can have in Africa. It would be great if we could raise $2000 to buy a motorbike for Fulgence. To give, please go to https://deafmin.org/donate/ or click on the ‘Donate’ button below and note ’Fulgence bike’ in the reference.
