WEBVTT

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Patrick Otema is 15 years old.

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He was born deaf, 
but in this remote region

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of northern Uganda, there 
are no schools for deaf children.

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In his whole life, 
Patrick's never had a conversation.

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Hello, you good?

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His father, Charles, looks after him.

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They are only able to communicate 
through very basic gestures.

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We've been sitting here talking 
about Patrick in front of him,

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and while he's been watching us, 
he doesn't understand what we're saying.

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It feels almost rude, but this is 
what Patrick's life is like all the time.

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I'm here with someone 
who wants to change all that.

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Raymond Okkelo is deaf himself 
and a sign language teacher.

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Do you think he 
could learn sign language?

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This is pretty much Patrick's existence.

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His father gestures to him 
what he wants him to do,

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and when he's finished, 
he goes back to his hut

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to spend the rest of the day on his own.

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Patrick's fate is not unusual.

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The majority of deaf people 
in Sub-Saharan Africa

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have never been taught sign language.

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Unable to communicate with others,
they're trapped in their own minds.

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Raymond became deaf 
as a child after a bout of malaria.

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Six months ago, he traveled to the capital
for intensive training in sign language.

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Now he's returned to his village 
to do something unprecedented.

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He's going to teach the first 
sign language course ever set up here.

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Raymond, are you nervous?

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It's 2 o'clock, the first 
deaf students start turning up...

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..and class begins.

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The course has already started, 
but Patrick hasn't turned up yet.

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I'm worried his father 
couldn't convince him to leave home.

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A few minutes later, Patrick arrives.

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Patrick's transformation is amazing.

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It's almost impossible to believe 
it's the same boy we met yesterday.

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New deaf students keep arriving.

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Many have walked miles to be here.

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There's a nine-year-old boy 
and an 80-year-old woman.

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Before the end of the class,
each new student goes to the front.

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The class votes on 
a new name for them.

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This is now Patrick's sign name,

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and he will use it 
for the rest of his life.

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He has just been baptized 
into a whole new world.