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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.
