SAM KATEU
2009 HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Kavule Parents School for the Deaf
Uganda
Sam Kateu believes that deaf children in Uganda will certainly face a life without hope if they are not educated and able to read and communicate. With unending determination, Sam established a school to ensure that deaf children have the full role in society they deserve. The program that started in his home with 8 deaf children in Uganda in 1998 has now developed into the Kavule Parents School for the Deaf boarding school, which houses and educates dozens of deaf children annually.
The school reduces illiteracy among deaf children and empowers them economically, even as they struggle with harsh daily circumstances. Despite the profound difficulties inherent in organizing a sustainable boarding school in rural Uganda, Sam provides quality education, safe living conditions, adequate nourishment and medical care to children from desperately poor circumstances. Rather than retiring from life after a serious accident in which he lost his leg 20 years ago, Sam dedicated his life to having a profound and positive effect on some of the most vulnerable children in his native Uganda.