Beauty Beyond Speech

BBS Outreach in Ipakodo Junior and Senior Secondary Schools

On the 19^th of June, our Beauty Beyond Speech [BBS] Outreach was held in Ipakodo Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, two of the 43 Schools for the Deaf in Lagos State, Nigeria. The outreach was held in collaboration with Awesome and Beautiful (A&B) Initiative, and that was the first collaborative outreach with them since the signing of an MOU with them. Volunteers from other groups also attended the outreach, plus our Parents Liaison Officer, who donated several packs of sanitary pads to the students.

Our Beauty Beyond Speech Project is designed to stop the domestic and sexual abuse of deaf girls (and boys) and since its launch in 2017, the outreach has been held in over a dozen Schools for the Deaf in Nigeria. In this outreach, as it is our tradition, students were given a talk on how to avoid and report any case of domestic and sexual abuse. The talk was given by Ms. Uchechi Opara, the Team Leader, while other team members played other roles that added value and color to the outreach. For instance, there fun games, led by the A&B group, and each organization had a team member, who introduced their mission and vision to the students.

There was a Q&A session after the talk and students received the sanitary pads from our Team, plus other gift items from Awesome & Beautiful Initiative. A select number of the teachers were assigned to work with the team – they ensured that the students participated in the outreach attentively and quietly too.

However, the outreach suffered a setback which we considered a major one – the team was not allowed to take pictures with the students and to video record the event, as has been our tradition. This was as a result of the administrative change that happened in the two schools recently, that brought two new principals who were not familiar with our operatives, who insisted we get a fresh approval from the Ministry of Education that would allow us to take pictures. Team members appeared to be disturbed by this development because it was unexpected. Nevertheless, the program was carried out, although the planned follow-up visit is yet to take place as at the time of writing this report. There has been discouragement among team members resulting from the last outreach because we were not allowed to take pictures.

Pictures shown in this report are those taken by team members by themselves outside the classroom.

ollaboration with Awesome and Beautiful (A&B) Initiative, and that was the first collaborative outreach with them since the signing of an MOU with them. Volunteers from other groups also attended the outreach, plus our Parents Liaison Officer, who donated several packs of sanitary pads to the students.

Our Beauty Beyond Speech Project is designed to stop the domestic and sexual abuse of deaf girls (and boys) and since its launch in 2017, the outreach has been held in over a dozen Schools for the Deaf in Nigeria. In this outreach, as it is our tradition, students were given a talk on how to avoid and report any case of domestic and sexual abuse. The talk was given by Ms. Uchechi Opara, the Team Leader, while other team members played other roles that added value and color to the outreach. For instance, there fun games, led by the A&B group, and each organization had a team member, who introduced their mission and vision to the students.

There was a Q&A session after the talk and students received the sanitary pads from our Team, plus other gift items from Awesome & Beautiful Initiative. A select number of the teachers were assigned to work with the team – they ensured that the students participated in the outreach attentively and quietly too.

However, the outreach suffered a setback which we considered a major one – the team was not allowed to take pictures with the students and to video record the event, as has been our tradition. This was as a result of the administrative change that happened in the two schools recently, that brought two new principals who were not familiar with our operatives, who insisted we get a fresh approval from the Ministry of Education that would allow us to take pictures. Team members appeared to be disturbed by this development because it was unexpected. Nevertheless, the program was carried out, although the planned follow-up visit is yet to take place as at the time of writing this report. There has been discouragement among team members resulting from the last outreach because we were not allowed to take pictures.

Pictures shown in this report are those taken by team members by themselves outside the classroom.