Finding the angle

Ever since editor’s notes came back to the team producing the story about Rwanda’s deaf community, they have been struggling to find a strong story angle, one that will resonate not only with Rwandan audiences but also with the international community. Last week they found what they were looking for.

Here is their new pitch:

Until 2008, the deaf community of Rwanda learned the sign language in the language of the donor community who sponsored a school for the deaf. For instance, in the northern province, one deaf person might speak Italian sign language while in the southern province, they might speak French sign language. The sign language language they spoke was purely based on which country was providing aid money to that region. At conferences for the deaf, the attendees struggled to communicate with each other without a standardized language.

In 2006 that began to change. The deaf union of Rwanda began to create a sign language dictionary in the local language of Kinyarwanda – it’s one of the only places in Africa where there is a sign language in the local language. In 2009, the dictionary was published and Kinyarwanda sign language is now taught in all ten deaf schools throughout Rwanda.

This film will follow two young deaf men who speak Kinyarwanda sign language. Edouard attends a school for the deaf in the southern province. When he first began school he spoke French sign language, but since the switch to kinyarwawnda sign language he has been thriving.
Pio, however, never had the opportunity to attend deaf school because the fees were too high for his poor family. To communicate with his friends and family, he has created a sign language – also in Kinyarwanda. But his signs are different than the standardized signs. Still he is able to communicate with his friends and family.

The film will examine the nuance that Kinyarwanda sign language captures about the local culture