Couple with hearing and speech disability on raising children

Bonface Ochieng with his three children's Faith Atieno, Irene Atieno, and Lucy Wangechi at their residential house in Joyland in Kakamega town on August 11, 2021. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Using sign language, Boniface Ochieng’ and his wife Mary Wanjiru have mastered the art of communicating with their three children. 

The couple have speech and hearing impairment.

The couple’s story is a typical case of love at first sight, having met at Nairobi-based Door International Deaf Bible college 12 years ago.

Ochieng was a theological student while Wanjiru worked as a cook when their paths crossed.

At their Joyland home in Kakamega town, the couple ordinarily fingerspells rapidly to each other and their three children who have mastered sign language.

We caught up with Ochieng at Kakamega Primary School where he had gone to pick up his children, Faith, 11, Irene, 7 and Lucy, 5. Faith is in Class Five, Irene in Grade 3 while Lucy is an ECDE pupil.

The girls light up when they see their father.  Usually, Ochieng’ would be at the school gate by 3.30pm.

He obliges to our interview request and invites us to join him in a tuk-tuk which is his means of transport. The children are bubbly and animated as they give directions to the tuk-tuk driver to their home.

Irene signals the driver to stop and she is the first to disembark, rushing to open the gate. The other two follow their elder sister, and usher us in with Ochieng on their heels.  

The elder girl serves us some refreshments, as we are informed that their mother is not at home.

Sheila Anyango, a sign language interpreter was at hand to help us during the interview with Ochieng.

Ochieng’ sets the ball rolling by telling us the ups and downs that the couple has been through.

“We prayed to God to help us overcome the obstacles in our lives and our prayers were answered.”

His wife, Wanjiru, is from Murang’a. 

“She was comfortable with me even though we are from different communities. I come from Siaya. We fought hard to be together since we encountered some opposition from our family members.”

Asked how the couple manages to communicate with the children, Ochieng explains that they had to teach the young ones sign language at an early age.

“That is why you see them taking charge of everything because they understand their roles and what we expect of them.”

He recounted how they went to visit Wanjiru’s parents in Murang'a to seek their blessings.

“I was overjoyed when  her parents agreed to our marriage and promised to support us achieve our dreams.”

According to Ochieng, marrying Wanjiru was one of the best things that have happened to him. 

“We understand each other well and I believe I would face a lot of challenges if I had married a person who did not have any hearing and speech impairment.”

The couple moved to Mumias town because Ochieng’s father was working at Mumias Sugar Company.

When they got children, they thought it wise to teach them sign language at a tender age in order to ensure they do not have communication challenges with them.

“At the age of two years, the children used to see us communicate in sign language and you could tell from their facial expression, they were confused,” he said.

“We bought for them sign language books and taught them what each sign means. To our surprise, they learnt quite fast.”

However, while playing with friends at home and in school, their daughters converse normally.

Ochieng would interrupt the interview to link up with his wife via a WhatsApp video call and they conversed for 10 minutes using signs.

Anyango interpreted the conversation: Wanjiru says she is happy that the world will know their love story and how they have managed to overcome challenges together.

“When I met my husband, I told myself that God had brought to me my match and despite the challenges we faced when dating including opposition from our families, we defended each other because we believed we were meant for each other,” said Wanjiru via the video call.

“The Bible is clear that man and woman will leave their parents, and start their own home and that’s exactly what happened. We have lived happily together for the last 12 years and God has blessed us with three children who can speak and hear.”

Neighbours have always been amused by the couple’s hard work, determination and focus in life.

Felix Wekesa, a neighbour, said he does not understand sign language but Ochieng’s elder daughter has always been there to interpret what the parents are saying whenever we have a conversation with the couple.

During their free time, the couple offers free sign language lessons to the neighbours.

Ochieng currently works as a sign language teacher under the Kakamega Deaf Association.

He also teaches church members at the Kakamega Seventh Day Adventist Church sign language.

Wanjiru is a housewife.