Back in 2011, one of our Sign Language Interpreters Wendy Everingham told us about the time that she spent volunteering in Burundi within the local deaf community.

The deaf person from the UK she was working with had escaped Burundi after experiencing a 10-year war and spending considerable time in refugee camps. He eventually settled in the UK and continued his education at University level and beyond.

Wendy told us “I always had a burning passion to go to Africa and when the opportunity arose to go to Burundi with the Charity, I readily put my name forward, even though I had never heard of the country.”

This brought to light the lack of government funding for interpreters. Anyone learning to interpret is self-taught and they often work long hours without breaks for little or no money.

This story inspired us to want to find ways that we can support Sign Language Interpreters across the world.

Working with partners like ASLI and WASLI to make that happen.