About

The Associação Mãos Que Falam – AMQF, is an organisation working with young people who are deaf or carriers of auditory deficiency, promoting their integrated social-economic and cultural development. The association is composed of 80 deaf people and 8 interpreters of the Mozambican Sign Language (MSL), the majority being adolescents, youth and few young adults. The association offers daily meals, a space to socialize and various courses to promote empowerment and self- sufficiency.

The AMQF has the following aims:

• The education of the carrier of auditory deficiency in Mozambican Gesture Language (MSL);
• Ensuring access to learning as well as scientific and professional knowledge;
• Social integration;
• Intervention on cultural barriers and difficulties lived;
• Involvement in various institutions as development and transformation agents;
• Demythologization of deafness in Mozambique (where it is seen as a disease, disgrace, or curse), thus contributing to a wider integration of the deaf in their family and society.

The AMQF includes several activities on a daily basis, which include talks about family planning, HIV/AIDS, health care, life skills, etc. They also promote short term vocational trainings in sewing, embroidery, painting, decoupage, fuxico, crochet, carpentry, silk-screening and others. Moreover, they offer Sign Language Courses and train hearing people as interpreters of the Mozambican Sign Language (MSL).

Accommodation

The volunteers stay with local host families.

Volunteer Tasks

• Teach and/or deliver trainings on how to recycle used material to produce several artefacts, sewing, painting, crafts and other vocational art
• Work with children in the community (teaching, helping with homework,
  games and in and out door sports/activities)
• Produce crafts and/or artefacts using recycled material
• If having the knowledge, deliver training of sign language for the beneficiaries

Volunteer Requirements

• be willing to cooperate with the project and believe in their purpose
• very communicative no matter the language;
• have manual skills (painting, drawing, crafting skills, etc)
• have teaching skills (maths, languages, etc)
• be interested in learning sing language or having some knowledge in sign language;
• passion for community work;
• open to learn and ability to share personal experience
• active, creative
• interest in learning about the social and community context

Location

The project has two sites. One site is located in the central and urban area of Maputo with easy access to diverse services like banks, hospitals/health care centres, shops and entertainment .
The other site is located in one of the suburbs of Matola, Kongolote. The area is mainly residential offering some basic services. The volunteer will be working in the two sites