Robert Zambrano was a member of the second Peace Corps group in Morocco, teaching surveying and English from 1963 to 1965
Help, encouragement sought for deaf students at Moroccan school
English Professor Robert Zambrano presents a Friends of Morocco pin to President Jordan at a November 22 meeting to discuss ways that Gallaudet can assist deaf students at the Association de Sauvegarde d’Handicap Sourds, located in the Moroccan city of Agadir. Also present at the meeting were (from left): Hassan Samrhouni, president of the Organization of Moroccans in the Metro Area, Tim Resch, president of Friends of Morocco, and Dr. Robert Mobley, director of Gallaudet’s Center for Global Education.
Dr. Zambrano visits a primary group at the Agadir school with its director, Fatima Laouni (standing, third from left), and two of her assistants.
While participating in an American/Moroccan Friendship mission last month, English Professor Robert Zambrano visited a school for deaf students in southern Morocco that is in dire need of educational material, teaching methods, and perhaps most importantly, hope and encouragement from the American deaf community.
“They just want to know more about other deaf people, and they are very interested in Gallaudet and the American deaf community,” said Dr. Zambrano of the Association de Sauvegarde d’Handicap Sourds, located in the city of Agadir.
Zambrano was part of an 18-member delegation of former Peace Corps workers and other individuals with personal or professional ties to Morocco who visited the country October 5 to 17 on the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ efforts there. Zambrano was a member of the second Peace Corps group in Morocco, teaching surveying and English from 1963 to 1965. The trip gave these international public servants an opportunity to reconnect with their old posts, see how their efforts have improved the country over the decades, network with today’s Peace Corps volunteers, meet with government officials, and explore ways to continue helping Moroccan citizens.
It was through the latter objective that Zambrano visited two deaf schools, the other being L’Association Hanane in the northern city of Tetuan. Although Morocco has its own government, the northern region of the country maintains close cultural ties with Spain, its former ruler, Zambrano explained, and therefore the deaf school in the north has far more resources than its poorer counterpart in the south. He said that the Agadir school had only one book of Moroccan sign language, which had been copied 40 times for its students, ages 5 to 17. The school so yearns to learn about deaf people that the teachers implored Zambrano to send them a CD-ROM where sign language was being used—regardless of the subject—just so they could see other people signing.
Zambrano has spoken with Gallaudet’s Center for Global Education to see what resources the University can send to the school, including the possibility of establishing Fulbright scholarships to bring educators to campus and internships for Gallaudet students to travel to the school as instructors. But for now, he is asking the Gallaudet community’s input. “Anyone who wants to help, if they have an idea, or sign language material, it will give these kids hope,” he said. Zambrano can be contacted at robert.zambrano@gallaudet.edu, or by calling x5582.
