Kwa Thintwa Today

The origin of Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf has recently been commemorated by the unveiling of a new statue of Archbishop Denis Hurley and his ‘co-founder’ – a small Zulu boy named Henry Bekeni Dube. The story has been told before, but it is always worth re-telling.

It happened that Archbishop Hurley paid a confirmation visit to one of our poorest and most distant outstations, which had only the tiniest of churches.

Afterwards, as the Archbishop was mingling with the parishioners, he felt a pull on his cassock. A small boy was smiling up at him. The Archbishop spoke to him in Zulu, but got no reply, the boy just kept smiling. It was then that he was told that the child was deaf and mute (along with many others), as a result of a measles epidemic in the area.

Touched both physically and emotionally by this encounter, Archbishop Hurley investigated what schooling was available for deaf children. The need was huge, and not being met.

And so it was that Kwa Thintwa School was established with small beginnings in an abandoned school building at Inchanga mission, and received its name – Kwa Thintwa (the place of being touched).

Today, thanks to the support of many, including mission friends like you, the school has grown to accommodate 800 pupils in both a boarding and teaching establishment. Thank you for being part of this success story, and for helping to enable so many deaf children to become functional in the hearing world.