For the deaf, this vibrant land of rich red soil and green green grass, offers only a silent and empty landscape amidst isolation and rejection. “My father despised me because I was deaf and he could not stand for me to have a life outside of the house. When I arrived home he threw me to the ground and beat me with a club full of nails. ” Kavira says, illuminating how even the families of the deaf can often fear and loath them.

Outside of the personal turmoil of their exclusion, there is another threat that hangs constantly over the deaf in the Congo, war. “We can tell that we do not suffer any more: we die.” Jean Bosco says when talking about the conflict that engulfs them and brings not only physical death, but also the inner death that comes from the rape and pillage that the soldiers wreak. Even this conflict is shrouded in mysticism as the Mai Mai fighters talk of their magical invincibility and weapons gifted from god. This is the strange other worldly universe that deaf people in the Congo are trapped in, one of magic and death and unbearable loneliness.

However, they are incredibly resilient. Despite the hardships they endure, some deaf Congolese never give up fighting for dignity and happiness. They make up 2% of the population and are constantly persecuted, they fight a war within a war.