One of the biggest challenges facing the school is finding a steady stream of income to fund the day to day running costs.

Right now, there are no easy solutions - but investing in income generating projects, like the school farm, could change things.

St Joseph’s isn’t just a place for children with hearing loss to access education - it’s a community, fighting for inclusion and a bright future for vulnerable children.

The WHO estimates that 1.9% of the 250,000 children born in Sierra Leone each year - that’s 4,500 children each year - are born with hearing impairment, most of which is profound deafness.

St Joseph’s School for the Hearing Impaired was established in 1979, by the Sisters of Cluny, a group of nuns working in Makeni.