True Love

True Love

Lincoln and Sekai Matongo are a young married couple. Both are formally employed within the government of Zimbabwe. Lincoln is an Information Technology Specialist within a certain government ministry and he also sits on the National Disability Board. His wife, Sekai is a qualified teacher. At face value there is nothing unique or outstanding about the couple, they have children like other couples, they live in their own home and are also avid christians who belong to the United Methodist Church. However, the couple is made up of 2 deaf individuals. Despite their disability both Lincoln and Sekai are managing to raise 2 wonderful children who are able to speak and hear. Thisability hub recently got the opportunity to chat with them about their experiences as a deaf married couple.

Thisability Hub: What did you notice about your wife on the first time you met her?

Lincoln: When I first met my wife she caught my eye. She was and is still beautiful. She had that shy smile and I Instantly fell in love. Head over heels!

Thisability Hub: How long have been married?

Lincoln: We got married in 2008, our wedding anniversary is 2nd of Aug 2008.

Thisability Hub: What attracted you to Lincoln?

Sekai: When I first met him I noticed that he is a good man who is very kind hearted this led me to want to get to know him more.

Thisability Hub: What are some of your most memorable experiences as a husband?

Lincoln: Well the birth of our children Tapuwa 2009 and Tendekai 2013 where very memorable experiences for me. Another memorable experience is when I managed to enroll my wife at Morgan ZINTEC to train as teacher in 2015. She subsequently completed training and qualified in 2017.

Thisability Hub: As mother who is deaf how have you managed to raise hearing children?

Sekai: Lincoln and I managed to teach our children both sign language and shona when they were very young. They now know sign language very well. I talk to them using sign language. When a hearing person comes speak to me, my children actually help me to communicate through interpreting sign language to the person I will be conversing with.

Thisability Hub: As a deaf father how have you managed to raise children who are hearing?

Lincoln: I have managed just like every other parent, raising a family doesn’t make a deaf person special because it is a natural thing for everyone to do.

Thisability Hub: What is your advice to other married women with disabilities out there?

Sekai: My advice to other wives who have disabilities is that they should remain faithful to their husbands. They must be proactive and not just sit at home doing nothing. They must find something to do to help their husbands to feed their families.

Thisability Hub: Many people feel that people with disabilities must marry each other. What is your view of this notion?

Lincoln: First of all, love knows no boundary. It can jump beyond disability and succeed. However, deaf to deaf marriage gives the couple the best communication in their marriage. Since marriage involves the whole family the deaf couple will stick together during family gatherings. If one of the partners is hearing they may be involved in other things during family gatherings and not give adequate attention to the deaf spouse. When we are together during family gatherings with no interpreters we simply sit together and chat on our own.

Thisability Hub: How have you managed to keep yourself and your family safe from catching Covid19 given the fact that there is little to no information about covid19 available in sign language?

Sekai: Well as a family we are social distancing by mostly staying at home. However, we always ensure that we wear face masks and sanitize our hands whenever we go into public spaces.

Thisability Hub: Thank you for sharing your story with us Mr and Mrs Matongo.

Lincoln and Sekai: It was our pleasure!