Meet the Zwakala Judges – Part 2
Yesterday we introduced you to the judges responsible for the South African entrants in Zwakala, and today we introduce you to the judges responsible for the gala event.
These judges will be looking at, and assessing, the very best that each of the 11 SADC nations have chosen during their own finals, before selecting the final winners in each category.
Alison Swannack
Alison Swannack is an enthusiastic educator, activist and passionate advocate for the Deaf, with 23 years’ proven experience in the areas of teaching and curriculum development. She is currently employed as SASL Course Coordinator, curriculum developer and facilitator at Wits Language School. She is also currently involved in writing the SASL curriculum (CAPS) for the National Department of Basic Education. She believes strongly in delivering educational and management programs that assist students and the public in achieving academic goals whilst enhancing community awareness on issues relevant to the Deaf community.
Alison is currently pursuing studies in SASL/ Translation and Interpreting at Wits . She was awarded an Honourable Mention for her paper on `The fake SASL interpreter – A curse or a gift’ at the joint annual conference of the LSSA/SAALA and SAALT in June 2014. Her areas of interest include bilingualism, identity, language education, and the performing arts.
Bibi Ayesha Ramjugernath
Ayesha Ramjugernath is no stranger to television as she has previously presented for Deaf TV on SABC. Intersexions, however, is her first acting role on television and she is excited about her future prospects. The ambitious 28-year old was born into a deaf family and her mother tongue is South African Sign Language. She says being born deaf helped her develop very quickly, and Ayesha had already started school by the age of three. Her mother and older sister are also deaf.
Ayesha Ramjugernath firmly believes in the empowerment of Deaf individuals and aims at bridging the communication divide between a linguistic and cultural minority group and the general society who often takes communication for granted.
Her disability has never taken away from her sterling achievements or prevented her from chasing her dreams. She matriculated with exemption from Parktown Girls and is a South African Sign Language Honours lecturer at Wits University Tutor and Subject Matter Master at eDeaf, a qualified assessor and moderator. She is currently studying towards a BA Linguistics, majoring in English.
The multi talented Ayesha has always had a love for the performing arts and did speech and drama as a subject in high school.
Ismael Mansoor
Ismael Mansoor was born a hearing child, but lost his hearing at the age of two and a half. He attended Fulton School for the Deaf and completed his Matric in 2007. After matriculating Ismael didn’t know what to do, and he felt lost, but between 2011 and 2012 he rediscovered his creativity – and a love of writing grew. Since then he has written various forms of text such as affirmations, poetry and some stories, and feels that writing has become his compass in life, and his passion. He hopes to motivate and encourage others through his writing.
In his writing Ismael wants to motivate people to look at the positive side of life more than the negative, and he hopes that it will give people a different perspective and bridge the natural gap between reality and imagination. Through his writing he wants to tell people about who he is and how he sees the world.
