DOOR-Africa, Kenya
Aug: Bible Translation Trainer
Helene: Assistant
Children: Asher and Naphtali (hearing)
Aug was born Deaf. His mother would take him to church regularly, but he did not understand anything. At the Deaf school, missionaries would come and talk about Jesus, but it did not make sense to him. To make a girlfriend happy he accepted Jesus, but really did not understand what he was doing, and did not even know how to pray. He was baptized, but again, did not understand what it meant. He just agreed to please others. He attended church, but did not understand the teaching. He even taught children by copying another teacher, but again did not understand... and neither did the children.
When a DOOR staff person started teaching him the Bible in Sign Language he finally started to understand for the first time. He began to evaluate his life. Aug truly came to know the Lord in 1995.
In 1996 while serving in a Deaf church in Nairobi teaching children, a DOOR missionary, after watching him teach, asked him to join a DOOR Bible study. He was a student and trainer in the first graduating class of the DOOR-Africa DCLTC (Deaf Christian Leadership Training Center), receiving an Honorary Diploma in theology. While attending DOOR-Africa Aug signed, "God's Word is so clear and easy to understand when signed to me. Wow! I understand!"
After his graduation, Aug continued to workat DOOR-Africa DCLTC as a trainer. As Training Coordinator he coordinated all the classes and schedules. Aug was able to get considerable experience in teaching, follow-up, leadership skills, Deaf culture, Deaf relationships, and Chronological Bible Storying (CBS).
In 2005, Aug married Helene (DOOR-Africa class of 2004) from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Helene is the youngest in a family of 10. She became Deaf at the age of 8, after a bout with meningitis. She enrolled at a Deaf school in Kisangani in 1987, where she completed her primary and high school education. She worked as a teacher at the Hope Deaf Centre school in Kisangani. She became much more involved in church activities and was baptized in 1990. She loves teaching Deaf people and she teaches them to praise God through singing with their hands.
In 2006, their son Asher was born. Recently (August 2007) Aug, Helene, and Asher moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Helene's home country). There they are starting a community evangelism ministry using DOOR ministry "tools."