In those early years, the children of Tira Chapéu were invisible to the state. They stayed within the walls of their homes, disconnected from the schools that stood only streets away. Tavares saw that what these families lacked was not affection, but a bridge. She committed herself to building it, first by identifying the need and later by forming the Associação Cabo-Verdiana de Surdos (ACS). She understood that a person who cannot hear does not require charity; they require a way to participate in the world on their own terms.
The transformation began to take a visible shape in the classrooms of Escola Secundária Pedro Gomes. For the first time, deaf students sat among their hearing peers, flanked by interpreters who turned the spoken word into the rhythmic geometry of Portuguese Sign Language. These students did not merely attend; they completed their cycles of study, moving from the back of the room to the front of professional life.
The work remains physically demanding. Today, technicians from the association travel between the capital's scattered schools by their own means, carrying their expertise from one classroom to the next. They navigate the hilly terrain of Praia to reach students who, twenty years ago, would have had no prospect of an education. The language they use has grown its own local roots, incorporating specific gestures for the names of the islands and the distinct flavors of the archipelago’s food.
Deaf people have capabilities; they simply need opportunities.
Tavares now directs her attention to the television screens in every Cape Verdean living room. While the evening news on RTC now includes an interpreter, the rest of the day’s programming remains silent for those who cannot hear. For Tavares, the goal is total immersion: a society where the language of the hands is as common and as respected as the spoken word, ensuring that no child in a neighborhood like Tira Chapéu ever has to be hidden again.