March 2011 1

Volume 4, Issue 3

March 2011

DDW’s pioneer journey to Costa Rica

www.discoveringdeafworlds.org

By Sara Romes

“English-ASL-Spanish-LESCO-English-Spanish-ASL-Spanish-LESCO-English-International. Yow, my brain hurts!” This was my Facebook status on the sec-ond day of DDW’s recent Journey to Costa Rica, where I was participating as both interpreter and tour guide. In our group of 16, we had eight languages present: Spanish, Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO), Eng-lish, American Sign Language (ASL), Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN), British Sign Language (BSL), German and German Sign Language. Phew! Despite the variety of communication styles and the gambit of languages, everyone quickly adjusted and communi-cation became very smooth. There were times where people used pagers to write back and forth, where a British interpreter voiced from AUSLAN, and where a German interpreter voiced in English for another par-ticipant! All in all, “DDW provided barrier-free commu-nication to all Deaf and Hard of Hearing travelers,” said Journeys participant and National Technical Institute for the Deaf engineering professor Wendy Dannels. “A rare gem!”

A trip highlight was attending a presentation by Ran-dall Herrera, Carlos Gutierrez, and Leo Lopez, mem-bers of Costa Rica’s National Association of the Deaf, ANASCOR. Participants learned about “Tico” Deaf cul-ture, the preservation of LESCO, and a unique project that ANASCOR has developed with the guidance of DDW. Currently, there are only 10-15 qualified inter-preters for the country’s 27,000-plus Deaf population. Many Deaf children are receiving cochlear implants and entering mainstream education systems. Teachers at Deaf schools are not always fluent in LESCO, and as a result, the schools are starting to close due to a lack of enrollment.

The presenters told us how ANASCOR’s original plan to combat these problems was to create a LE-SCO DVD to educate rural Deaf people in Costa Rica. In the past year, however, this project has blossomed to highlight ANASCOR’s extensive network in Costa Rica—a resourceful tool that can be utilized to lobby the government for higher Deaf education standards. ANASCOR members are now researching and iden-tifying concrete problems with current Deaf education standards and will draft a report of their findings and

ANASCOR and Journeys participants after Randall, Carlos and Leo’s presentation. Pura Vida!

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proposed solutions to deliver to the government. Their next goal is to collect over 5,000 signatures

from school directors, parents of Deaf children, and the Deaf community at large for a petition demand-ing that the government provides bilingual education and requiring a higher level of LESCO fluency among teachers of Deaf students throughout Costa Rica. Workshops and a DVD in LESCO will be supplemen-tal tools for ANASCOR members to communicate their plans to the general public. Lopez, who duals as an ANASCOR member and DDW’s Costa Rican repre-sentative, explained that DDW “challenges us with dif-ferent ideas and to think from different perspectives. Their questions and feedback get us thinking about things we never thought of before, and then we come up with our own solutions and ideas. . .That gives us confidence in the project and motivation to keep work-ing, because the ideas came from within ourselves.”

We also visited Don Juan’s Eco Farm near Arenal Volcano. Juan, who is quite the witty character, runs a sustainable organic farm that produces enough food to feed 40 people daily. The group learned about organic farming and sugar cane production, and picked differ-ent vegetables that would be used in preparing lunch for the group that day.

On our first day in San Jose, we visited Fernando Centeno Guell, the largest Deaf school in Costa Rica.

We joined the Deaf students in attending a black-light performance, and then visited several classrooms to talk with the principal, teachers and students about Deaf education in Costa Rica. Our 10-day tour was wrapped up with a presentation by the Titi Conservation Alliance. We learned about responsible tourism, sus-tainable development, and how we, as tourists, can be more mindful of where and how we spend our money. For example, the dollars we spend while traveling sup-port an industry that is either preserving or damaging the local environment. By researching hotels and tour companies that practice environmentally-sound meth-ods, we can put our money behind the right cause.

Relationships built during long bus rides and

Be the next to host a DDW event!Contact ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org for more information

DDW has presented to many deaf advocacy organizations and schools across the globe

Osaka, JapanIkuno Rou Gakkou

Kochi, JapanRotary Club InternationalKochi Rou Gakkou

Manila, PhilippinesDe La Salle College of Saint Benilde

Melbourne, AustraliaDeaf Children Australia

Christchurch, New ZealandVan Asch Deaf Education Centre

Rochester, NYBoulder Co�ee South WedgeMonroe Community CollegeMonroe First BOCESRoc Deaf Rotary ClubRoc Recreation Club for the DeafRoc School for the DeafSPoT Co�eeSt. Lawrence SchoolThe Little TheatreTwelve Corners Middle School

Boulder, COUniversity of Colorado at Boulder

Muncie, INBall State University

East Lansing, MIMichigan State University

Bu�alo, NYSt. Mary’s School for the Deaf

Ewing, NJThe College of New Jersey

Brattleboro, VTBrattleboro Union High School

Boston, MABoston Access Advocates for the Deaf

Kolkata, IndiaShuktara

Changchun, ChinaChangchun University

London, EnglandShuktara UK

San Jose, Costa RicaANASCOR

Soaked but stoked, Journeys participants are all smiles after a zip line adventure.

through adventurous activities like ziplining through the cloud for-est in the middle of a torrential rainstorm will stick with us for a life-time. Former ANAS-COR president Herrera joined us for the entire trip, adding insight to lo-cal culture, Deaf issues, and further understand-ing of LESCO. While at a local Deaf social event at Plaza de Cultura, a local Deaf person asked Jour-ney participant Tyler Swob why he had returned to Costa Rica. He responded, “I realized something was missing from my last trip to Costa Rica—it was meet-ing local Deaf people.”

DDW Journeys is a unique opportunity, offering par-ticipants the chance to absorb local culture (from tradi-tional “gallo pinto” breakfasts to dancing salsa on the streets), participate in outlandish adventurous activi-ties (like whitewater rafting the Savegre River), and en-gage in the local Deaf community. By bringing outside support to local Deaf advocacy associations, DDW

Journeys is building the associations’ confidence to continue and improve the work they do. As an added bonus, in the end, Journeys participants donated over $1,000 to the four nonprofits they visited.

Several participants mentioned they may sign up for the upcom-ing Journey to Thailand/Cambodia in August

2011. Visits to the World Heritage Site ruins at Ang-kor Wat, Thailand’s National Association of the Deaf, an inspirational deaf vocational training center at Epic Arts Café in Cambodia, and strolling through Bang-kok’s street markets scattered with deaf vendors are but a few highlights for this next tour. If you’re thinking of joining…what are you waiting for? Sign up today!

Sara Romes, CI/CT, is a RID-certified interpreter and DDW Journeys guide. For more information on the recent DDW Journey to Costa Rica, contact sromes@discoveringdeafworlds.org or visit DDW’s page at www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/programs/journeys.

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BuMpY bUs RiDeS: If you find yourself taking an overnight bus ride between cities, request a seat in the middle of the bus. Seats in this area have better shock absorption between the front and rear axles, making for much smoother rides on unpaved roads.

Map your own way: Before you leave for your trip, make copies of city maps and tape them into a journal. When you are trying to find your way on an unmarked street corner, you can subtly peer into your journal instead of drawing unwanted attention with a full-size map or guidebook in hand. Alternatively, if you’re a photo junkie and always have your camera out, snap photos of your maps and save them to the clipboard for easy access whenever you need them!

Too many knickknacks!: Carry-on bags are often filled with tons of little things —batteries, snacks, sunscreen, coins, a deck of cards, pills/vitamins, gum, power cords, iPods, etc., all of which easily get lost or buried at the bottom. Organize your items in sturdy Ziploc freezer bags and save yourself the hassle of digging through the infinite pile of knickknacks to find what you are looking for.

Travel Tidbits

Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.

– Alan Keightley

Journeys participant Katherine Putnam chats with Deaf students at Fernando Centeno Guell.

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Kolkata Kruise

By Madan Vasishta

DDW Executive Director Davin Searls and I arrived at the historic Howrah Bridge railways station in Kol-kata, India, after a 17-hour train ride. The ride, though long, was very comfortable. The Rajdhani trains are fast and efficient, and are clean by Indian standards. There is also meal service, but when Davin had his vegetarian meal and I my non-vegetarian meal, they mixed it up. All Americans eat meat, right?

Alison, the Uddami director, met us at the platform and led us out through the jostling crowd to a mov-ing cluster of yellow taxis sprinkled in a sea of trucks, buses, scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians and even rickshaws pulled by barefooted men. She got us in a taxi, which slowly wormed its way through the early morning Kolkata traffic to meet Christy Smith and David Earp. Christy was to leave for the U.S. after a five-month teaching assignment.

Christy, David and Alison told us repeatedly that Kolkata was different from the rest of India. The people here refuse to accept or even desire change. Rather, they live in the past. While Deaf people in other parts of India were making progress, Kolkata Deaf people bus-ied themselves with complaining about hearing people and the government and bickering among themselves. Christy had enjoyed her teaching experience very much and felt good about what she did, but was very discouraged about the adult Deaf community.

We had a chance to visit Uddami, a computer train-ing program for young people, both deaf and hearing. Later, Alison took us to Shuktara, which David Earp

manages with the help of Pappu, a Bi-hari guy. The group home has about a dozen young people abandoned by their parents and later adopted by Da-vid. Most of them are Deaf, while others have various physical disabilities. They were all very happy to see Davin and each welcomed him with a hug.

We wanted to meet Deaf people and identify a few leaders who would help us orient to the Deaf community in Kolkata and also educate us about the major needs there. There are eight Deaf clubs in Kolkata, but they do not work together. Raja, a Shuktara Deaf resident, told us about a Deaf club that met on Wednes-days and Saturdays. We agreed to go there then.

The next morning, we met Brinda Crishna, director of VAANI, which focuses on early education of Deaf children and runs several small pre-schools in the slums. Brinda briefed us on the Kolkata Deaf scene and confirmed what we had been told: Kol-kata lives in the past. She arranged for us to visit two preschool classes.

It was an inspiring experience seeing a group of very dedicated teachers, aides and other volunteers working with very young Deaf children and their moth-ers. Davin and I encouraged the mothers to learn sign language and read to their children. They listened to us politely, but did comment about the need for speech. They wanted their children to be “normal.”

Sreela Bose, a veteran teacher of Deaf students, came to our hotel at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. She had started as an oral teacher over 40 years earlier, but learned to sign. We discussed bilingual education, to-tal communication, oral education, and the Deaf com-munity in Kolkata, among other issues. Sreela is an open and frank lady, and we learned a lot. Yet the basic premise remained: Kolkata does not want to change.

Davin had sent out an open invitation to Deaf peo-ple to meet us in the food court in front of KFC. Yes, Kolkata has several KFCs and each branch employs a number of Deaf people. We established our “office” and I worked the cell phone sending texts back and forth to Deaf people who said they were coming or ex-pressed regrets. By two p.m., we had 12 Deaf people. Davin kept a dialogue going on about what Deaf people in Kolkata needed and what could be done. He made it clear that we were not here to give any solution, but simply to help them network.

Madan Vasishta visits a preschool in the Kolkata slums.

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March 2011 5December 2010 5

We explained that Deaf people were running NGOs, fighting for their rights, and getting jobs in Hyderabad and Delhi, and encouraged them to do the same in Kol-kata. They were very bright young Deaf people who had convinced themselves that nothing could be done. However, after two hours of discussions, there seemed to be an interest in starting an NGO. It was decided that a formal meeting involving more Deaf people should be called upon Davin’s return in two weeks. One young lady volunteered to find a hall and make other arrange-ments. Thus, our four hours in the food court were very fruitful.

Five young people who had met us in the food court volunteered to lead us to the Deaf club. We rode two different buses. All Deaf people have passes that al-lows them to ride city buses free. Davin and I did not have the pass, but the conductor, seeing us sign, did not ask us for a ticket. Actually, he did not ask any of our new friends for a ticket. It appeared that the ticket to a free bus ride in Kolkata was to sign. I wondered about oral deaf people.

We walked a couple of kilometers and found a group of Deaf people sitting in an open verandah. They did not have any office or sign; rather, they had just a few chairs to sit and a few photographs posted on the wall. But what the club lacked in equipment and furniture was made up in the spirit of it members. They did not have a manifesto or written goals. They got together “to talk, help each other, and meet new people,” as its founder put it. He did not have any title, either. We enjoyed our visit and talked about Kolkata and America while sip-ping tea from thimble-sized plastic cups. We recruited a few young people to help us organize a large open meeting the following week. They were to work with the young people we had met earlier that day.

As Davin and I rode the taxi to our hotel, we were, for the first time, feeling elated. There were indeed people in Kolkata who want to change things and who want to cooperate with us to help us help them.

As a direct result of our efforts, DDW has identified several Deaf leaders in Kolkata. Davin is currently de-veloping a leadership training program with this group to identify and train Deaf people to provide English training and professional development classes to the Kolkata Deaf community.

In addition, DDW hosted a successful event, Workshop to Promote Deaf Leadership, in Kolkata on March 6 with 250 people in attendance. The CEO and general secretary of Deaf EnAbled Foundation (Hy-derabad) presented, as did Davin. We look forward to supporting continued cultivation of Deaf empower-ment in Kolkata!

Madan Vasishta is a DDW Board member and chair of DDW’s Program Development Committee. For more information on this story, contact Davin Searls at dsearls@discoveringdeafworlds.org.

Davin Searls with Krishna, a leader in the Kolkata Deaf community.

What is DDW?Discovering Deaf Worlds is a 501(c)(3) non-profit international deaf advocacy organi-zation dedicated to empowering deaf and hard of hearing communities in developing countries. DDW strives to advance the ca-pacity of local deaf communities around the globe to meet their social, educational and employment needs.

For more information, visit www.discoveringdeafworlds.org.

DDW will visit Uganda, Tan-zania, and Kenya in June and July 2011, prior to at-tending the WFD Congress in South Africa.

Do you know of any deaf schools, organizations, or leaders in these areas? If

so, please help connect us by e-mailing: ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org

Photo: http://roadtravel1.wordpress.com/page/2/

DDW in Africa

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March 2011 7

“From our eyes”: A personal reflection on Bahrain Deaf culture

By Ahlam Oun

For a very long time, I had been on an agoniz-ing search for something that I could marvel at, something that inspired me, something that made me speechless. Finally, I found it.

My experience with Deaf culture began in March 2008 on my birth-day. My good friend Mari-am asked me what I wanted for a birthday gift and I asked for something that would change my perspective on life, a gift of do-ing something good for people and the com-munity. And that’s exactly what happened. There was a U.S.-Bahrain Exchange Pro-gram for people with disabilities, and vol-unteers were needed.

I volunteered as an English-Arabic in-terpreter. To my good fortune, I was need-ed for a rather unique event, one with a Deaf youth audience. Since many sign language interpreters in Bahrain are not fluent in English, it is difficult for them to interpret lectures conducted by American guests. Therefore, an interpreter was needed to bridge the hearing and Deaf worlds.

I stood there translating between English and Ara-bic while another interpreter translated between Arabic and Arabic Sign Language. That was when I fell in love with sign language and Deaf culture.

Afterwards, I strived to know more and so I started avidly reading about Deaf culture. One book that stood out was Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks. I was so fas-cinated by his work that I have read it multiple times and given copies to many friends as a gateway to the amazing world of Deaf people.

Over a year later, I became involved with the Bah-rain Disability Challenging Youth Society as a volun-teer. As I shared my dream to learn not only Arabic Sign Language but also American Sign Language, I learned that a program for American Sign Language was about to start for the very first time in Bahrain! I could not have asked for a better opportunity.

Since then, I have found myself among amazing people who are eager to learn, to do and embrace

all who want to be part of their Deaf world. Spend-ing time with them after classes was the most in-teresting part of the day. With the little sign lan-guage my friends and I knew, we could talk about dreams, thoughts, chal-lenges and even the silly things that happened in our daily lives. And since then, volunteer projects have popped up in my head constantly!

One project that in-spired me came about when our American Sign Language instructor Pat-rick Galasso saw an ad for the Bahrain Short Film Festival. We decided to combine our efforts to cre-ate a short movie about

the challenges that Deaf youth face in Bahrain. I hap-pened to know brilliant volunteers who were interested in filmmaking, Mazen Al-Maskati and Salman Al Dosri. We met with the group of Deaf volunteers almost daily to create the story, choose the actors and start shoot-ing. The most interesting part for me was the story brainstorming sessions, where we sat in a circle and everyone shared stories, challenges and dreams.

At the beginning of every session, since no inter-preter was available, I started by apologizing to them for not being fluent in Arabic Sign Language or Ameri-can Sign Language and asked for their patience and help, and the response I got each and every time was “From our eyes.” This is a beautiful and loving Arabic proverb that means, “I am here to help you with every-thing I can, even from my precious eyes,” an answer that makes a person feel loved and warm inside.

The challenges that Deaf people face in Bahrain are profound. In an advanced country with high education standards and economical status, one might think that the right of education is acted upon, yet I have come to discover that for Deaf people, a high school is not even available, let alone a university. That issue was the main theme in the movie created with Deaf people and by Deaf people, Born to Fly.

Local deaf school students put their hands together.

Ahlam Oun, Patrick Galasso and Salman Al Dosri in Bahrain

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Our handle is @DDW_Team, or go to

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The government has no formal census or informa-tion on the number of people who are Deaf or have hearing loss. An informal survey of members in the Bahrain Deaf Society (BDS) estimates the number fluctuates around 1,000. BDS has 250 members and provides training and workshops for its members; it is volunteer-run. Bahrain also has no professional sys-tem set up for interpreting and the few extremely skilled in Bahrain do so voluntarily. Bahrain has one primary school for Deaf and hard of hearing students. The older kids hang out until they time out. There are no secondary or university options for Deaf people. They could go to a university, but the system is unprepared, as are the students, with a lack of teachers trained in Deaf education, no interpreters, and students lacking the necessary foundation of knowledge to pursue uni-versity education; the information is inaccessible.

The journey with Deaf people in Bahrain has just started. There are countless things we can learn and

projects we can do together. It only requires a helping hand and they are already fluent in it.

Contact Ahlam Oun at ahlam.oun@gmail.com or Patrick Galasso at patrice.galasso@gmail.com for more information.

Newsletter services provided byT.S. Writing Services, LLC

www.tswriting.comA Deaf-Owned Company

Hasan with Deaf youth Mohammed, Aziz, Taher, Adnan, and Sayed during the filming of Born to Fly.

Deaf in DCBy Madan Vasishta

Now on sale!

To order a copy, visithttp://gupress. gallaudet.edu

Fifty percent of the royalties from this memoir will be donated to

Discovering Deaf Worlds.

If you have connected with the deaf community in a developing country and want to share your story, e-mail a brief summary of your experience to ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org.

Call for contributing writers!

March 2011 9

Special Features Include:More stories from Shuktara, Meet Pappu

and DDW: Journeys slideshow

www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/support

Discovering: Shuktara was editied and co-produced by

• Has been proposed as the site for the biblical Garden of Eden.

• Is the fastest growing economy in the Arab world.

• Is an Arabic word meaning Two Seas, signifying freshwater springs found within the surrounding salty seas.

• Is know for its oil and pearls.• Citizens are currently protesting alongside

recent Arab democracy demonstrators.

Source: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bahrain

Did you know?

Eliabeth Bjerke and Nina Eagin: You have made our “Host a DDW Fundraiser” a true success! Thank you for taking the initiative to promote our work and help raise funds.

Bernard Bragg: Thank you for shining a bit of the spotlight on DDW! We are grateful to you and your big heart!

Dr. Maria Massone and the staff at INADI: Thank you for the warm welcome to Buenos Aires! We are inspired by the level of impact you are making on your community and wish you great success with es-tablishing Argentina’s first bilingual/bicultural high school for deaf students.

The Kolkata crew, Sandeep, Hari, and the DEF staff: In your own ways, each of you has contributed to the promotion of deaf leadership in India. Thank you for your dedication and generosity. Looking forward to working with you for years to come!

Check out DDW’s weekly vlogs at www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/videos/frontpage.html!

View DDW’s weekly vlogs

Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!

Bahrain

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