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A VISIT TO DEAF COMMUNITY IN DENMARK

by Jolanta Lapiak, WFDYS Vice President

The 2nd WFD (World Federation of theDeaf) Youth Section meeting took place inCopenhagen, Denmark, during the firstweek of April 2000. My travel to WFDYSmeeting in Copenhagen was sponsored bythe Ontario Association of the Deaf andAlberta Association of the Deaf.

All WFD Youth Section members were inattendance. We were pleased that our meet-ings over three days were quite energeticand productive. Before and after the meet-ings, I had the opportunities to visit Deaf youth activities and organizations in Copenhagenand learn about different issues and projects they had.

Upon my arrival at the train station in Copenhagen from the airport, the very first impres-sion was meeting Vivien, a Danish Deaf and WFDYS member, who stood with a cell phonein her hand, clicking away the letters into a message. Many Deaf Danes have their Nokia

cellular phones and conveniently contacted eachother any time anywhere. They, including Stephen(WFDYS member from Australia) easily contactedeach other with messages via their alpha phones,using short messaging service (SMS) which is al-most similar to short email. It was nearly impos-sible for those with their cell phones to get lost orwait long anywhere! Those including myself with-out cell phones were amused by the users’ endlessfrequent checking of their cell phones.

Some Deaf Danish youths worked at the TV stu-dio, producing some TV shows for the Deaf audi-

The Danish Deaf Association was a fewminutes walk from the Danish deaf youthorganization’s club

The WFDYS meeting took place at the DanishSign Language Institute.

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JUNE 2000Vol. 12, no. 6

CADChat

A Publication of

the Canadian

Association of

the Deaf

WFDYS members (left to right): JolantaLapiak (Canada), Joe Murray (USA),Stephen Nicholson (Austral ia) , LiyaYihedgo (Ethiopia) and Vivien Batory(Denmark).

IN THIS ISSUE. . .A Visit to DeafCommunity in Denmarks. . pg 1Venezuela Trip . . . . . . . . . pg 2Dazzling Experiencein Kuwaitpg. . . . . . . . . . . pg 4Newsletter Survey. . . . . . . pg 5

AAAAABOUTBOUTBOUTBOUTBOUT CAD C CAD C CAD C CAD C CAD CHATHATHATHATHAT

CAD Chat is published by theCanadian Association of theDeaf. The opinions expressed bycontributors do not necessarilyreflect the policy of the Cana-dian Association of the Deaf.CAD welcomes news, articles,letters to the editor, and writ-ten contributions. We the rightto select and edit submissions forpublication.

CAD Chat - Vol. 12, no.6 - June 2000

ence as well as open tothe public. They had aDeaf-run show forabout half an hour ev-ery Saturday includinga part of show for kids.Also, there was 10-minute news in DanishSign Language daily byDeaf anchors! I saw itone evening during thenews hour, fabulous! Aswell, Vivien showed us

a videos of previous TV shows. They did a pretty good creative job.

The Danish Deaf Association has its own building of several storiesand each floor is rented by various Deaf organizations from sports toyouth. The Association also rented a floor in another building nearby.There are about 14 staff, approximately half of them hearing and theother half Deaf. Out of about 5,000 Deaf Danes in a small country,there were about 1,910 paid members of the Danish Deaf Associa-tion.

At the Deaf Danish Youth club, we had a dinner cooked by the Deafyouths in a small cafe on evening of April 3rd. After the dinner, wesocialized with other Danish Deaf youth as well as some visitors fromFinland. There were pool tables, foosball, lounge and other rooms.One particular interesting room was the computer room. It was darkwith blue lights in each corner. In the middle of this room, therewere four high-speed computers connected to the high-speed Internet,each computer mounting on each side of a square column in the middleof a room. The Danish Deaf Youth Association, which had 466 youthmembers, through Danish Deaf Youth Council receives an annualgrant of about DDK 333,000 (roughly about $60,000 CDN) from theirgovernment. Overall, the Danish Deaf community seems to be astrong, positive unity.

The workshop on April 5th was provided by Asger Bergmann, a formerWFD Board member and well-respected Danish Deaf leader, on thehistory of WFD as well as we explored various issues and ideas.Afterwards, we discussed the ideas and goals of the WFDYS and weagreed upon the aims of the WFDYS. The main aims are the net-working of the Deaf youth through camps and other means and theleaderships.

The meetings discussedthe following issues: theWFDYS web page,WFDYS members’ pre-sentations, exploringgrant and fundraisingpossibili t ies, CampGuidelines, discussing aspecial two-day pro-gram for Deaf youth to Danish Deaf Youth Association / Club

Denmark’s famous charming Lit t leMermaid.

Celebrating 50th Anniversary of Caracas Association of the Deaf.

take place during the WFD Congress week, youth survey, volunteersand such.

The next possible WFDYS-related trip might be in Venezuela in lateAugust until early September for both the Latin American Deaf YouthCamp and the conference. The presentation on the WFD Youth willbe at the Canadian Deaf Festival in Edmonton this July 2000.

Overall, the week was a positive experience. Again thanks to ChrisKenopic and the Board of the OAD and Don McCarthy and the Boardof the AAD for their kind support for my travel to the WFDYS meet-ing. With the Canadian Deaf community’s support, the great benefitof this is to bring new information and learning skills and to growleadership into Canada from outside.

VENEZUELA TRIP

By Kim R. Nichols, Organization Development, CAD

As part of the Youth International Internship Program, I visited theinterns, Nancy Landreville and Wendy McNutt in Caracas, Venezu-ela on March 31, 2000, for a week. They were interning for theFederación Venezolana de Sordos located in Caracas.

Upon my arrival at the airport at nearly midnight in Caracas on March31st, 2000, I was overwhelmed by cigarette smoking in the baggagecarousel area. Even a custom officer smoked cigarette and chewedgum. After picking up my baggage, I proceeded into the welcomearea to meet Pedro Poleo, President of the Federación Venezolana deSordos with Francisco Perez, Vice - President.

Going outside into the heavy syrupy air with floral smell, we came tothe beige 1983 Chev Malibu with dark windows and alarm. Afterstowing my baggage in the trunk, I buckled myself into the frontseat. Suddenly both Pedro and Francsico laughed, “Here in Venezu-ela, we have seat belt laws but the police do not care.” The carrumbled, steering its way out of the crowded parking lot onto thehighway which appeared to be continually going uphill in the pitchblack darkness. The air was then cool, while Pedro skillfully droveon the mountainside in and out of unlighted tunnels, occasionally flash-

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ing l ights tonudge thedriver in thefront out ofthe way.Piqued, Iasked whatwas the speedlimit in Ven-ezuela. Again,they laughed.Pedro ex-plained thatVenezuela hadtwo speedlimits – onefor hearing

and one for Deaf people like us but we drive like the hearing. Wefinally reached Pedro’s home after 40 minutes of harrowing driving.

Next day I woke up with bright sunshine streaming through the win-dow. Peering through the blinds, I wasable to see the concrete jungle thatformed Caracas surrounded by thedeep green foliage. That day we werecelebrating Associaion SordosCaracas’ 50th Anniversary with thepresenting of a wreath on SimonBolivar’s grave. Pedro with his wifeCira and I went into Caracas and gottied up in a typical Saturday traffic.The ceremony was held at an oldCatholic (90% of Venezuelans areCatholic) church (which housed theBolivar Family chapel by the PlazaBolivar. The session at church ad-journed to laying of the wreath atSimon Bolivar ’s grave at PantéonNacional - at the site the Venezuelanfolks bombarded me with tidbits of South American history. It wasapparent how much Simon Bolivar’s influence was woven into the

histories of Ec-uador, Chile,Peru, Panama,Venezuela ,and Colombia.

Later in thee v e n i n g ,Caracas Asso-ciation of theDeaf held their50 th Anniver-sary banquet/social at their

Deaf club. There, allformer Presidents told“war” stories abouttheir experiences inrunning the club. CiraPoleo “translated” Ven-ezuelan Sign Languageinto International Signfor it was my first dayin Venezuela. Did youknow that Venezuelameant “Little Venice”?

During days 3 to 6 ofmy trip, I finally got areprieve from the busyschedule that Pedro hadfor me and went swim-ming at a country clubnestled in the hills insuburban Caracas. In

the evening, others and I boarded an air-con-ditioned sleeping bed bus to traverse themountainous, twisting roads to Merida located10 some hours south west of Caracas. Wearrivedin Merida, a city situated 1,650 metresabove sea level at 5:00am, welcoming thesunrise in the Andes. The air, unlike Caracaswas fresh, cool and crisp.

We attended the “ Problemas Actuales en laEducacion Para los Sordos” hosted by the Hu-manities Faculty at the University of LosAndes in Merida. There, Nancy Landreville,Wendy McNutt, and I were immersed in Ven-ezuelan culture and Sign Language. Upon ourarrival at the University, we were unexpect-edly swarmed by interpreters stating “Youknow that I am good and so on “. Apparently

it did not matter if I were from Canada or not. The interpreters’ in-tentions were made clear as before commencing the conference, allDeaf Venezuelans filed into a room and reviewed the interpretersand chose 3 or 4interpreters out oftwenty some inter-preters. Interest-ing!

My hotel room wasin a small guesthouse uptown fromthe town center. Itcertainly was aguest house when Ihad two cuddly

Left to Right: Wendy McNutt, Nancy Landreville,Kim R. Nichols and Eugenio Ravelo at Universtadde Los Andes in Merida.

The first Board members of the Merida Associationof the Deaf; the Canadians served as electionofficials by counting the ballots.

A homeless Deaf person kindly asking fornecessities of life in Maracaibo.

This is the home of the family of four on LosCarlos island in western Venezuela.

Founders and cuurent members of the CaracasAssociation of the Deaf. Pedro Poleo, President ofFENESOR on the right.


furry bats keeping me company in the evenings. In the backyard ofthe house, I could see Pico Bolivar, the highest peak in VenezuelanAndes.

Merida was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of Caracas.

In the last few days of the trip, the next stop on the “ Tour of Venezu-ela” was to Maracaibo - mainly an oil town on the shores of LakeMaracaibo. The lake itself is unspectacular, with oil derricks all overthe place, and due to pollution swimming is not safe. The city itselfis in a recession due to the lagging oil business, so I was told.

At an island at the entrance to the Maracaibo lake was the San CarlosFortress, which was used as a prison for many years. We took a boatto the island from El Moján, which is north of Maracaibo bypassingseveral settlements visible in the jungle. On the island there was avillage on stilts as well as sandy beaches. On that sandy beach, wesaw a family of four lugging food and necessities to their tin shack.The level of poverty was alarming in such an industrialized country.

Upon returning to Maracaibo, we stopped off at a market where wemet a young Deaf female beggar who was very kind and friendly.She showed me her placard stating that she needed money for foodand survival. What struck me was her genuineness and she did notharass passengers on bus for money. For example, if a passengershook head in rejection, she would sign ‘Thank you” and drifted ontoher next person.

We left Maracaibo for Caracas by 10-hour air-conditioned bus ride.(A note to the prospective travelers, do not attempt riding air-condi-tioned bus, they were refrigerators on wheels). Arriving in Caracasat 8:00 am, we got a taxi to Wendy and Nancy’s apartment. Only oneproblem, the first taxi could not start - maybe it was because there

was no hood, no hub caps,the windows were cracked,so we lugged our bags to thenext taxi.

On my last day in Venezu-ela, we had a supper at arooftop bistro overlookingCaracas. The size of Caracasis unbelievable, a concrete

jungle sprawling in all directions. FEVENSOR and the Canadian As-sociation of the Deaf, as a result of this Youth International Intern-ship program , have developed a mutually beneficial partnership.

Many thanks to Pedro and Cira Poleo, Nancy Landreville and WendyMcNutt for making my visit an educational and enjoyable one. If youare interested in the program, please do not hesitate to contact me [email protected]

DAZZLING EXPERIENCE IN KUWAIT

by Jolanta Lapiak, Communications & Information Officer, CAD

Invited by the Deaf community to visit in Kuwait City, Kuwait fromApril 13 to 22, it was one of the most enriching trips. Besides many

School for the Deaf - Girls

School for the Deaf - Boys

fascinating per-sonal experiences,my observation ofthe Deaf commu-nity in Kuwait isshared below alongwith a bit of cul-tural experience.Although, I em-phasize that mystory does not fullyreflect what it re-ally is because of

my short stay and with a circle of people in Kuwait.

My visit to Kuwaitwas during the be-ginning of thesandstorm season;although, theweather had beencomfortably hotyet dry all aroundthe clock. Mostmen wore whitewardrobe withwhite or red-whitep a t t e r n e dheadwear. While, most women wore various long-sleeved and feet-length attires with head scarves. They were warm-hearted and hospi-table. Their lifestyle was easygoing and Kuwait was a strong family-oriented wealthy society.

Leaving Canada on Thursday, April 13, and arriving in Kuwait onFriday on April 14 leftme no weekend becauseThursday and Fridaywere the weekend in Ku-wait. On Saturday, firstday of the working week,I visited the schools forthe deaf. Like some othercountries (eg. Pakistan),the education for the deafin Kuwait was behind.

For students of grade 6 and beyond, they studied in limited voca-tional options. Women and men were schooling separately. After-ward, we met with the Minister of Education to discuss highlights onDeaf education.

During the week, a group of Deaf and I visited different museumsand sites, including Arab organizations, National Committee Miss-ing and P.O.W.S. Affairs, and Bureau de Martyrs which displayedsome history of tragic tortures. One of those, we also learned aboutthe Kuwait Sign Language research at the Kuwait Institute for Scien-

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tific Research where they have developed a CDROM in Kuwait SignLanguage for Deaf children. We also consulted with theUndersecretary Ministry of Social Affairs to discuss the funding forsending a few Deaf women to Canada for the Canadian Deaf Festi-val. During the week, I was interviewed by three press reporters aswell as this Deaf Kuwait woman expressed her voice, mainly on thetopic of Deaf education.

There were two sites of the Kuwait Club of the Deaf for women andmen where they socialized separately. The Kuwait Club for the Deaf– Men has about 2,000 acres of land with one-story buildings sur-rounding the field in the middle. On the other hand, the KCD – Womenhas slightly less acres of property; although, its field is currently inthe process of renovation. The KCD administration was male-domi-nated and the main activities of those clubs were mostly sports andrecreations (eg. homemaking arts for women). Because the KCD wasmore of a social club, a group of Deaf people expressed the desire toestablish the Ku-wait Associationof the Deaf to ad-vocate for betterlives of Deaf Ku-waiti.

In the middle ofthe field at theKCD – Women un-der the night skyand lights, KuwaitiDeaf women in theaudience waitedexcitedly, alongwith male execu-tive members. Asthey explained, Iwas the first Deafwoman from over-seas to meet Ku-waiti Deaf women.We all greeted wel-come before I gave

my presentation about the Canadian Association of the Deaf, Deafcommunity in Canada in general, Canada’s host of the World Con-gress of the WFD for 2003 and other open discussion. Afterwards,we exchanged gifts.

Next day on my birthday, I gave a presentation in the theatre at theschools for the Deaf girls and boys. Many students expressed theirdesires for higher learning or education as well as frustrations withlimited options and education. Many students and some teachers askedmany questions.

There was no closed-captioning. There was a very few non-formally-certified interpreters. Some others had a good employment, ownedbusinesses or simply were wealthy. Some relied on their pagers andcell phones which few could talk. Interesting, those Deaf women usednumeral codes to communicate with others via pagers. Everywhere Iwent, there was always Indian servants, serving drinks and food aswell as other responsibilities. Overall, those Deaf seems to be quitecontented with life.

I wish to thank Nazar Al-Gumer for his hard work in planning, sched-uling and touring during my hospitable stay in Kuwait. He has a hugewarm heart for helping those Deaf with needs in Kuwait. Many thanksgo to Bader who also has a great kindness for helping in interpretingduring the tours and presentations. I am grateful for those womenfor their humour, companionship and supports. I appreciate Saud,school director, for her kindness in touring through the Deaf educa-tion.

NEWSLETTER SURVEY

A survey for considering improvements and changes to CAD Chatnewsletter was distributed to the subscribers in our February issue.The result of the survey is below. Note that some unanswered choicewere not counted. We thank all participants for their supports.

Seventy-two responses have been received, of which 36 were femaleand 32 were male, which is a good balance of readership of bothsexes. In the age categories, the majority of readers are between 26and retired age. This reflects a need in improvement on youth read-ership.

Participants were as follows: 17 from British Columbia, 15 fromOntario, 12 from Alberta, 8 from Newfoundland, 7 from Quebec, 7from Manitoba, 3 from Saskatchewan, 1 from Nova Scotia, and 1from Denmark. Top four provinces of most responses, I believe, wereas a result of affiliated organization’s reprint in their newsletter and/or direct discount subscription via organization. The Danish DeafAssociation has enjoyed our newsletter exchange for a long time.

The majority of respondents in order were Deaf, Hearing, small num-ber of Hard of Hearing, and few Deafened. Out of those readers, 40have completed college or university studies; 13 high school; 8 voca-tional school and 9 incomplete from high school. New readers withinlast 12 months were 13; 21 have read for 2 or 3 years; 13 for 4 or 5years, 7 for 6 to 9 years, and surprisingly 16 readers for 10 years.

The majority chose 6 pages per issue (per language). 55 readers pre-

Schools for the Deaf - Boys and Girls at thetheatre during Jolanta’s presentation.


ferred English-only version of issue while other 3 chose French-onlyversion. On the other, 13 chose both English and French issue. Somerespondents commented on cutting down spending on bilingual for-mat. With one version, it would double a story. The majority acceptsadvertising in the issues.

We asked the readers to check two preferred formats of issues. Manydid not check two. Nevertheless, 58 picked print while 39 pickedemails. Mainly readers picked $20 a year for the issues and alterna-tively is $25.

Each of four levels of reading difficulty received about an equal num-ber of votes. Apparently, level of readship is a wide range. Usingvarious level of writing styles is a strong suggestion. Font size of 12is most favorable and size 11 is alternative.

General comments include requests for more pictures and graphicsas well as more pages or stories. Many listed requests for features,including international news, national news, profiles of Deaf Cana-dians, event calendar, youth, CAD projects, and advice/opinion/Q&Acolumns, as well as other issues such as deaf business, technology,transportation, deaf-plus, history and culture.

On the basis of the original detailed report of the survey, with theproposal of changes to the CAD, the newsletter hopefully will beevolved rather than an overnight change. Again, we appreciate theparticipants for their time and support.

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