Zavala September update
September, 2010
Dear friends and family,
It is already September. The winter in Lima is almost over. We see the sun trying to come out often after this unusual cold and wet winter we have had. It is the end of the summer in the USA and as I type this we are preparing for Hurricane Earl to pass by Long Island.
I write to you from New York where I am visiting my family. We are all well. The news from our family is that our daughter, Carmen, has moved to Lima to teach at Callao High School for six months. She was unemployed here in the States when this opportunity presented itself. This will be an opportunity for her to consider what the Lord wants for her life.
This past winter in Lima and at Señales has been challenging because of the way the Peruvian government is responding to the laws recently passed recognizing Peruvian Sign Language and the deaf community’s need for interpreter services. Let me try to explain:
The Parent and Friends of the Deaf Association (APAS in Spanish) recently joined forces with the Parent-Teacher Association of the mainstreamed school Ludwig Van Bethoven to protest about the lack of teachers who know sign language and the lack of interpreters in the classrooms. The school year began in March and by the end of May they still had no sign language access for the deaf students as they had promised.
The frustrated parents decided to go on strike and not let their children go into the school until the school got teachers skilled in sign language or interpreters in each classroom. The school threatened to expel the students and yet the parents stood their ground. A vigil was organized to stand in front of the school all night. The local press and TV came and the school’s director finally agreed to have interpreters in the classroom. He asked for a list of possible candidates. It was given. However, not all the names were accepted. Instead, people without experience were brought in. One of them listed as an “interpreter” was a custodian who did not have contact with the students nor did he know anything about signing. One teacher with a degree in deaf education and knew sign language was asked to apply. Strangely, this competent teacher was not hired but rather was sent to another school where they do not need her skills in working with deaf children.
The fight goes on and it is being spearheaded by the parents. Many of them are frustrated and they feel cheated by the authorities who are mandated to provide proper education to their children. These deaf students are being denied their right to quality education. The school specially created for them does not fulfill its goals because the teachers do not know signs. The teachers focus their attention on the students in the school who can hear. The deaf children (50% of the entire school population!) are forced to read lips and repeat and copy without understanding what is going on because they do not yet know how to read or write.
But not everything is bad news. On September 29th, a group of 14 people will fly to Santiago, Chile for a 4 day conference about bilingual education for the deaf. We hope to motivate the organizing committee to have their next conference on this important topic in Lima in 2013.
I am also excited to share good news regarding a young child who attends Señales, a child who, until recently, could never communicate with anyone at home or in school. I want to share Humberto’s story. (He is leaning on the table and paying attention to his deaf teacher.) He is eight years old. Since his mother discovered he was deaf, this child has gone from the oral school to a state school where he was forced to color and copy. His behavior was problematic and his school work was next to nothing. Because he was deaf, his father abandoned the family. His mother had to leave a good paying job to raise him. She was often frustrated due to the complaints Humberto’s teachers gave her about the lack of progress in her child. None of these teachers knew sign language. Fortunately, Humberto’s mother talked to other mothers who suggested she try Scripture Union’s Señales, Center for the Deaf. Intrigued, she went to see what this Señales was all about and discovered that they used signs. Her first reaction was not to even try this strange new language, but she was so impressed to see so many deaf kids sitting down, participating in class, communicating with each other that she felt that she needed to give it a try. She enrolled Humberto in our after school program where he would be taught by a deaf teacher. The involvement demanded of her as a parent was frightening at the beginning. She needed to register herself to take sign language classes. This was something she was not sure she could do. But, the interesting part was her sign language instructors were deaf themselves. This was something she had never before imagined.
Humberto’s mother is now learning the native language of her child, signs. Humberto loves to go to Señales where his behavior has improved beyond belief and his academic skills are improving. Now he understands what he needs to do. At home, his grandparents and the rest of the family have seen the big change in his behavior and in his attitude. Humberto is on his way to a better future with sign language that allows him access to communication and the information that he so badly needs. And in due time, the deaf and hearing teachers at Señales may be able to witness to Humberto and his family the Good News of the Gospel. His mother is already listening and asking questions. In her own words: “Something is so special at Senales.”
Thanks to many of you, it is possible that this type of miracle takes place in Peru and also that there is the opportunity for the Señales team to go to another country to train and learn about bilingual deaf education. This type of training does not exist here in Peru. Our deaf teachers will have full access to this conference as presenters will either present in sign language, or the lectures will be interpreted. This type of access does not exist here in Peru.
Again, thanks be to the Lord and each and everyone of you who helps to make these opportunities possible. This would not be happening without His great blessing.
As I mentioned earlier in this letter, I am now in New York with my family. I am here primarily to raise funds to purchase a piece of land in Lima where we can finally build a facility big enough to house a proper school for deaf children and a training program for sign language interpreters. These interpreters will be the ones who will work to provide the language access the deaf community hungers for in Peru’s Universities, schools, medical facilities, community training programs and so much more. It is time this project for a Deaf Center move forward. We have been praying about this project for many years. Now, as we experience extreme crowding at Señales and more families seeking our services each week, we feel it is time to move forward.
In other news, I have been able to translate two books into Spanish. The first is Deaf Like Me by Thomas Spradley. This book is about the troubles that a young couple goes throug
h to get the right education for their deaf daughter. The other, My Father’s Hands by Byron Uhlberg, tells the story of the life of a hearing child growing up with deaf parents. Please read them if you have a chance. They can give you insight to the reality of deaf people in Peru and other parts of the world and to their needs. They, like all of us on this planet, are a people who need God.
Much to share and much to do and I am terribly afraid for so many deaf children’s futures. Thank you for partnering with us in this work.
In His Service
Ernesto for the Zavalas
Psalms 121
Popularity: 7% [?]
