Back at last!

It is so good to be back at school on a daily basis! My arm is officially healed, although it is going to take some work to get back my full range of motion. The important thing is that I can now sign two-handed again, pretty well, as long as the sign doesn't involve lifting my left hand very high.

The new teachers are still working on their Sign Language. If you can imagine, it is like it was in the USA 20 years ago, where basically there were no Sign classes, and no hearing people except those with deaf parents knew Sign. (Here even a lot of CODAS (Children of Deaf Adults) in their 20's don't know formal sign.) So we have to hire people with no Sign skills and get them signing as well/fast as possible. If there were deaf college (or even high school) graduates available to hire as teachers, we would gladly hire them. So please pray for our teachers: to learn well and quickly, to be teachable, and to have a real heart for their deaf students. Also pray for the Lord to send more workers into the Harvest.

In January we'll be having a Sign class co-taught by Yulissa (deaf) and myself. This will be for parents, and other interested parties.

This Friday is our monthly teacher workshop, where we invite teachers of the deaf from the various little Christian schools around the country to come and learn how to do their job more effectively.

One of the deaf students had a problem recently. Her cat had disappeared. She searched and searched for it with no result. When she asked her mom if she had seen the cat, her mom told her that her grandma had eaten it! Not too many people eat cats here these days, but 20 years ago it wasn't uncommon at all. Grandma was from that era. I hear they taste like chicken.

Although the economic crisis has presented many difficulties, it has helped us in one way: gas has gone down, and thus bus fares, have gone down. Since many of our students take public transportation to school, low fares are essential to their coming. Right now it is 45¢ to take most buses, and 39¢ to take a public car (just like a bus but smaller--goes on a regular route.) Some students take more than one vehicle to get to school.

We are getting close to the Christmas break. There is so much to teach, and so little time! Thank you for your prayers for us.

Popping in and out

Here's an update on my broken arm: At today's Dr. appointment, although I had hoped to be able to begin therapy, I was told that it would be at least another two weeks.

Popping in and out is about all I can do right now at the schools, and of course we can communicate by phone. I try to get into the schools at least once a week. Yesterday we accepted a new 7 year old (girl) student in Sabana Perdida. This is her first time at school, and she will be learning Sign Language with us this year.

We are working on plans for a week of camp at the end of the school year.

broken

Well, if you are wondering why you haven't had an update in a bit, I'll tell you why: I broke my arm! That was about a week and a half ago. I was just leaving with the deaf pastor and his wife, to go pick up some boxes of school materials I had sent from the US from my recent visit. I tripped and fell, cutting my head badly (9 stitches) and breaking my left arm high up on the humerus. The doctor said it would be 6 weeks before I could use it and it had to be immobilized during that time. Because of the location of the break, I have a sling rather than a cast, and a strap that goes around my arm & body to keep my arm from moving much.

You can imagine that I haven't been able to work much lately. The Lord has a plan in everything, and I can only think that he is taking our new teachers through something they need to learn, and the same for me.

The doctor says I must sleep sitting up. :( Very uncomfortable. But my friends have a recliner, and so that has become my bed for the time being. I think his point is that I will not be able to turn over and hurt my arm while I'm asleep.

For a few weeks, I'm back in the same house where I was previously housesitting. My missionary friends are helping me out, as I'm pretty limited in what I can do for myself.

At last I've gotten to the point that I can type with more than one finger, using a laptop.

The Wycliffe missionaries are in the country doing their survey of the Sign Language here. I was able to meet with them on Friday at our monthly teacher's workshop, and they got to interview some of the teachers as well. We desperately want a Sign translation of the Bible, and have been waiting already for three years for the process of translation to begin. Please pray for a translator for us.

I cannot yet go out on public transportation, because there is too much jostling around, and the old sardine can approach to filling the cars and buses would be painful and not good for my arm. Taxis are okay for an occasional trip, but too expensive to use daily, so getting to the school is practically off limits for the time being. I'm staying in touch by phone. It's just as well, because my signing abilities are severely impeded by this sling.

The country is having an epidemic of conjuncivitus. Last week in Sabana Perdida, both teachers of the deaf had it, along with four of the teachers of the hearing kids, plus innumerable kids. Classes were cancelled for two days. It is everywhere, and a particularly bad strain.

The school in Ozama is doing well, and has about 38 students now.

Our storm season continues with tropical waves, storms, and disturbances, passing through on a regular basis, leaving behind lots of rain and flooding. This happens yearly at the beginning of school. I think maybe they should just make August and September our school holiday months, so that so much school will not be missed due to hurricane season!

Please pray for a good recovery for me. In a few weeks I will begin therapy. I don't know what that entails, whether weeks or months, but hope that I'll be able to be back at work at the school while that is going on. Now that I have the go-ahead from the doctor, and my arm is less painful than at first, I'm starting to work on the curriculum on my little laptop. Almost two weeks of forced sitting around has been very annoying!

Blessings!

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

School started on Monday for the Sabana Perdida group. Returning students were very glad to get started at last, as happens with children all over the world.

We have several new students, and went to work right away teaching them Sign Language. They seemed to enjoy this very much.

We have two new teachers, both with minimal Sign Language skills. One worked with us last year, so she has been signing for a year, but is still limited in her skills, especially of understanding the children. The second teacher is just a beginner, and is paired in the classroom with our deaf TA while she is learning. Both will be heavily supervised, to enable them to improve their teaching skills, and avoid lack of progress in their students.

This is not a matter of not hiring qualified people by choice; there simply are no qualified people available. Our choices are either that the children have no school at all, or that they have school with less than adequate teachers. It's the old sad song of "better than nothing." However, the second verse is, that we are committed to constant improvement.

My job this year is largely centered on teacher training and curriculum development. We are already receiving requests for Sign classes for parents, so that also is in the works.

Tuesday and Wednesday, the storms moved in. The weather was very severe, with wind gusts up to 45 mph reported at our airport. The rain came down in buckets. Tuesday only a handful showed up, and Wednesday school was actually cancelled.

We are in the height of hurricane season, the time when we usually get our most dangerous storms. There is a category 4 (that's very strong) storm heading our way, but it is too soon to know if it will hit land or not. Right now we are in the best guess trajectory, but that may well change. Unfortunately even if it misses us, it is big enough to cause us torrential downpours, and--you guessed it---absences and/or cancellations.

I'm beginning to think that they should change their summer vacation months to Aug. and Sept., as this pretty much happens every year.

School opens next Monday and some personal notes

Can't wait! This last week and this week have been dedicated to teacher training and getting materials in order. Several new children have come in to sign up for classes.

We think we will have three classrooms at Sabana Perdida "Mi Esperanza" school this year. We cannot make the final decision until we see who actually comes!

Some of the kids from last year have expressed their great desire for school to start again. Like most kids, by the summer's end, they've had enough of vacation, and want to study and to see their friends again.

Please pray for us as we begin. We especially pray for our new teachers to become very competent in their new work.

We've had lots and lots of rain from Tropical Storm Gustav, and there seem to be a few more tropical storms in the making coming on Gustav's heels. School starts right in the height of the season.

This year I will be in the classroom as a teacher trainer, working alongside the new teachers, but not having my own classroom. This is important, because some of the teachers are new signers and have not worked with deaf children before.

Cell phone number four was stolen this past week. The phone company gave me a five page list of phone numbers the thief had called since stealing the phone. But when I took it to a government office as instructed, I was sent to another place quite far away, then from there to another. Everyone said it was someone else's job. After talking with people at three different places, I ran out of time. No one seemed even the slightest bit interested in catching the guy, even though they could easily track him down with all the phone numbers. That is life here.

I'm in my new apt., still trying to get settled in. As one visitor said "Everything takes so much longer here." So true! For example, getting my electricity turned on took three visits to the electric company, plus hiring a man to hook it up, once the company installed the meter! Now I'm working on the phone. Tomorrow will be visit number two, trying to get that installed.

Summer break is ending

The summer was great. I flew to the US, for the first time in a couple of years, and visited some of my family, and church friends.

It was a blessing to be able to meet the members of three deaf churches, and to share with them about the deaf schools here. I was also able to visit a church in FL that is very interested in deaf ministry, and to sit down and talk with their youth pastor about an upcoming work team visit.

Upon my return, I had to hit the ground running. With just a couple of days to spare, I had to quickly put some final touches on my new apt., and prepare to teach some teacher workshops.

The deaf camp here had over 300 people in attendance, mostly deaf, some children of the deaf, and a smaller amount who are hearing teachers, interpreters, and church workers. There were two deaf pastors from the US who preached, and their ministry and message was well-received, as always.

I don't want to go into great detail about my new apt., because this blog is more about the schools, but let me slip in a couple of paragraphs.

My first week here included a brush with tropical storm Fay. Now my apt. is not quite finished. It is missing a couple of windows, as well as a front door. (They have bars where the door and windows go, so it isn't as much a security issue as you would think.) When Fay came along and it poured down rain all night, I had a friend, an NTID interpreter here for the weekend. She and I scrambled to close the windows with a patchwork of cardboard, awning tarp, garbage bags, and clothespins. It was an interesting experience. We also had no electricity for over 24 hours, and were doing this by flashlight and lamplight. Towards the end, we also had no running water, since the water is pumped up to a rooftop tank, and it requires electricity to do so. It was an interesting experience.

Tomorrow teacher training begins at the schools. This is a very important time, and we would appreciate your prayers.

We've had several new students come, and really need to open up a new classroom, if we can find a teacher for it. We are still short one other teacher, and may have to hire a non-signer to work alongside the deaf TA. We don't want to do this, but it is very difficult to find a signing teacher, and of course, we add to that that we expect the teacher to be a committed Christian. I will be in the classroom many hours a week, working alongside the new teacher however.

Maria has taken over as director of the school in Ensanche Ozama (Christian Deaf Education Center), and I will be working in Sabana Perdida again this year for the foreseeable future. My new apt. is much closer to both schools, and I can get to either in 15-20 minutes by bus.

The students will begin at the beginning of September in Sabana Perdida, and one week later in Ensanche Ozama.

After a couple of weeks with no internet, it is good to at last have it installed in my apt. It only works when there is electricity, but I hope to soon have an inverter that will allow me to have electricity most of the time. This area is plagued by daily blackouts of several hours.

Please pray for all the many details of getting the school year started again, and especially that God will give our children understanding of his grace and love in this coming year. And pray the Lord of the Harvest will send workers!

School is out

The kids had a wonderful time the last few days of the year, with a team from Vision Trust headed by my friend Andy. He was the only nonsigner on the team of four deaf and four hearing. Andy frequently heads teams, and it was a rather unusual experience for him; this time, he was the one most in need of a translator when working with the local folks.

The team chaperoned the kids on a trip to the Colonial City. Amazingly, some of the kids had never been there before! The Colonial city has a wealth of historical sites, from as far back as Colombus' days. I was especially glad they were able to see Independence Park, one of the most famous sites in the country. There independence was declared from Haiti, and the DR became a country in its own right, and there the fathers of the country, Duarte, Sanchez, and Mella have their tombs.

The highlight of the week, though, was the day the kids had the opportunity to go for a day of camp. They had races, swam, played basketball, had a Bible study, sang, prayed, watched some mimes do drama, and ate till their heart's content. The very next day they were asking me when they get to do that again!

It was excellent having the team here. There are very few educated deaf adults here, and even less who follow the Lord. It makes a big impression on the children when they meet genuine Christians who are deaf. They are wonderful role models, and the students value their opinions greatly. They also love to be able to talk with hearing people who sign; rather unusual here. It broadens their world.

There is a lot more to say, but I'll hold off for a while, so as not to make this into a book!

I'm heading to the US on the 4th of July, and hope to see many of you who read this blog. I wish I could see ALL of you! Thank you all for your prayers and support this past school year. Now let's get going on the next one! :)