A Hidden Unreached People in My Neighborhood

This past weekend, I learned about an unreached people group that could be--and probably is--living in my neighborhood.

John and I attended a President's Council meeting put on by an agency we support, The Seed Company. The Seed Company is an offshoot of Wycliffe that trains nationals in Bible translation. They bring in advisors to oversee and support the work and produce the Bible in about a third of the time a Western translator needs (since a national doesn't need to learn the language or the culture, but can begin work quickly).

One of the speakers at our conference, a representative from DOOR (Deaf Opportunity OutReach) International highlighted the deaf community--and especially the core deaf (i.e., congenitally deaf of those who became deaf very early in life) population--worldwide. Since most core deaf people can't read (they lack even the basic understanding of what such symbols might mean), the Seed Company recently decided it needs to produce signed versions of the Bible ("printed" on DVDs!) for the 40 to 50 million congenitally deaf people in the world today--deaf people who use somewhere between 200 to 400 different sign languages to communicate among themselves worldwide.

Something that about broke my heart: Our speaker told the story of a deaf man he knew who said, "When I went to school, my father patted me on the head and said, 'Good boy.'

"When I went to high school, he patted me on the head again: 'Good boy.'

"When I went to college: 'Good boy.'

"When I got married: 'Good boy.'

"And today, with children of my own, I have no idea what my father really thinks, what he believes, what his values are. All I know is he thinks I'm a 'good boy' . . . whatever that means."

The speaker mentioned that in 90% of families in the United States with a deaf child, neither parent learns to sign. In other words, the parents never learn to communicate anything of real importance--no values, no spiritual truths, no family history--to their deaf children. And if you think that statistic is bad, you need to know that the percentage of parents who never learn to communicate with their deaf children is even higher in India and Africa--something approaching 97%, according to our speaker. As a result, deaf people are ostracized outcasts even within their own families.

Besides being ostracized in their own families, they are also ostracized in the church.

Oh, yes, people reach out to the deaf. Many churches include signing ministries . . . often "transliterating" the grammar and sentence structure of spoken language rather than the unique structure of deaf (sign) language.

To learn more about this--what DOOR calls a cultural group--check out their page about Deaf Culture.

And to learn more about the translation project--which, we were told, would require specially signed versions of about 130 stories--check out Translation.

I pray these new DVDs (still years away from production) will change the lives of millions of deaf people.

Since I really enjoyed the Newbery Honor book Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath, I looked forward with eager anticipation to her new book, My One Hundred Adventures. I was sorely disappointed.

While I found the premise of the book charming (the protagonist seeks one hundred adventures in an otherwise calm life), none of the characters behaved heroically. Each person was a victim; Jane (the main character) falls victim to a mean neighbor's schemes and is forced to baby sit her neighbor's unpleasant children. Neighbors and members of the family's church treat the mother disdainfully, and Jane's best friend's parents force Ginny to submit to their plans for her. Jane's pastor is a fool who is unaware of Jane's trials and tribulations and unable to help. Jane's mother is powerless to help and the book's final resolution is weak.

All in all, a most disappointing read and one I would not recommend for anyone.

“Now be original—just like everyone else.”

Enabling your child’s unique gifts without constraint (Part 2)

I've been reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson, in which he relates this story of gift discovery:

In the mid 1930s, a little girl named Gillian Lynne was having problems in school--everything from late homework to fidgeting and disturbing others. Her concerned mother took her to a specialist to uncover her "learning disability." Gillian sat on her hands while the expert talked with her mom about all her problem behaviors. Finally, the specialist told Gillian to wait a moment while he spoke to her mother in another room.

As they left, he turned on the radio so Gillian could listen to some music. And when he and Gillian's mother were outside, he told her to watch what happened through the cracked door.

The moment they left, Gillian was on her feet dancing to the music.

The doctor turned to Gillian’s mother and explained,
"Mrs. Lynne, Gillian is not sick. She's a dancer."

Gillian went on to become a prima ballerina and world famous choreographer, most noted for her work in Cats and Phantom of the Opera (the world’s longest running Broadway musical). She has brought joy to countless people and is now a multi-millionaire. To think that many specialists today may have simply put her on medication and told her to calm down!

We must value the richness of our creative make-up and tap into the way we are created to think and live. Sadly, our uniqueness is often "educated out of us" in the contemporary classroom school structure. This does not have to be the reality for kids who enjoy the freedom homeschooling offers. Homeschooling parents have a unique opportunity to foster their children’s gifts and talents.
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Look for a post that helps you make the most of this opportunity…coming soon! Was your creativity fostered as a child? How do you do find your kids’ niche?

Sarita

Square Root Day

Today is Square Root Day (03-03-09) when the month and day are the square root of the year.

According to the Denver Post, "there are only nine Square Root Days each century. This is the first in five years--and the last for another seven. The next will fall on April 4, 2016."

The paper recommends celebrating with activities like square dancing and drinking root beer from a square glass. Maybe we should cut our root vegetables into squares. . .

Sonlighters (and others), can we come up with the full list of Square Root Day dates? And, are there additional creative activities for us to do in celebration?

As a heads up, Pi Day is coming March 14. We have much to enjoy.